Cycle 20 Miles on Midland Valley Trail and Re-visit Amici's

View of Tulsa Skyline from Centennial Park on Midland Valley Trail
Friday, November 13, it wasn't until the end of the day that Bob shouted out "Hey, is this Friday the 13th?" Good thing we didn't know or we would never have cycled today. Turns out maybe we shouldn't have. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I got up at 8:00 to wispy clouds but the sun breaks through after a low of 54. I work on journal pages for an hour and a half. I went for a walk but Sandy and Brandy were not out. I'll catch her later. On my last lap around the campground I stop at the office and pick up our big packet of mail. I think it was the second week of August the last time I ordered our mail. I'll have to do better than that. I still have a few late birthday cards though so that's fun. Home to stretch.

We have a big breakfast in anticipation of cycling. I called Dean's RV Store and Nick says our thermostat came in yesterday. They are open until 1:00 tomorrow so we'll go by and pick it up in the morning. No time to browse the mail now. I walk up to find Sandy. She is inside brushing Brandy and invites me in for a tour of their deluxe Newmar motorcoach. It is one of the most open motorhome floorplans I've ever seen. Their kitchen table is built into a credenza that they have their computer on so all they have to do is turn sideways and it's a desk! Her convection oven has a rectangular rack that sits on hooks on the side walls of the oven. Mine is a three-legged round rack that rotates. She says hers works well and she didn't really adjust any of her recipes. Love their like colors and oak cabinets. We settle on 1:00 tomorrow for shopping. I'm so excited that we worked out a day to get together.

Taking a break at the fountains along the Arkansas River in Tulsa, OK

Home to pack my panniers, put on my bike shorts and help Bob load the bikes. We head to Turkey Mountain and zoom down the hill at 12:30. It was smooth sailing as we went north but the wind out of the south is lurking to kill us on the way back. As we take the pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas River we get blasted with a side wind and I really had to hold on tight to my handlebars to keep control of my bike.

We take the ramp over Riverside Drive and head north on the Midland Valley Trail. We only rode this once when we took our 50-miles round trip to Skiatook, OK. Today we plan to just go to where the trail ends and joins the streets downtown. It is kind of hilly on this part and we make it out just over 7.5 miles before we turn around. We stop at Centennial Park where we saw a wedding party last year and detour around the trail that runs through the park. I hop off for a photo op. What a pretty little park with a great view of the Tulsa skyline.

As we head south the wind is a killer. Some young boy comes out of the shadows under an overpass wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans and riding a black bike. I never saw him and almost mowed him over as I made a left out of the park back on to the Midland Valley Trail. Whew, that was close.

We take a break at the fountain along the Arkansas River. I take some pictures of the sculpture and the Pedestrian Bridge. Little did I know how hard the rest of our journey would be. We turn into the strong south wind and I can barely peddle. It is about 1:30 and I thought we'd get back to the truck around 2:45 based on prior rides. But we can barely keep a pace up that will keep Bob's odometer working (the wheels need to spin around 6 mph for it to work.) Good thing it's on his bike because I fall way behind. I start to feel like I did on the second day of our 3-day trip in Minnesota. So I decide I might be getting dehydrated in spite of already drinking three bottles of water. So we break open the Gatorade and that really helps.

We still takes twice as many breaks on the way back. We stopped by a fence and the wind was blowing so hard you can see in my photo the big brown leaves were plastered up against it. Finally we get to the cliff along the RR tracks by the River and the huge wall of the cliff shelters a little bit from the wind.

School's out so cyclers are starting to fly past us coming down Turkey Mountain about 30 mph. They keep saying "What's the matter? Can't take the hill?" We just keep our heads down and keep pedaling. Those poor suckers will find out on the way back just what the problem is. We finally arrive at the truck at 3:3) after decompensating going up the 11% grades to the top. Three hours to ride 20.4 miles. Boy, I sure feel like I had quite a workout.

