Given the massive crowds and other problems with RAGBRAI in recent years, my riding buddy Corky and I decided to do something different this year. After examining all the rides offered in surrounding states, we decided to ride the Oklahoma Freewheel. It would start and end in the same town, forming a loop; therefore, we would not have to be shuttled to the start or end town. Corky had heard good things about this ride, and we were looking forward to seeing some new country via bicycle. We expected there would be many fewer people, and we were right, as about 140 were registered (compare to ~30,000 on RAGBRAI last year).
I left the house early on May 31 and arrived at Corky and Janet's sometime after 10. We loaded up Corky's bike and gear and headed toward Oklahoma. Corky did most of the driving, which gave me an opportunity to nap. We stopped at Buc-ee's outside of Springfield, MO, and it was packed with people. I got a burrito and overstuffed myself with it. We rolled into Pawhuska, found the Constantine theater and got ourselves registered. We ran into a Rooster Cogburn impersonator and I told him the story of Corky falling off the John Wayne statue in his hometown of Winterset, Iowa. We had said, "John Wayne has been dead for years and he still kicked your ass!" We checked out some of the interesting stores on Main Street, including the Buckin' Flamingo, which held many amusing novelties. We set up camp at the school. I saw some people with wristbands, and recalled that we didn't get any in our registration kits, so I went over to the little shelter where the ride organizers were set up, and got mine put on and one for Corky. The Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were numerous at the school and they put on some antics around dusk. Not sure what they were doing. We spent the night in our tents under the bright street lights.
Day 1: Pawhuska to Pawnee. 49 mi, 2000 ft of climb. We packed up, threw our bags on the trailer and headed downtown for the mass start. There was hardly anyone there. A few people accumulated, but there were still only about 20, as most of the people had left much earlier. The organizer, Paul, mentioned the location of nearby bathrooms, so when he gave the official start, we didn't leave. Instead, we went back to use the bathrooms. As a result, we started at the back of the pack. Gradually, we overtook people on the route. We saw about 5 roadkilled tarantulas, and finally a live one. We stopped to photograph it and get it safely across the road. They don't occur where we live, so I get pretty excited about them. I saw a number of interesting roadside flowers, and photographed them for later uploading to iNaturalist. We passed a lot of wind farms, and we could hear the blades swoosh as they turned.
In Fairfax we stopped at the main intersection and photographed the old buildings, many of which had their old vintage signs still painted on the windows, even if different businesses lived in them now. We headed over to a converted gas station. It was named Treats. I thought I could get ice cream there, and Corky thought we could drink beer at their picnic tables. We met Carol Connor, who operates the county paper, the Fairfax Chief. This is her retirement gig, as she used to be a research psychologist. We exchanged stories about running small newspapers, such as the graduation edition, legal notices and advertising. She was a fount of knowledge on the local history. It turns out the Killers of the Flower Moon had been filmed in Fairfax, as that was where many of the events in the book had actually occurred. There was currently an effort to save the Tall Chief theater, which had been built by an Osage man named Tallchief. Across the road was the Baptist church, which had been founded by a chief who quit the Catholic religion in favor of keeping his two wives. We spent a long time chatting. I got an ice cream (free!), and we drank our beers. Corky and I each bought necklaces for our wives from the gift shop.
We continued on the route to the overnight town, Pawnee. There were lots of rolling hills. I had not ridden this bike with the new saddle and my butt was hurting. Later I adjusted the angle and set-back, which helped a lot. We set up our tents right next to the courthouse to get out of the wind. The local paper there is the Pawnee Chief. We walked to the local motel, where the organizers had arranged to get our showers. We got a room key from the dude outside, who just decided to start calling himself Tader, and got nice, hot showers. What a luxury! The high school athletics group was selling food in the park. I got a good burger there. A band played in the bandshell. They were country, of which I am no great fan, but they played a lot of stuff I like, and played it well, including the Eagles and Jimmy Buffet. Then they played "Poke Sallet Annie," and I loved it. It was fairly windy overnight, but it did not blow us away. It pulled a few of the guy line stays off of Corky's tent, though.
