How could we have anything other than a lovely night’s sleep in such a wonderful home? Finally, we woke refreshed. Robert was already out of the house when we finally mobilised so we enjoyed the company of Becky over breakfast.
Last night we had parked the bikes in the sunroom, so I went in there for the first time since then only to find my front tyre deflated again. I dragged the lame machine out onto the front lawn and set about removing the front wheel.
As I was unable to find anything sticking through the tyre I needed to find the hole in the inner tube so that I could at least isolate an area of the tyre to focus on. With the help of a little shampoo and a running kitchen tap, a small slow flow of bubbles was clear to see, just an inch from the valve. With this new information, I took another look at the tyre and sure enough, there was another puncture wound, but nothing obvious in the tyre that would put a hole in the inner tube. Not being an expert, all I could think of doing was giving the tyre a good rub down with my buff and keep my fingers crossed.
With the hole patched and a new inner tube in and up to pressure, everything appeared to be good, so we finished packing and prepared to hit the road. Robert had returned to the house by those time, so a quick photoshoot, an apple each from Becky, and a hug from our amazing hosts and we were back on the road.
Our GPS route was different from the Route 66 road signs, so we decided to let our Garmins freak out at every junction, demanding we do a U-turn and used our eyes instead. Robert and Becky had mentioned a few roadside attractions that we would see on the way out of town, so the going as a little slow with us jumping off and on the bikes at semi-regular intervals to take photos.
The route out of town wasn’t particularly busy, but the road condition, especially next to the gutter where we were being forced, wasn’t all that great. While our bikes are designed to take the punishment of a global tour, we weren’t out to prove anything on the streets of Tulsa in the knowledge that we are less than a third into our journey, so took it easy.
We eventually cleared the city limits with bikes unscathed and tyres holding pressure, which was a relief.
As we are hoping to attend a Bluegrass Festival in Arcadia this coming weekend, suggested by Josh, a Warmshowers host, we are a little ahead of schedule. We, therefore, decided to make today a lazy cycle day at 40 miles, with a campsite on the outskirts of Bristow as the planned destination.
With the temperature ranging between 35oC and topping out at 40oC, a full 20oC hotter than we had been lead to believe was the average for this time of year, the going was tough. Add to that our third day in a row of a strong headwind, with predominantly boring 65 mph roads (that is the maximum motor vehicle speed, not ours) and I have to admit to previously having more interesting days of cycling than today.
We passed through a couple of pretty towns, Sapulpa and Kellyville, and had few minor detours off the main road and back on to the original Route 66 where it existed, but these detours were quite demanding on both us and the bikes as the road surfaces were in a terrible state of disrepair.
We finally made it to Bristow and headed for the first place we knew we could buy a cold drink, which happened to be McDonald’s. Greeting us as we pulled up was a friendly chap that introduced himself as Stephan Wisotsky. Hearing that we are from Scotland, Stephan informed us that he has Scottish blood running through is veins, and not just any Scottish blood, but the blood of the Baird himself, Rabbie Burns.
Unfortunately, just when we were getting into the conversation with Stephan, a self-proclaimed Trump voter, now in exile from his home town of Boston as a result of that single vote, one of the two mobiles attached to his dungarees rang and he had to leave. Before he departed he offered us as floor space in his air-conditioned cabin for the night, rather than our plan of the campsite. The offer of air conditioning was tempting, but we declined with thanks.
Once cooled and hydrated thanks to Ronald we headed over to Wal-Mart to buy food to keep us going for a couple of my days. We did this in case we are tempted to take a day off tomorrow and slob around the campsite, which would be our first day out of the saddle since Springfield Illinois, two weeks ago.
It was only a short cycle from Wal-Mart to the RV and campground, but far enough to be glad of doing the shopping while we were still in the town.
We checked in, paid our $15 and were shown to the enormous tent field by a young girl in a golf cart to find we would be the only occupants. The tent field is served by a wooden gazebo, so we pitched our tent next to it and have since made it our home (from where I am typing this post, while Deborah is reading her Kindle).
After the heat of the day, I can honestly say that for the first time since arriving in the US, air-conditioned rooms excepted, the air feels a little chilly tonight. Hopefully, it’s as cool in the tent when we turn in and we may, just may, get another good night’s sleep!
Sounds like a good day and you are ahead of schedule.
Yup… taking it easy for a few days so that we don’t over shoot the Bluegrass Festival, assuming it is still happening. Definately needing a bit of a break… As I keep saying, we aren’t cyclists, so we can’t keep doing what cyclists do day in and day out without a break!