We load the bikes and head straight home. Sandy and Brandy walk by as we are chaining the bikes up so Bob gets to meet Sandy. Of course he and Brandy bond immediately. We haul all of our gear inside. Bob showers while I take a walk and stretch. Then I get cleaned up and we head to Amici's for dinner. That place is dangerous when you're as hungry as I am.

I had Chicken Puttenesca (grilled chicken, portobella mushrooms, black olives, capers in a wine sauce.) It was heaven. Bob had Pork Medallion Special of the day but it turned out to be completely different than the pork medallions he ordered off the menu last time and liked so much. But no matter..he said these were even better if that was possible. It seems to be pork stuffed with pepperoni and some kind of white cheese with a marinara sauce. We ate two loaves of bread I think and then just had to try the Italian Creme Cake. Very rich. We rolled out with 'go' boxes.

Bob checks his tires as I snap a picture of all the huge leaves blown smack up against the fence by the strong winds.

Got a paper at the busy QT across the street and drove home in fading daylight. I went through the mail to see if anything needed attention but it all looks pretty mundane. I spend an hour updating my journal and we plan to watch Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It's 7:14 p.m. and 66 degrees. The high was 71 with 59% humidity.

Golf at South Lakes and Louie's Grill & Bar in Jenks

Thursday, November 12, I woke up on a board to 47 degrees this morning. It's only 55 inside but with high humidity it feels damp and cold. I vege out with my coffee on the loveseat and don't even work on my backlog of journal pages this morning. I go for a walk before breakfast. I saw Sandy and Brandy out for a walk earlier but it's too cold for them to be sitting out this morning. The sun is trying to peek through a gray haze without much success. Back home to stretch and have Crispy Thingies for reinforcement before golf.

We head to Jenks around 11:00. The parking lot is pretty full. It seems they had a ladies event earlier. We get right on. It's cool when we start but it warms up. The sun never gets very strong but the high gets to 73. I played much better on the front and seemed to have found my iron swing today. But I lost my drive on the back. At #15 the two groups in front of us joined up to be a fivesome (3 carts and one guy walking.) Yikes! We scurried over to 16 and played the last three holes into the clubhouse finishing up by 2:30.

It was a short drive to Louie's Grill and Bar in Jenks. I had 1/2 of a Reuben Sandwich and Tomato Gorgonzola Soup. Both were very good. Bob had a Club Wrap and Chips and Black Bean Salsa. They had a huge bar in the dining room where we ate and another full-service bar in a room behind a glass door. The waitress told another patron it was the Smoking Bar. Interesting.

We got a paper at Union on the way home. Our bike cover was coming loose from underneath our tires. Too much wind today. I went for a walk and had a stretch to keep my back in shape. We read the paper, had showers, snacked and tonight we will watch The Mentalist and Flash Forward.

Had a nice email from my brother Greg in North Carolina. He talked to Mom and Dad. He always wishes Dad well on Veterans Day. He says they were both doing well. I haven't talked to them since last week. I also had a photo of my niece Megan, looking very pregnant but so cute.

It's 6:18 p.m. and 63 degrees with 58% humidity.

India Palace and Home Depot

Wednesday, November 11, the sun greeted me as I opened the day/night shades at 8:00 a.m. to help heat up the RV. I worked on Jan. 2009 journal pages and photos until Bob got up and we had breakfast. On my morning walk I ran into Sandy and Brandy out sunning in their lawn chairs. I joined them and had a nice chat with Sandy about the trials and tribulations of moving your home down the road. She had some grand disaster stories; her own and those of friends. Makes me realize how lucky we have been. We're making a plan for a ladies shopping day soon.

Back home to stretch and shower. Bob and I head to India Palace for their buffet around noon. It's crowded today but same great food. Then we skirt around Southern Hills Golf Course, lying idle on this gorgeous day, to get to Home Depot on 71st. The have less pvc pipe than Lowe's did. Back to the drawing board.

