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!