Concluding Thoughts

Kudos to the KAMO Bicycle Touring Group!

Notes For Other Cycle-Tourists. This is a great mini-tour for someone who wants to experience a bit of southeastern Oklahoma. If you prefer to stay inside, you could design a tour to stay inside at Sardis Lake, and at Lake Wister State Park. Bud and Carolyn found an AirB&B (or similar private rental) near Cedar Lake as well, so staying inside every night is possible. It may be best to ride the route during the week, and then you won't have to deal with the 2 night minimum stay at the cabins near Sardis Lake or at Lake Wister. It can be miserably hot and humid in Oklahoma in the summer, so you may prefer to ride this either in the spring or fall. However, much of the route consists of tree-lined rural roads, so if you do ride it in the summer you would have shade for rest stops.

While Oklahoma overall is NOT a bike-friendly state, especially as compared to many of the western states, this particular route is about as friendly as you will find. Much of it is on low traffic county roads. Shoulders exist on some, but not all, of the state highways you ride, though oftentimes they aren't very wide. But the traffic just isn't that bad, even on the state highways. Folks in this part of the world aren't accustomed to seeing cycle tourists, so you will be a novelty to them. That's not a bad thing, especially when you are engaging in one-on-one conversation with a store proprietor for example, but it also means that the yokel in the big pickup truck may not understand why a bicyclist is blocking the lane on HIS road.

If you camp at the 3 lakes in the summertime, you may want to bring along your swim clothes. You should make reservations for camping at all 3 lakes in advance. "Wild camping" might be possible near Cedar Lake and Wister Lake where the route goes through some National Forest and Wildlife Management Areas. Best do your own research if that interests you.

This route doesn't require that you are in top physical condition, but you should at least be comfortable of your ability to ride a 50-mile distance with some hills. This part of Oklahoma is NOT flat.

Dogs. You will have a lot of dog encounters on this route. Fortunately, I did not encounter even a single dog that was real aggressive. Most will just bark at you as you bike past their yard; they are just doing their job of protecting their territory. The ones that wandered out onto the road were easily rebuked by pointing a finger and saying "Git!" None of them actually tried to attack or bite me. Your mileage may vary of course, and while you should always be cautious I don't think you need be overly concerned about dogs on the route. It's just a part of rural life that many dogs are allowed to roam without restraint. I brought a can of "HALT" pepper spray with me, but never once did I think I would need to use it.

The KAMO Group. I was happy to discover the KAMO group and I look forward to other tours with them. If you have been wanting to give it a try, this group's short tours are a great way to introduce yourself to bicycle touring. While this was touted as a self-supported tour, I would consider it to be in the "self-supported lite" category. The tour leaders alternated riding and driving their pickup, so there was an emergency sag if needed. Mind you, I'm not complaining at all, I'm just pointing out that it wasn't "fully" self-supported, whatever that means. If you are inexperienced and are considering doing a long self-supported tour, participating with the KAMO group in a short tour is a great way to get some experience.

Bigfoot. I was very disappointed to not encounter Bigfoot on the route. However, in the best of conspiracy theory traditions, just because there is zero credible evidence that he exists, that alone isn't conclusive. Maybe he just hasn't been discovered yet. I mean, hey, come on now; there's also zero evidence to support the supernatural and paranormal mythologies and superstitions that comprise the world's major religions, but billions of people still believe in them. When there's zero evidence, you have to have "faith" to believe in something; apparently some people have faith in the existence of Bigfoot. So maybe I'll attend the annual Bigfoot Festival someday; yeah, I don't think so. Oh ye of little faith...

He Certainly Managed to Stay Hidden From Us

Personal Considerations. I planned to use this tour as a test of my ability to do a longer tour in the fall. At best I would have to give myself a C- grade on that test. Despite riding regularly all calendar year so far, I struggled to complete each day of the tour. I just haven't regained full use of my right leg yet (see the intro sections if you want to hear me whine about my back problem - or better yet, save yourself the misery of listening to my complaining). So I was a little depressed after the tour, to be honest. I can ride, I can do the distance and the hills, but it's just harder than it should be even though I'm riding slower than I should be. So as of this moment, I'm uncertain about my fall touring plans. I will keep riding, and I will keep open the possibility that I might ride the ACA Great Rivers South route, but I'm not going to do it unless I regain more strength in my right leg. So we'll see; if not this year, there's always next year.

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