Home to read the paper and work puzzles. Then I took another walk and ran into Bill, Sandy and Brandy again. We must be on the same afternoon schedule. He's going to Ponca City overnight soon for work so Sandy and I will plan our shopping day. I asked him about pvc sources in Tulsa be he didn't know of anywhere. I struck out on the Internet this morning. Bill suggested the real Yellow Pages so I stopped in the office and made some notes. Not too easy without my reading glasses.

Country Music Awards on tonight. Maybe I'll take a break from my journal and watch them. Had an email from my brother Greg in NC. My nephew Jason is coming home in 65 days from his overseas job in Afghanistan. Greg is making a count down flip chart and solicited input from family and friends. What a great idea. Also had an email from my brother Mike. He doesn't know how to get a camera phone picture to an email picture either. Maybe Casey will read this and have pity on us low-tech types. Stand by for Mike's garden photo.

It's 5:05 p.m. and 69 degrees after a high of 77 and a low of 52. The humidity is 41%. We're probably going to regret not taking advantage of this great day. But it stayed cool with a north wind until 2:30 when the wind turned around from the south. Oh well, we'll hope for more of the same tomorrow.

Too Chilly to Cycle

Tuesday, November 10, I get up at 5:53 a.m. after sleeping soundly. I passed out last night about an hour earlier than usual while reading. I guess the golf tired me out. The good news is my back is no worse for wear after the golf. I work on journal pages and sip my coffee (love the Dunkin' Donuts Hazelnut that my friend Liz in Austin introduced me to last Christmas.) It has been my coffee of choice when I can find it in the grocery store.

A Duchesne High classmate, Mike Wilkison, from my hometown of St. Charles, MO, sent an invite on Facebook to Sing Out St. Charles, MO. I was excited to sign up and I hope we can find some of our old local friends of this offshoot of the national "Up With People" organization. What fun we had. I even met my hubby of 34 years at one of these events.

Patti was on the Facebook chat line when I got on the second time and we visited briefly. I took a break from the laptop and went for my morning walk and stretch. We had a light breakfast and somehow the morning passed while I cleaned up the kitchen. We left around 10:30 to try to find black PVC pipe at Ace Hardware at 61st Street and Peoria. They didn't have anything in the over 4-inch diameter range. We browsed around and I found a small American flag for Gertrude for the bargain price of 79 cents!

On to Food Pyramid where we both drooled over another bargain cake in their bakery; this one was Red Velvet. We resisted. Bought a boatload of fruit instead. Today we had to buy our Tulsa World newspaper. Our last stop was The Delta Cafe where I enjoyed grilled catfish and that yummy squash casserole they serve. Their vegetable beef soup was a winner too. Bob had the turkey dinner and we both enjoyed jalapeno corn bread and wheat rolls on the side served with honey and butter.

Home to read the paper and work the puzzles. The sun refuses to make an appearance until about 2:45 when it finally gets up to 67 degrees. But it will be dark by 5:30 so we blow off our intended bike ride today. The wind has turned around and is out of the north so that chill factor is putting us off. Maybe tomorrow. It's 2:49 p.m. and 67 degrees with 62% humidity. I get one last walk in for the day and run into Bill, Sandy and Brandy. Sandy said they got their new eyeglasses today and did some shopping; too much for Bill's liking. She got a free phone upgrade as well but it took forever. She says Bill's job has been extended a week so they are staying. I sure hope we can fit in a shopping trip.

I go home to eat leftovers and watch V, NCIS LA, and The Good Wife.

Golf at South Lakes, Jenks, OK

Monday, November 09, I was up until midnight watching House reruns so I slept in until 7:30. Spent about an hour cleaning out my email messages. It is cloudy this morning but I'm surprised at how warm it is when I go out for a walk before breakfast. The low was only 59 degrees last night and the humidity is over 65% this morning so it feels even warmer. I try to mail a letter to Mom and Dad at the office but they are closed when I zoom by the first time at 8:30.

As I pass by Sandy's big motorcoach I spy her sitting out in her lawn chair with Brandy nearby in her own lawn chair. Sandy says her little Llapsa prefers it to the doggie bed they got for her. I sit down on the concrete to pet Brandy and Sandy and I chat for a bit. Bill is working but he calls to confirm that they are going to look for new eyeglasses today. We need to do that when we get back to Austin.

