Day 28 - Elk City to Erick, Oklahoma

Day 28 of our tour
October 31, 2016
37.3 miles today
(1301 miles, cumulative)
1215 feet of climbing
(51,681 feet of climbing, cumulative)


Today marked the end of our fourth week of traveling by tandem. Our day was smooth, and a shorter distance was logical as the temperature was well over 80 after noon, and the wind was in our face.

The tandem's rear internal gear hub seemed to get distracted by Halloween or something, and whatever piece is broken inside just kept quiet as we rode. The bike worked fine all day.

I called Bike Friday, the company in Eugene, Oregon that made the bike, and the bike technician there described a vulnerable spring that occasionally breaks in these hubs, and how a certain inexpensive auto part sold at Napa can be disassembled to yield an identical spring that can then be used to replace the broken spring in the hub. I may try that fix in a few days, but the plan now is to carry on, as the bike is working.

We started out in heavy fog again this morning:

Jean got wet from condensation on her cycling pants:

The sun came out, however, and shone brightly on this nicely restored building in the small town of Sayre which we rode through at our halfway point this morning:

We came across this field and could not tell from the road whether those were white blossoms, or cotton. Jean's first guess was cotton, and she was correct:

Many of the small towns have numerous flea markets or junk yards, and this yard was also a bit of an amateur museum. The airplane made from spare parts swung on the pylon as the wind shifted, and the propellor was spinning in the wind, too, though it was frozen by our camera:

Tomorrow we finally leave Oklahoma.

Day 27 - Hinton to Elk City, Oklahoma

Day 27 of our tour
October 30, 2016
66.5 miles today
(1263.7 miles, cumulative)
3255 feet of climbing 
(50,466 feet of climbing, cumulative)


We ventured farther west, and farther south. The weather today was the best we've had yet during our four weeks! It included cooler temperatures, a day-long tailwind, light cloud cover until noon and not a drop of rain anywhere in sight. We started out with three possible stopping points and ended up going to the last one.

What's more, we had such a good day on top of our biggest mechanical issue yet. We were climbing a small hill and all of a sudden when I downshifted the internal rear hub, the pedals were spinning freely giving no drive at all to the rear wheel. 

We stopped of course, and I took off the wheel, took off the cassette of cogs, and tried spinning the wheel by turning the freehub. The freehub simply spun independently of the wheel. I thought maybe the pawls inside it were kaput. I figured our day was over, and we'd need to flag down or call some help.

We were on the verge of calling a friend in Amarillo when I decided instead to call my son-in-law Steve in California as he is a bike expert. I thought he might have a suggestion on something I had overlooked. He's seen the rear internal gear hub up close, even in disassembled state once, at our house, so he knew immediately what I was facing. After thinking about it for a few minutes, he suggested trying to spin the freehub with the internal gear shifted into the medium or high setting, rather than the default low setting. I pulled on the rod that goes into the axle to control the internal gear, and it worked! Thanks again, Steve, I'm glad I called!

After an hour and twenty minutes on the side of the road we were able to put the wheel back together, mount it again on the bike, and carry on. We could still use the rear derailleur to shift through the nine cogs mounted on the freehub, but the internal gear would stay only in one gear. Initially it stayed in the middle gear, but after a few miles that one stopped working, and it needed to stay in the lowest gear, the one that earlier had not worked at all. Our 27 speed bike is now a 9 speed bike, but it works fine that way temporarily, especially since the 9 speeds we have are the lower ones and that allows us to do any climbing without a problem.

I'll call the manufacturer of the bike, Bike Friday in Eugene, Oregon tomorrow to see what they can tell me about the expected life of this damaged hub. I know it will need to be rebuilt or replaced eventually, but if we can continue with it as is, that's what we'll do.

My apologies to you readers for whom the technical details are unintelligible. I included those for the several cyclists who are reading, too.

Here are some photos from today...

Our motel last night was owned by an Indian tribe, and our complimentary breakfast was served at  the cafe attached to the tribe's casino. The cafe's interior paid homage to Route 66:

We passed yet another old gas station that had been updated:

Apparently the Oklahoma wind is good for something:

Jean caught these colourful trucks from her stoker position with our grandchildren in mind, especially Ross, who really likes yellow things:

Sometimes it's hard to believe how many miles we cover. We often feel that way when we reach the crest of a long hill and look back, and the road is straight as as arrow and disappears at the horizon, as in this photo. The frontage road we rode on had almost no traffic all day. Everyone was out on the freeway, which ran parallel to the frontage road, which is Route 66:

But then, there are times when Route 66 takes the form of a quiet country road,and the freeway is nowhere in sight (or earshot). This section, where they had let the grass grow tall right up to the road bed, had a special feel to it:

Here is today's pastoral scene. Lots of red soil with some kind of winter crop:

And, the animals of the day were these cows. They were all munching grass until they heard us. Up came their heads to look, and this group even walked over to the fence:

A few yards farther along this bunch stopped eating at the bale at the rear and also walked over to the fence to see what we were doing. We had stopped the bike to take their photo, that's all:

Apparently the wind is back tomorrow from the southwest, and the heat will be back, too. Perhaps it will be a slightly shorter ride, with an early start.

