March 9, 2008   Stroud, OK

What a day! The sun was shining bright, the wind was less than 10 mph, traffic was light and the road ran through backwoods America. It made the previous cold, slow, windy days a mere memory. The forecast is for even warmer weather for the next few days, so I'm really looking forward to this week's ride. Judging by the sunburn on my face, I'll have to use sunscreen from here on out.

The day started with a great breakfast at the B&B this morning. With the time change pushing darkness back an hour, I was in no rush to leave so I spent about an hour and a half visiting with the B&B owners. That's one of the benefits of staying at a B&B instead of a Holiday Inn. I learned that the address for the place used to be Tulsa, IT. The IT stands for Indian Territory. It's hard to realize that this state is just 100 years old.

As I rode along today, I was very conscious that I was riding through various Indian Nations. In fact, I began to notice political advertisements that were not mentioning Hillary, Obama or McCain. They were mostly exhorting voters to "re-elect Tiger for Principal Chief." You've gotta love a politician with a name like Tiger. Somehow Tiger Obama just doesn't work.

The ride passed through several small Oklahoma towns; Sapulpa, Chelsea and Bristow to name a few. Because it was Sunday morning, traffic was light to non-existent, so I pretty well had the road to myself. The Route 66 motif is common on the Main Street of each town. One gets the sense that even though it's the 21st century, the 1950's aren't far removed from the consciousness of these places. I stopped in Sapulpa to take a picture of a mural exhorting "Mentholatum." The copyright for the mural was 1903!

As the day unfolded, I shed clothing to match the temperature. Even though the wind was still out of the West, it was a warm breeze, not a cold wind. I finally stopped cursing at the wind and just pedaled on. As I pedaled, I came across more ocean-going vessels out on the plains. Someone apparently has used a cabin cruiser for a living room in their home. What is it with Oklahoma and the sea? Blue whales, sailboats, cabin cruisers, what next?

As I rode into Stroud, OK, there were street banners proclaiming the town as the "Winery and Grape Capitol of Oklahoma". Wineries in Oklahoma? Makes about as much sense as boats in the front yard. I may just stop at one of them on the way out of Stroud tomorrow morning. I'd have gone there today, but it's Sunday and everything is closed on Sunday. This is the buckle of the Bible Belt, after all. Tomorrow will be a long ride to Ada, so I will be out early and enjoying the sun along the way. The road rolls on.