It’s probably not fair to lump Oklahoma and Texas into the same blog but as sick as I was, I’m afraid that’s how it’s going to be.
Our last night in Kansas was not far from the border, in a town park being serenaded to by some pretty cool bands. I was extremely tired and just thought it was due to the 105 degree temperatures of the day’s ride.
Unfortunately, it was foreshadowing of a flu or something that I picked up. The next morning we headed to Oklahoma. At first there wasn’t much difference in anything – temperature, terrain, lack of trees. However, soon terrain started having some minor changes and started seeing a few more trees. Unfortunately, the temperature continued to kick our butts and I was feeling worse and worse.
During the trip, we’d had a number of flats. We did purchase Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires and they were definitely a help but in the end they don’t prevent punctures, especially from those little needle thin wires that come from the blown tractor trailer tires. Of course, if there was to be another flat it have to be on a 105 degree day without a tree or overpass in sight. It’s amazing how difficult such an easy job can be under those conditions. We finally got it taken care of and continued on.
As we approached El Reno, we found a KOA and instead of camping, we got a cabin which was a pretty good deal. Dad was excited because it was next to the old Route 66, which he’d traveled when he was younger. The next morning, we chose a route that would let us cut down to Rt 81. Unfortunately, Google didn’t point out that the roads turned into gravel. So about 2 hours later and not just a little frustration, we made it to the road.
By now, my nights were alternating between uncontrollable shaking with cold to soaking sweats. Popping ibuprofen for a headache seemed to do little for it. As we headed down 81, we stopped at a gas station / convenience store for something cold to drink. While we were normally careful we believe my GoPro and dads old iPhone he was using for the GPS may have been taken here (as they both disappeared).
Finally we crossed the border into Texas. We started to get some hills, valleys and trees in OK, they became even more pronounced in TX (not as much as PA but certainly more than KS).
Our first night in Texas was spent at an AirBnB in Nocona, TX owned by Suzanne and Tom. Suzanne called it their homestead but don’t think of it as some rustic prairie abode. It was very nice and comfortable. They have also embrace technology and have cameras over their property which allows them to check on the chickens, and other places. Suzanne definitely has the heart of a hostess and I feel horrible that I was just not able to spend time with them as sick as I was.
The next morning, we headed on to Gainesville. That night, I decided that I was going to have to drop into one of the walk-in clinics the next day in Sherman. In my defense, this was probably the first we’d passed though Suzanne had offered to take me over to their doctor. My ulterior motive was that I had wanted to get to Sherman so that I could see our good friend Brian.
The doctor thought I’d gone through the worst of it but gave me some antibiotics in case it moved further into my lungs. Good thing he did as after visiting him, it really started to affect my breathing. The good news is that I took them all and definitely kicked it.
A real blessing for both dad and I was getting to spend an evening with Brian Tubbs. Brian and I had been good friends when we were both single and Brian had actually ridden a bike with dad from FL to NJ back in the 80s. We had a good dinner with him and got to hear all that has been happening with him and his family. We went back to the hotel and continued to talk until dad pointed out that we needed to hit the sack. So, with some sadness we said goodnight and goodbye.
From Sherman we worked our way to Mineola and then around Tyler to Jacksonville, Lufkin and Jasper. We had planned out a route to Baton Rouge but some of the Texas roads were a little rough and I had a spoke broken and had developed a wobble in my rear tire. We thought it’d be better to redirect to Lake Charles which had a bike shop that could help repair our issue so we replanned the route we’d take as we planned to enter Louisiana.