| Date | Distance | Total Elevation Gain |
|---|---|---|
| 6/17 | 90.8 miles | 190 feet |
| 6/18 | 87.6 miles | 300 feet |
| 6/19 | 106.2 miles | 1910 feet |
| 6/20 | 88.9 miles | 1100 feet |
| 6/22 | 95.0 miles | 1770 feet |
| 6/23 | 84.1 miles | 2010 feet |
As we cross Oklahoma, the land has been getting very gradually more populated, greener and hillier. At right are the statistics for our Oklahoma riding days. Soon we'll be in the Arkansas Ozarks where we will again see some real hills.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that we haven't been keeping track of
our cola consumption. Here's what I drank yesterday: 1 or 2(?)
glasses of water for breakfast, 12-ounce Pepsi, 24-oz Pepsi, 1
liter Pepsi, 32-ounce fruit punch, 8? ounces water from water
cooler at supermarket, and 3-1/2 24-oz water bottles. That was
in the first 55 miles, much of it in the cool part of the day.
We stopped for lunch at Pawnee where I had a 12-oz can and 3
glasses (10 oz each?) of Pepsi, another 1/2 water bottle on the
road, and two 32-oz Dr. Peppers in Cleveland (near our camp for
the night.) If I add right, that's about 10 quarts (nearly 10
liters) or 2-1/2 gallons of fluid. I'm sure I drank even more
than that on some earlier days when it was hotter, we didn't get
an early start, and didn't have a rest day the day before.
We examined a few of the 20,000 guns in the J. M. Davis gun museum in Claremore. There was a gun show going on today in the same building, with all kinds of guns, ammo and paraphernalia for sale. I wasn't sure if a "butt pad" would help my saddle sores or not.
I'm not sure where we saw this cattle auction yard.
The people in Oklahoma have been uniformly warm, friendly and helpful. With the exception of several car drivers. In the week we have been here I have had two "Get off the (damn) road" two or three angry beeps, and one obscene gesture, more than all the other states combined. I'm not sure if there are really more ignorant anti-cycle bigots in Oklahoma or if we just got lucky.
We'll be entering Arkansas tomorrow. My Dad was born and raised
in Hot Springs, some distance to the south of our route. I don't
know why I didn't think before we started to at least investigate
the possibility of modifying the route to go through there. I
think I still have some relatives in the area that I haven't seen
in 35 years.