Segment 4: Ride Day 18 - Gettin' my kicks... and going slow.

Route: Oklahoma City, OK to Weatherford, OK (SWOSU - Southwest Oklahoma State University... they had extra empty dorm rooms to share!)

Distance: 73.72 miles

Riding Time: 5 hours: 40 minutes

Average Speed: 13.0 mph

Max: 35.0 mph
Weather: Mostly sunny. High of 86. Winds out of the N to NE at 5-9 mph. Pretty much perfect. :-)

Notable Notes from the Day

• This morning started out with a less-early wake up call (5am wake up - 5:15 wake up again, stretch, pack - 5:45am packed bags out to the trailer - 6am breakfast and cleanup - 6:45am circle up with bikes - 7am departure). This was just fabulous.
• Our pre-ride devotional by Melissa was great. The gist of it was this: "Sometimes you go slow. But that's ok. Love is slow. God is slow. The journey is beautiful." This turned out to be absolutely how my day went. I spent most of the 73 miles today going at a leisurely pace (alright, some would call it slow), enjoying every long-looking mile of the classic Oklahoma Route 66 and laughing uproariously at the antics of my fellow bike companions for the day (mostly "Geezerman" Tom and "Nitrous" Nicole). Also, I'm afraid the term "Goofy Girl" might be sticking to me like hot bubble gum on a tennis shoe as a result of our inability to cease amusing ourselves, talking in accents, roaring and passing each other on downhills and uphills and singing whatever came to our heads the minute it managed to do so. (Note: I do like the above name much better than "Belching Beauty" - or something like that which so kindly suggest at the first rest stop today. Thanks boys.)
• I think part of the reason I went so slow today might be because of this lovely little picture to the right of this list. So, it turns out that my mom was right, after all. If you eat a little candy (you know, like "in moderation" and "every now and then") it is just fine. Alternately, if you eat half a bag of Twizzlers bits in a single sitting (with a little help from friends... but not much) you aren't going to feel the greatest the next morning. Also, candy doesn't give you energy... or at least not for very long. Dang. Mama, thanks a million for sending these and I promise to take at least two days to finish off the rest!

And now... check out some other photo highlights from the day! (oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!)

[Still early-ish morning] Nicole: "Yup, that's just about right." Me: "Yup. I'd say so."
(on a more serious note, this probably had to do with a tornado that hit El Reno earlier this year, but it also seemed to have a lot to say about our day at that point..)

Hmm... where could we be? (Left side of the road...)

(... right side of the road) Oh right! We're in the Great Plains! Hello grain elevators.

I love this sign. (p.s. The chicken actually sticks out from the wall)

Eeeks!

Just kidding. :-)

Nicole had to go to the bathroom really bad. So did I. We asked the Universe for a place to do this in the middle of nowhere and lo appeared this fabulous little ditch protected by an embankment and lined with really high grasses. Glory Hallelujah! This restful stop was followed by more biking and a rousing rendition of "In the Jungle" followed by the chorus (at the top of our lungs), "We Peeee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eeeee- um bum ba wehh!!"

Alright, seriously, this isn't even bike grease on my leg this time. I ran into something in the ditch somewhere? How on earth does this happen at least once a day?!?

Cool house! Cobb? Straw bale?

Geezerman.

We decided to stop for DELICIOUS chocolate malts at the historic Lucille's road house on Route 66, 3 miles before our lodging for the night. Who says being at the back of the pack can't be fun and involve a stop or two?!

After we all arrived and got settled into our dorm rooms at SWOSU for the night we went here. The supper team made a "versatile, colorful and edible" (their words) and delicious (my word) meal of quinoa, teriyaki chicken and veggies at this Christian fraternity hang-out room near the campus where we are staying. It was great.

My dorm room for the night. Each person has their own room... and can sleep as close to their bike as they want to. (Charley and I are gonna snuggle tonight! Mmm-hmm!)