Day 23 - Catoosa to Bristow, Oklahoma

Day 23 of our tour
October 26, 2016
54.4 miles today
2325 feet of climbing
(1064.1 miles, cumulative)
(39,935 feet of climbing, cumulative)

Just so you all know, we are fine in Bristow, OK. It was about 54 miles from last night's town, Catoosa. We started out with an hour of steady rain, but kept going, and the rain stopped. We ended up riding in sunshine. We had two flat tires so spent some time at the side of the road changing tubes (and one tire).

This town (Bristow) has only one motel, but it does not have good ratings. After an uncomfortable stay at the  "Park Hills" in Vinita, we kept looking for other options here. Our internet search turned up a realtor who has several small houses she rents out. We took one. (The Hummel Hideaway Cottages" they are called.) The next town is 19 miles away and that would have been too far.

Here are photos from today's ride...

We saw the sunrise from our room. The dome in the distance is a force 5 tornado-proof elementary school cafeteria:

When we stepped out to begin riding we saw this. Will we get the light sky, the medium sky or the dark sky, we wondered? The answer for the first hour was... the dark sky, complete with lightning, thunder and lots of rain:

We took no photos during the downpour. Our camera is not waterproof. Puddles were forming along the shoulder of the roads, and we had to take more of the lane than usual, while also watching to see that cars behind us were seeing us. 

after an hour or so, the rain slowed. We stopped here to take a few photos, and I took one of Jean ready of the rain:

We were surprised to see the number of churches in Tulsa. These photos are not very good, but we took them to remind us of the way churches appeared at many corners as we rode along:

Tulsa seems to have embraced the Route 66 memories. There is an arch and some street art:

Old meets new:

Close-ups of one of the horses and the dog in the car:

We assumed this was an early Route 66 bridge. The city has left it intact, and built a new one next door:

The old and the new. Somehow the new constructions does not have the same aesthetic appeal of the old one, to us:

On today's ride the trains were again along the route, both in terms of old ones on display, and a rail yard filled with current equipment for track upkeep:

We made it to Bristow and found the little house we had reserved via email with a woman we found online.