I have been riding my Fuji Tour bike for training and "saving" the Surly Disc Trucker for tours.  So today I took the Surly (his name is "Harvey" FWIW) out for a 16 mile spin to be certain all was well; and indeed, all was well and I declared Harvey to be fit for the adventure. 

I needed a few items, so some shopping was in the cards; a can of HALT pepper spray in case of rabid dog or Bigfoot attack, and some shorts for offbike wear (seems as though all I own have holes in them or paint on them).  So I got that done early in the week and packed the camping gear and such in the panniers and test-fitted the panniers to the racks.  Oh, by the way, Bigfoot does exist somewhere in southeastern rural Oklahoma in the vicinity of this bike tour, or so many residents believe; Bigfoot in Oklahoma.  Lest you think that site is a fluke, here's further evidence for you cynical types; 

I suppose I'll take the telephoto lens along for that once-in-a-lifetime photo of Bigfoot.  Although we won't be passing it on our tour, Bigfoot is so popular in the area that a local restaurant has capitalized on the theme; Gasquatch Restaurant.  There's even an annual Bigfoot Festival held in the fall on Christ's 40 Acres near Honobia, Oklahoma; Bigfoot Festival - I don't even know what to say about that, but a reminder of our low educational standards might be in order. 

I will ride my usual short rides on Wednesday and Thursday, and on Friday I'll load Harvey and the panniers into my van to be ready for an early departure on Saturday morning.  The anticipation is growing, I'm ready to meet the KAMO group and looking forward to a fun tour.  And if we do manage to spot Bigfoot I guess I'll have to eat some crow. 

Final Notes About the Final Prep.  Finally; this little adventure starts tomorrow!  I don't know why it takes so long to pack for a tour each time; but for some reason all the stuff I thought I had ready to go seems to have disappeared and I had to track it all down again.  The unpredictable Oklahoma weather is especially so during the in-between seasons, and it is throwing us a curveball.  Each of the next 4 days and nights has varying probabilities of thundershowers - not all the time, mind you, but maybe for half of the time - the probabilities range from about 1/3 to a bit over 1/2 - so it seems likely that we will get a little weather at least some of the time.  The usual south wind will change to a north wind for most of the tour as well.  That may actually be beneficial cause the temperature is forecast to be cooler than usual, dropping to as low as 50f at night - good sleeping weather as long as you are inside a dry tent!  The cooler temperature may aid in Bigfoot sighting, as he is supposedly related to the Yeti creature that roams the snow-bound Himalayas.   So although this is a short mini-tour as it were, the weather unknown has now added an extra layer of excitement - I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be a memorable ramble in pursuit of Bigfoot!