Photo of the Day

Crossing into Oklahoma in Texhoma, notice the nice sign?

Keegan's Log

Day 18: May 30, Dalhart, TX to Guymon, OK

This morning the Weather Channel predicted winds from the northeast, but we figured we were safe with their statistically inaccurate reports. No such luck, the wind gods would again shun us today, evidencing a wrath that seems to know no bounds. Reading parts of Therese's diary brings tears to one's eyes, she talks of coasting the whole way in the highest gear, easily cruising at 25 mph, speeds we haven't seen for days now. The first 30 miles today we had only a crosswind, the riding seemed like pure bliss because we could reach speeds of nearly 20 mph! But alas it was only a taunt, as we would soon discover...

The ride began at the usual 7:15, the road was almost perfectly straight and smooth, to the point that we could see the next stop from 20 miles away. We cranked pretty hard to the first stop, we held an 18 mph average into the first sag at 30 miles in the aforementioned crosswinds. We took a brief stop at 20 miles into the ride to photograph a giant statue of a seriously bow-legged cowboy. We made it to the first sag in Stratford at 9:00, near the very front of the group. Dad made a phone call to Bill and Selma Pendleton, Bill was an old war buddy of my grandfather's, and to our surprise they answered the phone and agreed to meet us for lunch down the road.

A miracle occurred at the sag shortly after the phone call, a representative of Russell Stover stopped by, asked us what we were up to, and proceeded to offer us samples of chocolate from his van. He ended up giving Tracy a big bag full of caramel, chocolate, and pecan delectables to give to us, we returned his kind gesture with a standing ovation and posed with him for photographs. I theorize that he was actually sent by the wind gods in penitence for the slight, yet profound, change in the weather that occurred at almost exactly the same moment.

We left the sag to find that the wind had shifted while we were resting, the once gentle crosswinds were now strong, steady headwinds. We were now struggling to hold 12 mph, fighting a wind that was blocked by no trees, hills, or any surface feature taller than the grass. Only a few miles from the sag dad's rear tire exploded, a boot (a patch of the tire itself) had failed, causing the tube to blow out through the tire. We stopped to change the tire and tube before setting out again to plod along toward the border. Nearly two hours later we reached the Oklahoma border in Texhoma. The Oklahoma sign had been removed from the roadside by construction, but Julie, Tracy, and Karen had made a nice sign for us, so we got our pictures taken.

We found the Pendletons at LuAne's Diner on the Oklahoma side of Texhoma. We sat and listened to stories about Chuck Brown, dad's dad, Bill and Chuck had fought together in WW II in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. Bill had a lot of good stories, and Selma had a lot of good things to say about the Browns. It was interesting to listen to, and Bill said he would keep in touch and tell us some more stories abut my grandfather. We said our goodbyes and left, now near the back of the pack.

The road north of Texhoma was being widened from a two-lane to a divided four-lane, the new section was nearly finished but not open to traffic yet, so we had a whole 30-foot wide smooth road to ourselves. And at 11 mph, we had plenty of time to look around. We stopped for a Sprite at a gas station in Goodwell, about 10 miles out of Guymon. The last bit of riding was back to a two-lane road, Guymon was visible in the distance as we crept closer. We reached the hotel at about 3:30, tired as usual. The grounds are nice, there is a small grass courtyard between the rows of rooms, so we gathered outside the rooms for a while. Route Rap was held around the pool, a welcome change from the tiny motel lobbies. Dinner was at Cactus Jack's, the burger was good and the service was amazingly fast.

Tomorrow we ride into Liberal, Kansas, only a 42 mile ride. We also leave for home tomorrow afternoon for Lauren's graduation, so we miss two days of the tour. I may not be sending out logs for those days, I will put the pictures online though!

Phil's Log

Keegan was just reading Therese's log from the ride last year. All of these days her group enjoyed tailwinds.

The first third of today's ride was "a breeze". There was no wind and Keegan and I got away early, even led the pack for a time clipping along at 18 - 20 mph. It was nice, just keep up a steady pedal pressure and the landscape went sliding by.

We re completely out of the mountains now. Yesterday was the first we saw grass since California, and as we slowly descend we are seeing less and less "scrub" land and more grassland. Today, as I looked about, I realized that the Rockies were well behind us. You can see grain elevators for 20 miles, and it takes 20 miles of pedaling to get to them.

After the first easy 30 miles came our first sag stop, Stratford, Texas. (Lissa, your eyebrows should be lifting now!) I remembered, when I as maybe 12, shooting prairie dogs with a .22 from the back of a pickup truck. (I wouldn't do that today.) We had visited a ranch those many years ago, and I remembered the couple's name, Pendelton. A look in the phone book revealed that Bill and Selma Pendelton still lived in Stratford, so I called. Within ten minutes they had arrived at the sag stop, and we had a wonderful little reunion.

Dad had met Bill in the Navy in World War II. I'm not sure what Bill did, though I'm sure he was an officer, and he told me that Dad was the Communications Officer for a whole fleet of ships in the Atlantic Theater. We had to go on from our sag, so Bill & Selma drove on to Texhoma and had lunch with our motley group, and told Keegan and I more about my parents' early lives. I asked Bill if I could forward a list of questions and he said absolutely. So I will. It will be fun to learn more about my parents from close friends, and to pick up a friendship that had been quiescent for perhaps too long. It was clear that the Pendletons were happy that we had called, and we were certainly glad we had. We might as a result also run into the Landman's in Hutchinson, Kansas - another family that made its first contact in the war.

Texhoma was not such an easy ride as the wind was in our faces. That continued on into Goodwell and Guymon. Headwinds are a bummer. We persisted.

Also, for Bruce and Chuck, who had experienced bicycle trouble, spare parts or a replacement bicycle caught up so they will be pedalling away again.

Tomorrow is an easy day, 40 miles to Liberal, Kansas. This newsletter will disappear for two days, Keegan and I will be attending Lauren's high school graduation and will re-meet the group in Great Bend. Yes, we will have to return to fill in that segment.

Thanks to ALL for your support. Just a reminder - we are doing this for a charity, the Diabetic Youth Foundation in Danville, Indiana. DYF has been most helpful to a large number of teenage American and Russian kids to learn how to control their disease. It has also linked many of these same young people from these two countries that not so long ago were unfriendly. How wonderful acts of charity can be in uniting. We hope for pledges of 1 cent per mile ($34.36) for the entire ride, one mil per mile ($3.43), or prayers and wishes. Thanks to all for your support.