The day into Vinita, OK (hometown of Dr. Phil!) from Joplin, MO was an epic day for bike and build-Boston to Santa Barbara, and a great day for me. I was sweep, which usually means that you have a not so good day because you and your partner in crime have to be the last riders in for the day. It usually makes for a very long day. However, it turned out great.
The day started off poorly with a sick feeling and a flat tire when I woke up. I didn't take me too long to change it though so it wasn't that bad. Better to find it when I have a floor pump accessible versus a hand pump.
My day got beter with breakfast. The night before the president of the local habitat chapter realized we didn't have breakfast plans so she called a restaurant that agreed to open its doors to us and let us order whatever we wanted off the menu. I got French Toast, sausage, and OJ.
Then it was 8 and we were off. It was a later start then we like but free breakfast is worth it. Within 4 miles, I got another flat after I roled over a piece of glass. Lenny, my partner in crime for the day, helped me change it quick so it didn't slow us down.
The next 15 miles or so we chatted and went along at a leisurely pace until we hit kansas and then Oklahoma where we stopped with Jane and Sophie because they had a flat. Luckily, we were only there for about 5 minutes before it was fixed and off we went again.
Our next stop came as we found the entire group (practically) swimming in a river they'd stumbled upon. Being sweep, we had to stop and enjoy ourselves. Upon leaving, it didn't take us long to stumble upon the entire group again, stopped at a huge field of sunflowers. It was breathtaking. We were setting to head off again when Dani discovered she had a flat so we had to wait with her. While waiting, I frolicked in the field of sunflowers.
The next destination on our journey was lunch, but Lenny had other ideas. He stopped at a chinese buffet and then a BBQ place literally 1/2 a mile before lunch to try to score free food. He did, and he roled into lunch carrying two bags of food around his neck. Since we were sweep and everyone else had mostly eaten, we could enjoy the majority of the food. Good idea at the time, bad idea the next 15 miles or so.
We didn't leave lunch until 12:40 or so but luckily it was only a 70 mile day (only, I know)so we had about 33 miles after lunch. We booked it in and made it in by 3pm. Lenny and I kept the conversation flowing all day and had a pretty great time. The entire day I kept saying how absolutely GORGEOUS it was. We're definitely in the southwest where ranches and animals pepper the landscape. The last two riding days we lucked out with pretty great weather (no rain!) and a good view.
The day also included a trip to the world's largest mcdonalds, overlooking highway 44. We got back, had dinner, gave another presentation (this time with young people in attendance, and had a pretty fun Affordable Housing Curriculum presentation where we teach each other about affordable housing issues. After that, I started to read "Dreams From My Father" by Barack Obama and passed out early. All in all it was a fantastic day.
Yesterday we rode into Tulsa. We were on Route 66 for 50 miles and saw a giant blue whale. The church had a DELICIOUS potluck for us and we gave another presentation. We're getting into BBQ country and I'm loving it. Today we had a build day with the local habitat chapter. It went pretty well and we got a lot done but they didn't really have quite enough work for all of us. I did work on a shed though. Fun times.
I can't explain how excited I am for the southwest.
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