Cycling Coast to Coast

Welcome to Texas!

After the miserable heat yesterday, lots of people (myself included) were actually asking to wake up earlier, so we can get on the road earlier.  We are now waking up 2 hours before sunrise, and hitting the road at civil twilight (about 30 minutes before actual twilight).  This means that we were treated to a beautiful sunrise when on the road, and that we also had more time on the road before it got really hot.  Lunch was at mile 38 in the town of Sayre, and everyone was in and out of lunch before 10:30am.

We are also now hitting the part of the trip where the towns and roads we ride on are very sparsely populated.  The only town along our route was Sayre, where we had our lunch stop.  Also, usually our cue sheets are formated in a table, and there are lots of turns.  Today, however, the cue sheet was very simple:

“Go to the stoplight

Turn left and go right around the courthouse

Take a right on the other side of the courthouse

Go on 152 until you have gone 77.81 miles

Turn left onto S. Main Street, the First Baptist church is at 601 S. Main Street”

The Texas state line was around mile 62, and of course we all stopped to take pictures.  I was surprised that the state sign didn’t proclaim Texas as the “Lone Star State”, or any other slogan like you see on other state signs.  Instead, just below the “Welcome to Texas” sign, was a smaller sign that read “Proud Home of President George W. Bush”.  Oh, Texas.

Today we left Route 66 and rode on SR152 for most of the day to Cordell, OK.  The last few days have been shorter rides in the 60 to 70 mile range, but today we’re back up to 83 miles.  The weather has been getting noticeably hotter, but on these shorter days, we arrive at the host location early in the afternoon and so miss the brunt of the heat.  Today, however, was a long day, and a real scorcher.  At 11:30am, it was already 103F, and as I was sweep, I didn’t get in until about 4pm. 

As we ride along though, I find it really interesting to see how the terrain and vegetation changes.  So far, we’ve seen a lot of grazeland and livestock in Oklahoma.  Yesterday, I noticed that the earth is now reddish-colored.  Also, up until today, Oklahoma has been relatively flat, but today we started to climb up to the Great Plains.  It was a hilly day; not steep, but lots of gradual hills that when summed together (and with the heat) really wore me down.

Yesterday, we had a fun ride from Chandler to Yukon.  As we were riding along, just west of Arcadia, suddenly we saw a giant modern sculpture of a soda bottle across the street.  Of course, we had to stop to check it out, and turns out it was a gas station/cafe called Pops that has over 500 varieties of soda (LaVerde’s, take that!).  It was awesome.  I bought a t-shirt, and enjoyed an awesome chocolate milkshake.  The building walls are glass, and filled with shelves stocked with multicolored soda bottles.

Since leaving St. Louis, our trip has been roughly following the historic route 66, and will be all the way to California.  Yesterday, riding from Vinita to Tulsa, we rode on 66 for 48 miles.  I found it really fun to see all the signs marking the road as the historic route 66, and all the business along the road with “66″ in their names.  We even stopped at the Blue Whale in Catoosa, a classic route 66 roadside attraction.

Most appropriately, our wake-up song when leaving Vinita was “Get your kicks on Route 66″, performed by Nat King Cole.  I’ve included the lyrics below, and we are hitting up most of the towns mentioned in the song.

Well if you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it winds from Chicago to LA
More than two thousands miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it goes to St. Louis
Down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty

You’ll see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don’t forget Wynonna
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino

Won’t you get hip to this kindly tip
And go take that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

Right after my post about how scarce internet access is, we have another host location with internet access.

Today was one of the most fun riding days on the trip. As we were leaving Missouri behind and heading for Oklahoma (and passing through Kansas enroute), our wake-up music was, appropriately, from the musical Oklahoma and  “Carry On Wayward Son” by the band Kansas.  For breakfast, we got to go to a local family restaurant in Joplin, and were able to order off the menu.  Now, for those following along back home, that may not seem like a big deal, but for us, it is.  After many breakfasts of cereal or oatmeal, I really enjoyed the chance to have pancakes and eggs for a change.

The last few days of riding in Missouri have been long, but we’re finally getting a break with a few shorter days.  Today’s ride was 70 miles, and tomorrow should be in the 60-70 mile range.  We say that we ride an average of 70 miles a day, but the median is probably about 80 miles.  On these shorter days, everyone is much happier because we don’t feel as pressured to ride fast with few stops in order to arrive at the host at a reasonable hour.

Some highlights of the day include having almost the entire group stop to go swimming in a river (at 10am, nonetheless), taking photos in a giant field of sunflowers, and eating a massive amount of ice cream at lunch.