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.