Oklahoma!

Wichita Falls, TX to Altus, OK 86 miles

I always love waking up knowing that today I enter a new state.  I know that it is not that big of an accomplishment, but still, a new state!  However, each new state brings us a little closer to the pacific and the end.  I can't wait to get there, but I don't want this to end either!  In just a few short weeks my fellow cyclists have become my family.  We've cried together and celebrated together.  We have inside jokes and love to chat as we pass field after field after field.  They share my passions and interests, but teach me something new everyday.  I can't imagine what August is going to be like without them.

We had an exciting morning at the YMCA.  A local news crew came and filmed our morning route meeting and then followed us so they could film us biking out of town.  We even got to smile and wave for the camera. I headed out with Mel for a lovely day of biking. A few people stopped us on the way out to ask if we were part of the "Hotter than Hell" ride.  Apparently Wichita Falls hosts a 100 mile ride every August and it's one of the biggest races in the area.  I'm not sure that I would come all the way back here in August, when its even hotter than it is now! There was some confusion after we got out of town.  There was a road, but it wasn't clearly marked.  We stopped, got told to keep going, went, got called back and then told to continue again.  Long story short, half went one way and half went another.  Mel got a flat about 2 miles after the start of the highway so I stopped with her to change her tube.  Corey, Brettly and Richard joined us soon after.  They were the stand-in sweeps for the people that had taken this detour because the real sweeps (Alyssa and Grant)  had gone the other way.  We pressed on to 1st lunch at a gas station under construction.  It was the second building we had seen since getting on the highway!  There was a rest stop about halfway to 1st lunch, but Mel and I didn't stop.  The gas station had only one bathroom and no ice!  Not good for how hot it had gotten since we pulled up.  The temperature was quickly becoming even more unbearable.  I waited for Mel to recover from the heat and then we pulled out of lunch in the last group with the sweeps.  We went about 5 miles and found Tiffany, Summer and Brettly under a very tiny tree.  It was kind of like the weeping cherry in our front lawn, only half as tall and with half as many leaves.  There was a hose, so Grant and I sprayed people down and filled up water bottles.  Mel was having a tough day, but she decided to continue on and make it to 2nd lunch.  We made it about 2 more miles where we found an overpass to take shelter in.  As we hid out in the shade we sang songs, recited poetry, and told funny stories, anything to motivate ourselves.  We went until we saw a house, where Mel decided to save her energy for the next day and ride the last 50 miles in the van.  When Will came to pick her up he was amazing and wonderful and brought us ice cream and icy Powerades from a gas station near second lunch. I had a sour melon flavored one, it was very interesting.  If I hadn't been sooooo thirsty I'm not sure I would have liked it, but at that point I probably would have drank scummy pond water if it was cold.  With a renewed burst of energy we were on our way.  Everyone had been texting each other all day with encouraging news of a tailwind once we made the right turn off the highway.  However, winds tend to shift in the afternoon!  After hitting the turn, instead of a beautiful tailwind, we were greeted with another headwind.  How is that even possible?  The turn signified our half way point, but shortly after Alyssa got a flat tire.  We pulled next to a cattle gate, in the only shade for miles.

After that was fixed we headed out for 2nd lunch.  The first group had found us a nice little pullout on the side of the road.  It didn't have water or bathrooms, but it had shade!  At this point we had been on the road for a very, very long time and needed to be to the host by 6:30 for dinner.  I ate some honey wheat pretzels (all I could manage in the heat) and jumped back on my bike.  Below is a picture of Alyssa and her poking stick.  She picked it up underneath the tree after first lunch and rode with it in her helmet for the rest of the day.  She threatened to "motivate" people with it if they got tired :)

As we crossed the dried up bed of the Red River we were suddenly in Oklahoma.  I think that their state sign is one of the best we've had yet :)  And the song is true, the wind does really come whipping down the plains!  

The last 20 or so miles were increasingly difficult as I fought the wind and my exhaustion.  At least by this point the heat had begun to abate a little bit.  It was still well over 100 degrees, but the sun wasn't shining directly overhead and an occasional tree lent momentary shade.  The best thing about the West is the lack of humidity.  As we made our way through Texas it became drier and drier.  If you are under a tree in the West it actually makes a difference!  The landscape was flat in the extreme, with the exception of two tiny rock formations fading into the horizon, hinting at what is to come.  

Despite the flatness, Oklahoma didn't want to make it too easy, so it threw in some invisible rolling hills!  The landscape never seemed to change and I could see for miles, but I was alternately ascending and descending small hills.  Finally we made it to Altus, known for its traditional mainstreet. As we were coming in, several others were just coming back from a water park.  I was kind of sad that I wasn't able to go, but I was exhausted and happy to have finally arrived at the host.  BWalsh and Chris had found some donations for us at a local pizza place, so we enjoyed some well deserved dinner.  It was the Red Jaguars turn for laundry, so we gathered all the smelly, nasty clothes in the tarp, squashed it in the van and headed out to wash the clothes.  I walked with Mel, Josh A and Kelsey to a gas station for an icee, then fell asleep in a chair at the laundry mat.  I woke up just in time to move everything to the dryers and went back to sleep only to wake up to help load everything back in the van.  My clothes didn't dry, so I laid them out on the floor of the gym to dry overnight, then went to sleep.  I was really excited because tomorrow night I would see my Mom, Kristen and Kristen's mom!

