Day 16
The Ride Continues

DAILY REPORT:  As you can well imagine, today's mood was a somber one after I had to inform the riders of Darrell's passing last evening.  Yesterday, everyone had left the motel in Chickasha when Barbara and I found him in his room.  It appeared he passed peacefully in his sleep sometime shortly after midnight after spending the evening enjoying time with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson.  He was such a proud grandfather and he beamed as he introduced his family to all of the riders who were around at the time.  I didn't inform the riders until the evening rap session of his passing...it was our toughest day as far as terrain and mileage and I didn't want the riders to have that distraction during the day.  But there never is a good time to receive news of this nature.  As you can imagine, after hearing the news, feelings were very emotional and ranged from disbelief to shock.  We spent the next hours conducting a memorial service for Darrell and his family led by Reverend Scott where riders shared their thoughts about how he had blessed us with his friendship the short time we had known him.  The family has requested in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Summit Health Employee Wellness Program, Summit Health Development Office, 176 Coldbrook Avenue, Chambersburg, PA 17201.  To ensure donations reach the intended fund, please note Summit Health Bike Club in the check memo.  Condolences may be expressed at geiselfuneralhome.com.  We have dedicated the remainder of this ride to his memory and send our most heartfelt prayers to his family.  We continue on.

The weather at departure matched the mood of the group under the circumstances...dreary.  The weather radar showed a line of heavy precipitation approaching our area and it looked like we were going to get wet...big time...at least for the first part of the day.  Luckily, in about 2 hours, the weather outran us and cleared the way for the late morning and afternoon ride.  With all this...there was more.

In all the hustle to get on the road, some riders elected to wait out the heavy stuff while others tried to get an early jump...Perry was an early one so he had a big jump on the group.  The rain poured.  As we were getting the support on the road, I was getting calls from the road that people were taking shelter in where ever they could find until it let up a bit...just like we discussed in rap...take shelter if you get caught in an unsafe situation.  Things were going as planned but the call from Perry was a little different.  "I've been riding for 8 miles and I haven't seen any of the towns on the route sheet," He said.  "Did you make the turn on 270?" I asked.  "270?" He replied.  "Yes, the road that goes east."  I said.  "Didn't see it," was the retort.  He had missed the first turn and was heading north.  We drove off route to find him riding in the rain back toward town...when I picked him up, he said, "So much for getting an early start.  I wasn't on the right course, but I was making good time." 

After the yucky beginning, the weather Gods smiled on us by mid morning, but they unleashed a pretty stiff southerly wind that buffeted our route the rest of the day.  Progress was slow, but everyone prevailed and was looking forward to a day off in Fort Smith. 

Our route took us out of McAlester on highway 270 then between the Jack Fork Mountains to our south and the Sansbois Mountains to our north as we rode to Poteau OK.  But even though we could see mountains all day, the terrain was really gentle where we were riding.  We only climbed about 1900 feet today and nothing was over 100 feet at a time.  This part of Oklahoma has pretty good roads too.  Most of the day we had a nice smooth shoulder to ride on and the traffic was generally light during the times we were on shoulderless two lane.  For one short stretch we were on quiet Oklahoma backroads...I love roads with no lines.

At rap, we said good bye to Richard who only planned to ride the first two legs of the ride.  As he held up his pants, he said his good byes to the group and we prepared to take on the last leg of our journey.  We'll welcome two new riders on Wednesday so we'll be pretty busy with prep, orientation, and bike assembly along with the regular shopping and route planning.  I know I'm ready for a sleep in morning and I know the rest of my staff is too.  We'll see you again on Thursday.  We're hoping this weather system passes us by so we can be dry...don't matter though, we'll ride.

Before closing I should also report that Greg Light also left the ride in McAlaster.  He was feeling ill after the ride and especially after hearing the news about Darrell and he elected to drop out.  He's planning on attending Darrell's funeral, I understand.  They had ridden together for the last few days. 

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