As we chat and she asks where we're going next I realize where I heard Marietta, OK, where they are from. It is very close to my brother's lake place on Lake Texoma. She tells me to check out Pelican's Landing in Cedar Mills. We did try to go there once and it was closed for remodeling. She says they had a fire but they are open again now. She raved about their catfish. I chatted so long Nancy arrived and opened the office so I went over to mail my letter.

Back home Bob was stretching and asked if I got lost on my walk. I joined him for a stretch and then we had Crispy Thingies for breakfast. My friend Joyce in Elgin serves these as appetizers and they are wonderful. So wonderful we decided they were breakfast food! I thought I had the recipe digitally but I don't. I'll post it later. (Oops! Here it is)

Crispy Thingies (Joyce Love, Elgin, TX, Christmas 2008)

1 lb. sausage, browned and drained
2 tablespoons butter
2 jars Kraft Old English Cheese
10 English Muffins

Mix first three ingredients and spread not quite to edges on 20 halves of muffins. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cut each muffin half into quarters and serve as appetizers.

I like that you can make them ahead and freeze them as half muffins. Then thaw them and quarter them and reheat on a cookie sheet to get them very crisp. Joyce serves them as appetizers in quarters but we also heat a half muffin in the toaster oven and eat them for breakfast. Nothing lo-cal about these but they are very tasty and easy to make.


We head to the golf course in Jenks around noon. Each year we plan to play this course but we haven't yet. Today is the day. It's not very crowded and we get right on. He asks if we're 55 for the senior discount and we can now both say yes. We play this very nice course (almost has a country club feel) for $12.00 each to walk 18 holes. That's quite a savings over the $23.00 each if you're not a senior.

The fairways are in great shape. They have just sanded the greens but they are in good shape and quite fast. I play the Red Tees at 5,242 yards and a slope rating of117. Bob plays the Blue Tees at 6,413 yards and a slope rating of 119. My main goal today is not to get my back in an uproar. I can hardly make contact with my irons on the front and my score reflects that. Oddly enough I drive really well. On the back I adopted a new strategy and played mostly fairway and rescue clubs and did better.

We were both astounded by some old guy with a metal detector on one of the holes on the front nine. He was beeping that thing all around the green, actually walking on the green with it, while we were pitching, chipping and putting. I thought I had seen it all until he came along. On top of that the golf course abuts the airport here in Jenks. They were running some kind of training exercises for small plans doing bump and runs on the runway. That got annoying at they came very low over the fairways all day. But we survived it all.

Afterwards we went to Los Cabos on The Riverwalk in Jenks for dinner. Actually we were still in time for lunch. I had Mango Chicken Salad and was surprised when there was no mango in it. It did have hearts of palm and candied pecans that were tasty. Bob had Mahi-Mahi topped with mango shrimp. He shared some of his mango. As we walked in the heaters were on outside. Very weird since the high was 81 degrees today.

We got a paper on the way home. I took a walk, stretched and declared my back to have survived 18 holes of golf. I relaxed with the paper and took a shower. I just have time to update my journal before House.

It's 6:35 p.m. and 70 degrees with 55% humidity.

Parachuting Santa at Union Cafe

Parachuting Santa at Union Street Cafe
Sunday, November 8, I slept like a rock and woke up early at 6:00 a.m. Got up and worked on my journal-Jan '09-as the sun paints a pink sunrise in the eastern sky. I work on-line continuously until 9:00 when we have a light breakfast. A quick walk and a good stretch and I'm ready to vacuum. Bob makes an adjustment to my bike brakes in anticipation of riding this afternoon. I am sad to report that OU lost to Nebraska last night. Bummer.

