Dad's Daily Log

Old Man - Day 2
Today we rode from Apache to Cordell. It was an amazing ride. About 69 miles and the longest ride of the Freewheel. After a stop in Carnegie for a lemonade I found a $20 bill on the road. Obviously lost by a Freewheeler who was in front of me. I did not catch up with the person that lost it. Later I give it to the head of the OKFreewheel and hopefully it got back to the person that lost it. The country that we rode through was variable and very remote. The only good thing on this day was that the last 7 miles was downwind. Even so it had a fair number of hills, and was I ever glad to top the last one and see Cordell in the distance. I found a laundromat and washed a few clothes. It was neat to see how the communities pulled together to try to make our stay pleasant. Cordell did a good job of selling their city.
Old Man - Day 3
Today we rode from Cordell to Cheyenne. It was an amazing ride –only 65 miles but it was a TOUGH day. It all went pretty good until the last ~10 miles. The most unusual event of the day was in Elk City. I had forgotten to replenished my cash supply so I did not have enough money in my pocket for lunch (I had a travelers check but Subway did not cash checks of any kind). I stopped at a Subway and had ordered my sandwich when I discovered my error. There was only one other Freewheeler in the shop so he said ”I will buy his lunch.” I was floored. He had never met me and obviously didn’t owe me a thing! So that is how I met Paul. We ate lunch together and became good friends. Paul was not at all worried about getting paid back either. He said he could not see a fellow biker go hungry. After lunch we parted ways and I DID pay him back as soon as I could get it done in Cheyenne.
I felt pretty good all day until it got hot and we turned West into the wind. That 10 miles was an unending run of long hard hills. On one of the last hills – seemed several it was miles long – there was a sign that said something like “Can you smell the finish line?”. Right after that sign there was a gravel turnout – since I could not smell the “finish line” I turned off the road to gather strength and to try to work up my courage to keep going up that hill. About 10 bikers passed me and every one of them inquired as to my condition and asked if they could help. One of the persons that passed me was a man with only one leg. He had a prosthesis but could not use the prosthesis leg as he had no muscle above the knee. Talk about courage! Needless to say, after I drained my water & Gatorade I continued the trip, about another one half mile to the top. After one more LONG hill, Cheyenne came into view.
We had GREAT food for dinner and breakfast in Cheyenne. The camp was really quiet after two long mileage days! Cheyenne may have been the best stop we had, all things considered. Oh yes. I found a $5 bill on the road today. Was able to catch up to the two ladies in front of me and one of them had lost it. The $5 was all she had for lunch. She was very glad to get it back. God never makes us a debtor as you will see in Day 4. He always pays the bills and this time He was no different.

Old Man – Day 4
Today we traveled from Cheyenne to Thomas. What an experience. Cheyenne to Thomas was only – you guessed it - another 65 miles. At about 50 miles into the ride I was not doing anything out of the ordinary, and then probably going 13MPH down a slight hill and – BAM my front tire blew out. No not just a flat, it blew out – sounded like a 30 caliber pistol. Now the really interesting part of this is that I had been going as fast down the hills as I could. 35 MPH was not unusual and I know I was over 40 MPH at least once. What do you suppose would have happened if the tire had blown out at those speeds? Not very pretty is it. Coincidence? No not really. I don’t believe in coincidences. God’s timing is always perfect. Oh and a few minutes later one of women bikers stopped and just happened to have the number of one of the bike shop repair trucks. He got there and had me back on the road in a jiffy. I was able to continue on to Thomas.
The last 5 miles were a little exciting. It started to sprinkle and then started to lightning. BIG sky to ground bolts. I made it into the campsite and Hal had his tent up and all of our stuff in it – so everything did not get wet. I rode the hardest I did all week those 5 miles to try to get to camp. Enough excitement for the day. It was really cool that night and I maxed out on sleep – about 6 hours worth.
Old Man – Day 5
Thomas to Fairview, only 52 miles. Remember it rained yesterday. So today we started out in the fog. You could not see the rider in front of you if he/she was more that 100 yards in front of you. My glasses fogged up so I could not wear them. And drops of dew collected on the eye lashes – something new to me. This was very beautiful country once the fog lifted. Lunch at the Christian Church in Canton was really good. A lot of selection and good food. I even got a piece of pineapple upside-down cake. Yum!
Canton Lake was very impressive and the Corps of Engineers is doing a lot of heavy construction work on it. I thought the road over the dam was going to last forever. The lake is a lot bigger than I had imagined. Dropping down into Fairview was a dream for bikers. High speed-run with great scenery. The food there was average at best. The BBQ sauce was all that saved the day.
Old Man – Day 6 (And our last day)
From Fairview to the Kansas State line. It was about 66 miles from Fairview to the Kansas State line. We had to finish up on Friday so that Dan and Lori could fly back to California on Saturday. Dan had to be back home to run in a 7 Km race on Sunday. He needed a day to “taper off” before running. Day 6 was eventful but perhaps the best thing was that we rode as a family more than any other day. Hal and I stayed together all day and Lori and Dan caught up to us at Driftwood, OK about 20 miles from the finish. We all drafted for a while and then Dan and Lori jetted on to the finish line. We took the obligatory picture at the Kansas sign. Then before we could take the picture of the Oklahoma sign, Rosie showed up with the truck and she took the last picture. Finally, I felt real strong today. After all of this riding, I was ready to quit but we had moved much faster and with more authority over more miles because the conditioning of the week paid off. Wish we had all started off the OK Freewheel in our finishing condition. Would have made the week much more enjoyable.