Day 38: To Talihina, Oklahoma

October 16, 2014

Breakfst at McDonald's next door. Didn't want to have to go far away. On the road at 8:50. 55F, sunny.

Today I go west into Oklahoma. My original plan was to go a bit farther south to Mena and ride the famous Talimena Scenic Drive to Talihina, Oklahoma. I'm sure it's very scenic, but it has 6000 feet of climbing. Too much unless I was very well rested. Instead I will stay north of the main ridge of the Ouachita mountains.

Leaving Waldron I was navigating with Google Maps on my smart phone. I left town going northwest on AR 80, connecting to AR 23 west. I tried turning on a back road called Weeks Road, but it turned into gravel after 3/4 mile so I backtracked to AR 23. Traffic was fairly light. No big towns nearby.

The terrain is relatively flat. Very gently rolling.

I stopped to take pictures at the Oklahoma state line. 10th state during this tour, and the 5th new state of the tour. Now I've pedaled in 44 states. And now I'm entering the Choctaw nation.

State #10 on this tour. Oklahoma became a U.S. "Territory" in 1890 and the 46th state in 1907.

Oklahoma is a newer state than the states that surround it. From 1834 to 1890 it was sequestered as Indian Territory. Areas were designated for each tribe and white people were prohibited from settling there. But in 1890 the western half was opened for white settlers, creating Oklahoma territory. For 17 years the Oklahoma territory was a U.S. territory of mostly white people, and Indian Territory was sovereign. As the population grew, both Oklahoma territory and Indian territory applied for statehood. Unfortunately, national politics dictated one state, not two. Interestingly, when Oklahoma gained statehood in 1907 the Indian half was more developed than the white half. The Indians had been there much longer and already had functioning county governments, courts, etc.

"Okterritory". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

I had lunch in the sleepy little town of Heavener. A local park had a huge gathering of native American people. It was kind of a shock after seeing a nearly 100% white population for a month. At first I thought they might be Latino laborers. Silly me.

From Heavener I went south 4 miles on US 270, then turned west onto Conser Road. It's a very nice low-traffic country road. Gently rolling hills.

Gently rolling hills with a barely usable shoulder.

The route isn't super hilly but I had frequent views of big hills to the south, the Ouachita mountains.

The muddy rivers tell me that I'm no longer in the limestone Karst region of the Ozark plateau. Rivers are very muddy here. The soil is red in some areas. I haven't seen much clay soil during this tour.

I stopped to look at the 1894 Peter Conser house. There aren't very many historic structures in Oklahoma, so it was a nice treat.

1894 Peter Conser house. He was a leading member of the Choctaw tribe.

For most of the day I was in a valley north of the Ouachita mountains. But near the end of the day I turned south on US271 and went straight into the mountains, with climbs of 250, 350, and 450 feet. The summit is 1300 feet elevation at the west terminus of the Talimena Scenic Drive.

National Forest #7. The tour's last National Forest.

Ouachita mountains, looking vaguely towards the route of the Talimena Scenic Drive.

After the summit is 11 miles mostly downhill to Talihina. I got a $55 room at Black Rock Roost. I wanted to stay for 2 nights but the second night is all booked up because of an upcoming Christian Motorcyclists Association Rally. I'm exhausted and need a rest day, but I have no choice but to travel tomorrow.

Talihina is the headquarters of the Choctaw tribe but there are a lot of white people here. On the edge of town is a tribe-sponsored billboard encouraging kids not to use factory-made cigarettes. Interesting.

Dinner was at Pam's Hateful Hussy diner. That's the real name. It was pretty good. Talihina is the main tourist town for the Oklahoma end of the Ouachita mountains. But it's a fairly small tourist industry. No mall of t-shirt shops. Just a couple of motels and restaurants.

I went to the liquor store to get real beer instead of the watered-down 3.2% swill sold elsewhere. The liquor store even had IPA.

Today was warmer than the last several days. High of 80F, mostly sunny. Tailwind when going west. Very nice for mid October.

The terrain is gentle for the remainder of the tour. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to pedal one more day before taking a rest day.

Distance: 77.9 mi. (125 km)
Climbing: 2898 ft. (878 m)
Average Speed: 11.1 mph (17.8 km/h)

Today's ride: 78 miles (126 km)
Total: 1,868 miles (3,006 km)

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