Day 26 - El Reno to Hinton, Oklahoma

Day 26 of our tour
October 29, 2016
26.5 miles today
1516 feet of climbing 
(1197.2 miles, cumulative)
(47,211 feet of climbing, cumulative)


When we woke up this morning our first inclination was to make this a rest day and stay put. Then Jean started dissecting the weather report and looking at hour-by-hour predictions for temperature and wind. She could see that the morning would be nice, but by noon it would turn hot and the wind would pick up. We decided to go to the next town with lodging, Hinton, about 27 miles away, and have a partial day of rest

We got an early start and since a major freeway is nearby also going west, Route 66 was quiet. In fact it was very delightfully quiet, and had no wind. We could tell that 27 miles would not wear us out, and we'd still get some extra rest today.

Here's a shadow shot. Our shadow is out in front since we started just after sunrise. The pavement was smooth and quiet, and the road was empty:

We really like western Oklahoma. There are still farms, but we've seen more horses, cattle (including longhorns, and those horns are really long!) than in the east. One example:

This is what I thought Oklahoma would look like from one end to the other, namely flat, with straight roads. This section below was not, in fact, typical of our entire 27 miles today, but we liked the view from our saddles:

Along with farms we see the occasional industry. This refinery was the main example on today's short ride:

The day remained very quiet. Here is Route 66 looking east:

And here you're looking west from the same spot:

We saw a sign telling us we were in Canadian County. We checked online here at the motel and the county was named after the Canadian River. We did not yet check how the river was named. This (water?) tower was impressive in the morning sun, and they got the flavor right:

I include this photo of a hill we had just cycled down. I cannot say we cruised or coasted the entire way down because it was just before this hill that the wind woke up. We actually had to pedal down:

Shortly after the hill we came to a long bridge over the Canadian River. A half day off has given us extra time, so I checked into this, too, on the internet and learned that the bridge is 3,944 feet long. We had it all to ourselves riding across. We stopped at the other end for a few minutes, and a bunch of cars promptly came past. We lucked out:

From the bridge to our motel was only about three miles, but the wind had really kicked up and we knew without a doubt that we made the right choice to settle here for a longer-than-normal rest, which it already has been.

We hope to get an early start tomorrow for a similar day, but a bit longer at 38-40 miles.

MAP - Cycling Route 66 across Oklahoma

Our five days of riding in Oklahoma have taken us about two-thirds the way across the state. Kansas is to the north, Texas to the south and west, and Missouri and Arkansas to the east.

Route 66 follows a similar path to Highway 44, visible on this map:

Photos are now posted for day 23, by the way.

Day 25 - Edmond to El Reno, Oklahoma

Day 25 of our tour
October 28, 2016
42.9 miles today
2032 feet of climbing 
(1171.2 miles, cumulative)
(45,695 feet of climbing, cumulative)


Today was a character building day. The first 25 miles were through the very spread out Oklahoma City on busy roads, and the last 17 miles were on the two lane Route 66 and featured a white line at the side of our lane with grass and gravel right next to it. Namely, no shoulder. There was lots of traffic. We had no close calls whatsoever the entire day, fortunately.

Then there was the temperature, hotter than the last few days. The wind blew as strong as it has yet, but from the south. Since we were going due west all day, we had a cross wind, and it was challenging to keep the bike tracking near the shoulder without going either into the lane or off the side. Our pace was slower than usual.

All of the above added up to an excellent excuse to stop well before noon and share a pint of vanilla bean ice cream:

While we have not seen as much full color in Oklahoma as we did in the Ozarks of Missouri, occasionally a bright tree appears along the road, like this one:

Route 66 memorabilia were largely absent today except for this old bridge which is actually in use on a side road that our map directed us to take:

It was impressive to see how well the bridge is being cared for, as the girders had no rust at all:

Having covered today's flora above, the main fauna that caught our attention was this flock of black birds. It was huge and was quite dramatic in the way the hundreds of them swarmed above us in one big dance:

Not many miles after the above bridge we found ourselves in a beautiful neighbourhood with carefully placed trees lining the road. Unlike previous areas where sections of the original Route 66 pavement have been left intact in their deteriorating state, this section of the route has been totally redone:

The first small town west of Oklahoma City is called Yukon, and two massive mills dominate the town, one on each side of the route. Here's a photo of one of them. The photo does not really convey the same feeling we had of being dwarfed by these structures when passing by:

The main street of Yukon still has buildings that echo the scene years ago. The cars, however, do not:

Both today in Oklahoma City and the last two days round Tulsa we have passed dozens of churches, and many of them are absolutely huge buildings. We've seen two of these mega churches so close together it's made us wonder how they can all have supporting congregations. There have been so many that we've decided not to take photos of any of them, but we thought it worth a mention.