We go to lunch at 12:30 at Union Street Cafe. We sit in the halfway finished Banquet Room and have a new waitress. Today is her first day; well she has worked at the Sapulpa location but she's unfamiliar with the menu here. Finally we find daily specials that they haven't run out of. I have meatloaf and Bob has stuffed pork roast (stuffed with spinach or perhaps collard greens.) We split carrot cake, a huge piece for $2.25, that tastes more like a delicious spice cake to me. I was a little bummed out by shoddy Christmas decorations thrown on the floor and not really arranged very nicely. But we did see a Santa hanging from a parachute that was kind of cute and wondered if he moved along the wire he was hanging on. Sure enough, a few minutes later our waitress came by and asked if we had seen Santa do his thing. She gave him a shove and he traveled back and forth across the wire, kicking off with his feet when he touched the wall. He sang a song as he zoomed on his 'zip line.' How cute!

This is our bargain cake from Food Pyramid; originally $8.99 it had a $5.00 off coupon attached!

We got a Sunday paper at QT. It it so cloudy and cool and the wind is still blowing when we emerge from the Cafe, that we decide to blow off the bike ride. We relax in our Euro chairs and read the paper and work the puzzles. I go for a walk after we recover the bikes. At 5:45 Bob points out this red sky at night so I go out to take a picture. The guy across the road is walking his dog and says "It looks like it's on fire doesn't it?" Wish I would have taken a picture of my red sky at morning and I could have posted both of them.

I got a 'multimedia' message on the phone from my brother Mike at Lake Texoma. A colorful picture of his vegetable garden output. I'm too low-tech to know how to download it to get it to my laptop so I can post it here. Maybe he'll send it to me by email (hint, hint if you're reading this Mike!) It's 5:52 p.m. and 67 degrees with 63% humidity.

The sun sets behind The Titanic

Fish Daddy's and Lowe's

Patti's quilted wall hanging of the famous flag pole at Hay Lake. Blair framed these unique works of art and hung them in the bedroom of cabin four.
Patti's quilted wall hanging of the old log cabin #1 at Hay Lake.
Cabin 4 at Hay Lake on Angler's Isle in Minnesota
Saturday, November 7, I finally got a good night's rest. My back feels about 90% today. I got up at 7:00 and opened every day/night shade to let in the glorious morning sunshine. Worked on Good Sam journal first thing this morning. I had a walk and a stretch before breakfast. Saw Sandy walking Brandy. Told her Bob said the 3-star crossword the other day was a tough one; a hidden triple led to a type 1 unique rectangle. She said it was long since in the trash. Bill is working today so I asked if she was up for a shopping trip but they had plans to shop later. Back home I cleaned the bathroom and then had a manicure and a pedicure. I printed Patti's Fried Turnip recipe to mail to my Dad.

Bob and I left for lunch just after noon. Forgot it was Saturday and fought the heavy traffic on 71st over to Fish Daddy's. We should have taken the freeway but we wanted to hunt for hardware stores. I had Cedar Plank Salmon, one of my favorites, and Bob had the fish sandwich. On the way home we stopped at Lowe's to look at PVC pipe for our new sewer hose compartment. The 4" diameter is too small at $8.89 for eight feet. The 6" diameter is $26.99! We're going back to the drawing board. We get a paper at Union and go home to read it.

The old log cabin on Hay Lake

I take another walk. Then I try to call my youngest brother Eric in NC but get no answer. I did reach my friend Blair later in the afternoon at Hay Lake in Minnesota. What a nice chat we had. And I kept her from mowing and raking--too bad. I thought it was only appropriate that I post some pictures from Angler's Isle Resort on Hay Lake in Minnesota. What fond memories we have over the past 35 years there with Blair and her family and friends.

I'm cooking our leftover carrots and cabbage from the soup ingredients the other day. I'll add them to our Italian stuff for dinner. It's 5:15 p.m. and 80 degrees after a high of 86 and a low of 58. The humidity is only 29%! This is my idea of fall.

1929 Studebaker RV-check it out at this website. I'm currently reading the Henry Ford book that mentions him camping across America with Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. One of my On-line RV Chat pals, Peggi, from Canada had this link on her travel blog. You can check her out at RVLiving