Day 14
Long Rural Day...still a bit of wind.

Today is another high mileage day, but by now, these people can handle just about anything.  They are getting really strong whether they realize it or not.  They look to these long days in Oklahoma with the same apprehension as the long days in New Mexico, but there is one difference...the climbing required to finish.  Although today's slightly unfavorable winds made up for a bit of it, they had over 8000 feet into Las Vegas, but only about 5000 today.  5000 isn't anything to sneeze at, but 3000 feet less makes a big difference in when they get in and how they feel when they get through.

We left the motel and rode 16 miles due south before turning eastward on highway 55.  The riders were greeted with calm winds on that leg...that was a good thing.  But then we turned eastward and the southerly winds became the predominant wind of the day.  Luckily, the forecast 20 MPH southerlies didn't materialize which made us all very appreciative to the wind Gods.  Even though it was not helping us at all today, it only was in the neighborhood of 10 MPH.

We rode on CR 55 for 30 miles before finally getting to some excellent Oklahoma back roads...some were smoother than others (actually, some of them were pretty rough), but very scenic with little or no traffic.  After the last SAG, we got on hwy 9 for about a mile before going back out in the country again.  From Anadarko we were on Hwy 9 for ten miles then out in the country to the motel.  Everyone got in safely with the last ones getting in after 6:00.  Not much recovery time for a long day tomorrow, but we'll ride anyway.  Hope they sleep well...tomorrow's mileage is 20 miles longer and it looks like we will have to deal with a chance of rain...just hope those winds stay light. 

About 18 miles into our route, we passed the small town of Retrop which had an interesting story.  According to the town marker, the town was settled in 1896-97 and a man named Porter applied for a post office to be named after him...but there was already a Porter Post Office in the Indian territory.  To make things simple, they just spelled his name backwards to get the name Retrop...works for me.  A monument was dedicated to the courageous people who settled in this area and endured the hard times of drought, depression, and the dust bowl days.  The present day citizens of this area are extremely proud of this heritage.

Everyone seemed to be moving pretty well today after getting on the road shortly after daybreak.  I was in the van early, but planned to ride from the first SAG or lunch.  I usually like being in the van early so I can take a few photos of the day and make sure everyone is doing ok before I get on my bike.  Today we didn't have any flats or bike problems...life was good...I got to ride 60 miles.

Today marked our 1/2 way point of the ride.  I was able to get ahead of the group to mark the "spot" in the road and most everyone stopped to take the required photos to commemorate the accomplishment.  It's hard to believe we've been on the road for 2 weeks...even harder to believe we're this far along...does anyone remember the beach?  Wasn't that a year ago?

The landscape today is a stark contrast to the wide open grassland of the Texas Panhandle.  This region of Oklahoma is "wide open spaces" but it seems more intimate than the Panhandle...and it's green around here!!!!  We rode through vast cropland today and the fact there were a few houses and some trees, made the terrain seem much more interesting than the last couple of days.  The main crop in this area seems to be wheat, but they also grow corn, soybeans, and I've even seen a couple of cotton fields on previous fall trips.  We may have seen a cotton field today, but this time of year it's hard to tell a cotton field from a soybean field from afar. 

Our biggest challenge was navigating the roads in the country.  On our previous rides through here, none of country roads had street signs...when I say none, I mean none.  We had over 50 miles without 1 sign to help us navigate and we had lots of turns, but this year Oklahoma seems to be trying to correct that oversight and we saw county road signs almost at every turn...now we'll have to update our route sheets.

We stayed in a really nice Best Western on the south side of town with an indoor pool and hot tub...the hot tub is a favorite.  Tomorrow we leave on our longest day in the saddle so far...145 miles and as I said before, we're forecast for rain.  Tune in to see how we do.  I'll bet we make it just fine.