Day 48 - ending near Kenton, OK - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

July 1, 2023

Day 48 - ending near Kenton, OK

Day 48 - Clayton, NM to Kenton, OK

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It seemed like it rained all night, but I'm sure that's not the case. Woke up at 5:00am to a cool morning. I put on my jacket and worked on the report for two days ago, getting that posted by 7:00am.

At 7:10am I rode back over to 87 Restaurant for breakfast. I was their first customer of the day. Ordered the Home Style Plate breakfast, as did most everyone else who came in later. I was back at my campsite at 8:13am. The bike was all packed and ready to go at 10:24am. This campground has a good wifi connection, so I wanted to see if I could get yesterday's report done and posted. I sat at the bench in front of the camp store and got that done, but it was now almost noon. I bought Gatorade and an orange soda from the camp store, and was on my way at 12:02pm.

Today's destination is Black Mesa State Park at the far western edge of the Oklahoma panhandle. Fortunately it was a planned short day - only 39 miles. The first part of the day is not on the GPT, and that is due to my wanting to see a tri-point, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) marker for where the borders of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas meet. Before that I would be near the northwest corner of Texas, where there's another NGS marker to see.

I rode out of Clayton, New Mexico on US-56, and made it to the corner of Texas at 1:00pm. However, I wasn't able to find the marker. I did find a marker pointing to the main marker. Looks like the ground has been disturbed and perhaps the main marker is no longer here. From that point I got on Texas State Line Road, a gravel road going straight east. I arrived at the tri-point at 1:41pm - the same time a family in a van showed up. The family is from Iowa. They'd flown to Denver and rented the car for a short vacation in the area. This tri-point is on a pedestal, so it was easy to find.

At 1:50pm I turned north on the road that runs along the state line between New Mexico and Oklahoma. I crossed US-56 on that road, and kept going north. I noticed that US-56 has a nice shoulder in New Mexico and no shoulder in Oklahoma. The campground host this morning had cautioned me about that. I was glad my routing didn't have me going northeast from here on the highway.

The road I was on north of US-56 is a paved road with little traffic. Great riding on this beautiful day. I did have a headwind, but it helped keep me cool.

At 2:48pm I took a break to eat a granola bar. The road here curved east for a few miles before curving back north, which put me squarely in Oklahoma. I noticed my DeLorme GPS labels the road 'N0020 Road', but intersection signs show it as 'NS2'. Simple, I like that.

Seeing that I had a 2-bar cell phone signal, I decided to try talking to my father-in-law with the phone sitting on my front bag while I rode. Using the speaker phone feature, that worked very well. This was a fun phone call for me. I got caught up on the weather they've been having, including the lack of rain for so long and then several inches in a couple of days. And the haziness there due to smoke blowing in from Canada. There were gradual ups and downs on NS2. On one of the downhill sections the phone call dropped. When I made it back up the next hill, the phone gave the sound that it does when it receives a message. It was a text from my father-in-law wishing me well.

At 4:31pm, road NS2 met up with EW20. This put me back on the GPT route. East for 6 miles to NS8, then north for about 8 miles would get me to the Black Mesa State Park. Along NS8 some birds were bothered by my passing. I spent too much time trying to get a picture. I certainly don't know what type of birds they are. I don't recall seeing them before.

Arrived at the state park just after 7:00pm. A sign along the entrance road stated "BEFORE setting up and occupying any site YOU MUST make a reservation at RV.OKparks.com". I continued on to the campground office. There was a park ranger sitting in a pickup truck nearby. I asked about registering and the need for a reservation. The ranger said this other fellow here could help me out. The office had just closed, but he had a key. Inside was a woman, who was able to set me up with a site. It turns out that the fellow who let me in the office and the woman are the campground hosts. They said they'd be surprised if I had any cell signal. I checked and I didn't. They said the business that that installed the cell towers here wasn't going to let any other provider use their towers. Eventually however, the company did allow AT&T use, but not Verizon, which is what I have.

The camp office is also a camp store, so I picked out items for supper, then was offered a free bottle of cold water from the camp workers' personal stock. They also told me they'd be open at 8:00am tomorrow and have coffee available.

I was that my campsite, site #14, at 7:18pm. Sat down first thing to eat my supper and then got set up. Later in the evening I walked over to see the park's swimming hole. Cliffs are on the far side, but you're not allowed to dive from there. I had no sunset picture for today, but the swimming area did provide an evening view.

I so enjoyed today. Meadowlarks were singing to me, the ups and downs were gentle, received encouraging words from my father-in-law, and kind people helped me get set up at this campground.

Jeff

Spent: $18.39 plus $4 (breakfast) + $6.75 (Gatorade, orange soda) + $6.35 (supper items) + $22 (campsite) = $57.49