March 8, 2008  Tulsa, OK

The promise of easier riding conditions evaporated about 5 minutes into the ride. Yesterday the wind was out of the North West. Today it was out of the South West... and I was riding South West. Once again I cursed and swore at the wind, and once again, I was ignored by Mama Nature. A few hours of this and I began to appreciate my relative place in the world. It was humbling, but it made it easier to pedal. The temperature barely got above freezing, but the effort of grinding into the wind kept me warmed.

Lots of you probably think of Oklahoma as flat and featureless. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lots of rolling hills, river valleys and wooded copses. The sky is Midwest wide and magnificent. The earth is "the floor of the Sky", quoting the Sierra Club. There were lots of hawks, robins and I could hear the spring peepers whenever I rode past a pond. And of course, lots of horses and cattle. I even rode herd on about 50 of them while on the road into Chelsea. They were on the other side of a fence line along the highway, but as I came riding along, they took off at a slow gallop and paralleled my route for about a mile. Yeah, the pastures are that big out here.

There wasn't much else out there until I came to the town of Foyil. As I rode into town I was greeted with a sign directing me to the world's largest totem pole. Like I said, there isn't much out here. Claremore was more interesting as it is the hometown of Will Rogers, the plain speaking American who said, "I never met a man I didn't like". Can you imagine someone in the public eye making that statement today? In keeping with the entertainment industry focus of this trip, there is some trivia about the main road that runs through Claremore; Lynn Riggs Blvd. It's named after the American playwright whose play, Green Grow the Lilacs, was the basis for the musical Oklahoma. With that piece of information we've now covered TV (Route 66), movies (Field of Dreams) and musical theatre (Oklahoma).

A few other roadside anomalies caught my eye as I approached Tulsa. One was an ocean going, full-hulled sailboat sitting in a cradle by the side of the road. I know there are lots of manmade lakes around here, but none of them are appropriate for this beauty. And then I saw a blue whale in a pond about a mile away. With the Port of Catoosa on the Arkansas River, maybe more than just barges and tugs are coming upriver.

I reached my destination late in the day because I was slowed down so much from the headwind. It's a B&B called Inn at Woodward Park (innatwoodwardpark.com). Very nice, with friendly innkeepers, hot showers and just down the street from a restaurant (McGills) that serves great prime rib, Newcastle Brown Ale and Guiness. That made up for the grind of pedaling! Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, with temps in the 50's. We'll see.