Tulsa to Stroud OK: 56.0 Miles
Corky and I begin, as we did at Buckingham Fountain at the beginning of Leg 1, in the rain. And like the Chicago start the rain was mostly a drizzle which lightened during the morning and was mostly gone by the afternoon. (So he who is timid to start in a little rain loses day of good riding–this must be some ancient proverb in some culture).
Below we are in the shadow, so to speak, of foggy downtown Tulsa, on Route 66.
Corky (below) does a quick loop around the parking lot while I snap in and get all my electronics going. I think he is leaving me early but he says he is only getting in his “training,” namely once around a downtown parking lot; that’s the most he rode since we finished Leg 1 more than 6 months ago. (I had biked thousands of miles and was worried that I was not sufficiently ready. As the story unfolds, his loop around the lot was probably overtraining, as he did the entire ride, hills included so his fear of ‘over training’ was justified).
Tulsa has worked to create some biker friendly routes along 66, in some cases only marked sidewalks, but in all cases appreciated. Also there was some dramatic sculpture as below. (Why I have shades on… I have no idea).
There was an outstanding bike path across the Arkansas River that bounds Tulsa on the West.
Oil is a huge part of Oklahoma’s history. This is a memorial to oil, and the railroads, located just West of Tulsa.
Route 66 memorabilia signs of all types adjoin the ride:
Food and drink stops were typically gas stations with stores.
Here we met a fellow Route 66 rider. He started in San Diego, went to Santa Monica to join the starting point of Route 66 (or ending point from the POV of Chicagoans) went across the Mohave Desert of CA, all of AZ, NM, and the TX Panhandle, headed for Chicago and ultimately New England. He was entirely self-supported, and interspersed camping with motels. (We, again, were supported by my wife Carol and Rosie, the smartest dog in the world, so we carried only day stuff, and we did only motels).
A key part of our support team was Rosie:
Hills. There are lots of them. Endlessly lots of them.
At various places we could see remnants of “Historic 66” which dates back to the 1920s. We rode (mostly) on “Old 66” which itself has been replaced (mostly) by Interstate 40.
Stroud OK. It’s gateway site is the Rock Cafe, made (they say) from rocks excavated when creating Historic (Old?) 66. It’s a biker friendly hangout, both pedal and motorcycles.
Day 2 is here: