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.