Cycle 22.5 Miles Towards Sand Springs

PSO (Public Service of Oklahoma) Bike Trail along Arkansas River in Tulsa



Tuesday, Nov.4, I spent the night on the living room floor trying to get a kink out of my back. Don't know how I got it but yesterday morning it started hurting and didn't go away all day. I put two pieces of foam on the living room floor and piled up some blankets. It took me until 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. to go to sleep but I finally got five good hours of rest. The good news is my kink was gone when I got up and didn't return. That was weird. Usually back issues don't disappear so easily with me.

We had our leftover Union Cafe breakfast this morning; pretty hearty for us but we plan to ride later. Around 10:15 I called St. Joe's Hospital in my hometown to see how Dad was doing. Mom answered in a low voice. Dad is napping so I didn't get to talk to him. She says his doctor was in already and they are keeping him one more day. They hope to release him to go home tomorrow. I called Mike to tell him the news.

Bob and I read for a while waiting for it to warm up. Then we have a bowl of Ham Hodge-Podge Soup for lunch and pack up the bikes to hit the trail. We are so delighted to go down the steep hill of Turkey Mountain at 1:20 p.m. that we don't realize until we get to the bottom that neither of us locked the truck. We can't believe it but we have to cycle back up that hill. It's only a mile but it's straight up. No fun at all but we'll enjoy our ride more knowing the truck is as safe as can be in this day and age.

Man-made rapids for whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River in Tulsa, OK

It's another beautiful fall day although the wind out of the north is chillier than I thought. Good thing the sun is so bright. We ride right into the teeth of the wind all the way along the Arkansas River. It's tough going. There's a new Route 66 pedestrian walkway over the road to go out to Sand Springs but the cyclists still have to cross the street. Go figure. We go out just over 11 miles and turn around.

The firefighters are having a drill in a smoky metal building. They're done by the time we return. I have a restroom break before we cross the River (we take the other loop back.) I almost crash a gal as I try to turn onto the bridge up a steep ramp. That was close. I don't make it all the way up Turkey Mountain the second time either! Oh well. We get back to the truck 2 hours and 40 minutes and 22.5 miles later. We're exhausted but exhilarated.

New Route 66 Pedestrian Trail at 21st Street and Riverside in Tulsa, OK

We stop at Union for a paper, chain the bikes to the front of the RV and go inside for Amici leftovers. We're both starving as our meager bowl of soup wore off. Bob dumps our holding tanks and we relax with the paper. Game 6 of the World Series is tonight. I'll try to post my pictures tomorrow. It's 5:48 p.m. and 67 degrees. The high was 77, the low was 47 and the humidity is a perfect 25%.