All this sightseeing happens only when we keep pedaling, no matter what the conditions. On these hot days one of Jean's frequent questions when we stop for a break is, "Does my face look like I'm getting too hot?" Today, at our last break with about two miles to go, the answer was "yes." After a rest in the shade we carried on with no problem, and we are comfortable tonight.

More strong southerlies and high temperatures are predicted for tomorrow. The distance to the next accommodation would be about 46 miles. We haven't decided yet what we'll do.

Day 24 - Bristow to Edmond, Oklahoma

Day 24 of our tour
October 27, 2016
64.2 miles today
3728 feet of climbing
(1128.3 miles, cumulative)
(43,663 feet of climbing, cumulative)


OK, I admit it. I must have been passing notes to classmates Marsha or Gayle, or maybe I was arranging the next marbles game with Chuck. But whatever was distracting me back in 5th grade on the day our geography lesson was about Oklahoma, I missed it. All these years I thought Oklahoma was flat. You know, just like the Dakotas, but farther south. How wrong I was! We did a lot of climbing again today, even more than yesterday.

But we slept well last night, were rested and ready, and our day went well. No big mechanical problems helped, too. We are having a small problem which I think is due to grit getting inside one of the cable housings. I'm having trouble shifting the internal gear hub into the lowest gear. This started three days ago, and I think I need to do some more cleaning and lubricating. I had it working flawlessly when we left this morning, but by the end of today's ride it was again hesitating on me.

As we packed up in the little house where we spent last night, I had to take three photos to capture some of its uniqueness.

The headboard in the smaller of the two bedrooms:

The wash basin in the bathroom, set into an old dresser:

The lariat, apparently well-used, on the clothes' stand in the larger bedroom:

I did not get a photo of the ceiling, the majority of which was corrugated steel panels. Cowboy photos and nicknacks were everywhere. It was a comfortable stay of a different sort. Fortunately, we slept well and had lots of energy for today. It helped that there was no wind to speak of, and the sun did not make an appearance until the afternoon.

We started out in the dark watching the weather channel and hearing about the fog alerts on the very highway we were to use. By the time it was light, we decided the fog was OK to ride in, though we donned our hi-vis vests and put fresh batteries in our very bright rear-facing blinker that sits atop our safety triangle.

Morning fog ahead of us:

And to the side of us:

So thick that we got wet just riding along in it:

But we could tell the drivers were seeing us when they moved over long before reaching us:

I thought Jean looked great in her hi-vis vest and wind shirt, buttoned up to keep the morning breeze from chilling her front:

She wasn't so sure that the reflective ankle bands really added anything to her fashion statement:

This former gas station and the older cars in one of the small towns the route went through caught our eye. (I wonder what color it would have been when open.) There have been fewer of the old stations still standing here in Oklahoma:

Not all of them get renovated. I wondered how old this rock work was:

Our road was not exactly "long and winding" as much as "long and up-and-down," though I cannot find the melody in my head for the latter description. We'd make our way up the long climbs at under 7 miles per hour, and then blast down (well, "blast" for us) at 28 mph. Here's a segment of Route 66 in the afternoon after the fog has burned off and the sun has been out for a while:

Pastoral scenes at the side of Route 66 were frequent, and the closer we got to Oklahoma City, the nicer the farms looked:

We were somewhat surprised to see large fields with very red soil:

The geometry of the round hay bales is always attractive to us:

This big circular barn with a domed roof was interesting. Alas, we did not stop to investigate:

There were other photos we did not get with the camera, but only in our minds. For example, we've cycled past quite a few farms with horses, and some with donkeys, too. The animals often stop eating the grass and look up and follow us as we pass. It's been fun to watch.

Oklahoma has the most of two events, one pleasant and one less so, of any state we've been in. The pleasant one has been the number of motorcycle riders either coming toward us and passing, or coming from behind and passing, who give us the motorcyclists' two-finger salute. Held out to the side, or slightly pointed down, two fingers in a V means (as I understand it) "greetings, it's great to see you making your way on two wheels." To be so honoured by motorcyclists is a neat feeling. 

The less-pleasant experience has been the number of pickup truck drivers who have to wait a moment to get around us, and then pass with less than optimal clearance and accelerate in such a way as to leave us in a cloud of diesel exhaust. There have not been many, and no one has come dangerously close, but there have been more here than in other states.

This area called Edmond is really an eastern suburb of Oklahoma City. We have not done route planning for the next few days yet. But, we will continue to head south and west. Hot weather is in the forecast again.