YMCA!!!

Decatur to Wichita Falls 80.3 miles

Today we finally got back on our bikes after a 3 day absence.  I missed my bike when I didn't ride it.  We got up early ( compared to the last few days) at 5:30 and gathered our stuff. I packed up my cot (rather awkwardly) and put my bin out by the trailer.  Thanks again to the church for providing me with a nice break from my thermarest.  I was in a very forgetful mood this morning and didn't talk my socks out of my bin, so I had to rummage through my perfectly stuffed bin to find them at the very bottom.  I also forgot to grab a thank you card and a shirt for our wonderful host!   Luckily, the stuff was near the side door of the trailer, so I was able to grab one with our causing problems for trailer crew.  It was also an interesting morning to be on overnight crew, since our main job is host clean up and this host refused to show us where the cleaning supplies were.  They didn't want us to clean anything, so I was pretty much our of a job.  We wiped down counters and tables and picked up trash, but were pretty limited by the lack of vacuums, mops and sponges.  It was a strange feeling, leaving the host with out a big clean up.  We hit the road around 7:20 after another rousing speech by Coleman.  I took off with Alyssa, Eddie and Kelsey and stayed with them for most of the day.  We began with a 3 mile reroute, since the road we were supposed to be on didn't exist.  We saw some pretty farms and stuff.  Texas is becoming more like how I originally pictured, with wide open spaces, giant cattle ranches, oil wells, and a rockier texture to the land.  Along the way, my bike computer decided to go metric, then die a very dramatic death.  It died, revived itself for a mile or two and faded slowly out again, only to return for a few final breaths.  Oh bike computer!  What would I do with out your entertaining antics!  It does make me a little sad though because I ALWAYS check my computer every 1/10th of a mile or so.  Its my motivation.  I know exactly when we are half-way, 2/3rds of the way, 10 miles out, ect. We stopped with everyone at a gas station for a few minutes, then continued on to 1st lunch.  Our little group, which we have named Pinky and the Brain, made it there first, which was kind of nice.

1st lunch was in a Walmart parking lot,  so those who needed to get more supplies like toothbrushes and electrical tape were able to resupply.  We feasted on leftovers from Sally including some delicious quiches and a bag of king sized candy bars.  Once again, best host ever!   We set off again along a minor highway, but it wasn't too busy.  The wind was really crazy, as we have come to expect from Texas.  2nd lunch was at an abandoned gas station in a small town.  We were lucky enough to be able to use the restrooms at a neighboring church.  It was air conditioned inside :)  It's always a challenge to leave A/C behind, but the longer that I stay inside, the worse it is to go out into the heat.  Texas feels like a giant oven.  Not a sauna, 'cause that's not hot enough!  An oven!  We made a small detour to the local post office so Eddie and Alyssa could send off some things that wouldn't fit in their bags, then hit the road again.

Facing some really strong headwinds, we decided to pace line the last 20 miles into Wichita Falls.  Pace lining is basically following closely behind the person in front of you so that they block the wind.  We switched up leaders every two miles and it worked really great except Eddie and I didn't have odometers, so Alyssa and Kelsey were responsible for watching our mileage.  They did a great job :)  Closing in on WF, things started to get a little depressing.  Everything was shuttered up, closed down or boarded shut.  Restaurants, motels, and small businesses were all abandoned and falling apart.  I got a little distracted by all the sadness and didn't realize that Alyssa had fallen a block behind us.  Eddie yelled up for me to slow down, and slow down I did!  I looked back to see who was talking, crashing into a curb.  Ouch!  I walked away with just a few scrapes and another crazy crash story.  Finally, we made it to our host, the Wichita Falls YMCA.  We stayed at the downtown branch, one of the oldest YMCA's in the country.  I think we surprised their customers a little bit when we started our bin and bag fireline through the middle of the workout room! It was the closest door to the van and we are inherently lazy people after an 80 mile ride.  We ferried the stuff up the elevator to the fitness room.  After exploring the Y (its really old and has lots of secret stairways and hidden rooms!), taking a swim and relaxing, we started working on the most important thing.  Dinner!  The Y was providing enough food for 34 normal people, not 34 crazy B&B'ers.  Rider's went around to the local businesses asking for donations (made more difficult than normal because of the lack of operational businesses in the area).  I went with Sonia to drop off a 501c3 form at local restaurant that donated a tub of beans and chili.  As we ate our wonderful dinner we had our weekly route meeting.  Many people went off to watch a movie, but I ended up talking on the phone to family and friends.  I snuggled up in my sleeping bag in a corner of the hallway under some beautiful stained glass windows and went to sleep.