August 10, 2024
Day 27 - ending at Nowata, OK
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I woke up at 5:02am. I've been pretty lucky not using an alarm. 5:00am is a good time to get up because I'll be ready to leave at about 7:00am. This morning it was actually 7:15am.
Today was my shortest planned day at just 17 miles, to get to Miami Mobile Home Community in Miami, Oklahoma where they have tent camping. First as usual, I wanted breakfast, and had decided that Weston's Cafe here in Baxter Springs would be the place.
There was no place last night to pay the $10 fee for camping. I was going to mail it in when I got back home, but I passed City Hall and they have a drop box set-up, and I had an envelope, so that worked.
I arrived at Weston's at 7:41am. The waitress told me what the special was and asked if I wanted that, or she could get me a menu. With menu in hand, I decided on hamburger steak and eggs. She kept mentioning options that could go along with it, including cottage cheese or peaches. That made me smile. I don't believe I've ever had cottage cheese before as part of my healthy breakfast, but I did today. Their cherry sweet rolls had just come out of the oven, so I had one of those also.
I was on my way to Miami at 8:43am. I didn't realize how close to the Kansas/Oklahoma border I was, but the 'Welcome to Oklahoma' sign greeted me at 8:54am. I was at Quapaw, Oklahoma at 9:21am. This is the area where the Ponca Tribe arrived on July 9, 1877.
There's a little park in town and I stopped there to reconsider where I was going to stay tonight. I have concerns about the weather the next few days. No severe storms are predicted, but they are calling for a lot of rain, especially for tonight and tomorrow. I really wanted to ride more than just 17 miles today. So I decided to try to go on farther west to Nowata, Oklahoma. There's a motel there with good ratings - The Rudd Motel. I could get cleaned up, get some laundry done, and get the backlogs of reports posted. So that was today's new plan.
I was wishing all day that I had unpacked my Oklahoma State map to double-check Google Maps recommended routing. Google Maps really doesn't care if they put you on gravel roads, and I wanted to avoid them as much as possible. The first part of the route was simple enough - get on OK-25. First though, I needed to get through Miami. I stopped at Pete's of Miami for a 32-oz Dr Pepper for a dollar, then checked more on the routing.
I left there at 11:05am. I ended up south and west of town on Old Route 66, on the section with the 9-foot wide pavement. So the road was half paved and half gravel. Except most of it was in such poor condition it was mostly all like a gravel road.
The noon alarm went off, and I just shut it off thinking it was some other alarm that I'd set by mistake. So today's noon mileage report is actually the mileage at 12:10pm: 23.9 miles.
I started on OK-25 at 12:18pm. I made good time on this flat road with a tailwind, arriving in Bluejacket at 1:05pm. It got a little hilly after that. OK-25 came to an end at its junction with OK-2. I continued going straight west on Centralia Road. That road went to gravel for me at 2:07pm. Eventually I made it to Centralia, and continued west. This gravel road was rideable, but it sure was shaking the bike. I kept checking Google Maps for options that might be paved. I considered going south to US-60, but in the end stayed going west. I'm glad I did because the road did go back to pavement at 4:35pm for me. Later it turned into a highway - OK-28.
I got sprinkled on a little in the later afternoon. Just enough for me to cover the front basket with plastic. Then it was done. More rain was showing on the radar to the west, so I got into high gear to see if I could get to Nowata before the heavier rain. When I met up with US-169 five miles north of Nowata, I thought I was home free. There was a very wide new shoulder along the highway. Then the shoulder just disappeared, and I was losing a lot of time pulling off to the side for traffic. But I did finally arrive at the motel (at 6:01pm) without getting any wetter. I checked the weather radar. The rain had passed just to the north.
I called the motel owners when I arrived and they showed right up. They got me checked in for room #2 for two nights. There's wifi and guest laundry, so I'm all set.
There's a Sonic a block away, and that got me thinking about getting something to eat. So I had supper there. Next I worked on my evening report to family and friends. Lately, I've been using that report for journal postings. The last task for this evening will be get a shower.
I'm pleased I was able to ride so many miles today, and on such a diverse selection of roads. I'll be even more pleased if I can get the backlog of reports all posted before leaving Monday morning.
Jeff
Spent: $15.29 plus $5 (breakfast) + $1.08 (Dr Pepper) + $65.70 plus $5 (motel room) + $12.25 plus $2 (supper) = $106.32
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Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 946 miles (1,522 km)
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3 months ago