Day 2: Pawnee to Perkins. 36 mi, 1700 ft of climb. There was rain in the forecast that morning, but I left my rain jacket in my bags. We were 5 or 10 miles into the ride when I began to feel drops. They evaporated as soon as they hit me so I wasn't worried. Then the drops became larger and more frequent. We stopped because Corky had plastic ponchos in his bags, but it took so long to find them that we were soaked before we got them on. Still, they kept us warmer as we pedaled along through a driving rain. I was more worried about the occasional lightning than the heavy rain. We stopped at the fairgrounds and stayed under a lean-to for awhile. The rain let up a bit and we continued. Then the rain started again and got heavy. It was interesting going fast downhill in such conditions. I actually overran the end of the ride and had to backtrack to Oak Lodge, a Methodist events center. Corky had gotten us a private room for the night, which was really nice. I've never had such luxury on a bike tour. We got showered and found lunch at a food truck that was set up on the grounds. We had a nap, and walked down to the Dollar General to get beer. I also got a pair of shorts, as I had apparently not packed enough for the evenings. I got an insulated bag to put the beer in and we got some ice from a convenience store. We dried our rain-soaked clothing in the sun. We ordered pizza for dinner. We talked to the director of the Oak Lodge. It used to be the local summer camp for Methodist kids. The local church bought it and uses it for various ministries, such as feeding children once a week, and rents it out as an events center. It has a lot of buildings and grounds, so it's quite a task to take care of it. I photographed a huge jimsonweed growing next to the lodge. The seeds are hallucinogenic but also potentially lethal. It was probably planted under the ornamental name, "moonflower." We were the only ones drinking beer at the group meeting that evening, but I think that broke the ice, as we saw more people drinking beer after that. I had a great night's sleep in an actual bed.
Day 3: Perkins to Prague. 52 mi, 2500 ft of climb. The story of the day was wind, wind, wind. We were headed south, but the wind was headed north. It was a grind for about 30 miles, then we had a crosswind for 10 more. The wind speed was so great (10-20 mph?) we couldn't even coast on the downhills. At one point there was gravel all over the road. We found a thin strip down the middle where there was less gravel, and shortly found a bottom-dump gravel truck on the side of the road. The driver was climbing on top of the trailer and on the phone to someone. Guess he lost his load. At some point we met a young (well, younger than us) woman named Dot. After awhile I learned that she had been trained as a botanist. We had some interesting exchanges about plants. Sadly, she has never been able to work in the discipline. We had lunch at Lawsons, a convenience store and cafe. Corky had a gigantic ham sandwich, and I had perhaps the best cheese steak in my life. We ate them outside, sitting on a curb, drinking beer and swarming with flies. Since the rain on the previous day, the streams were running high and red, a result of the red Oklahoma clay. We had cold showers in the old gymnasium that night, but it was the only time we had cold showers. It must have been the old junior high gymnasium because the mirrors were far too low. There were some food trucks set up across the road from the park we were camping in, and I got a really good chicken and bean burrito, as well as some caramel kettle corn (and beer) for dinner. A big storm was predicted for that night, so we set up our tents under a picnic shelter. About 10 o'clock the storm hit. It rained really hard for about 2 hours, with plenty of thunder and lightning to go with it. I mostly stayed in my tent, but some of the other guys stayed up and watched it from the shelter. I guess it flooded pretty badly in some parts of the park, but I knew we were on high ground, or concrete, and pretty safe.
Day 4: Prague to Drumright. 39 mi, 1700 ft of climb. You know you got a lot of rain when a crayfish wanders into your camp. That's what greeted me outside my tent, which was fortunately intact, if not dry. We packed up and were late for breakfast at the school cafeteria but still were served. The biscuits and gravy were hearty. On the way out of town, I saw a couple of huge earthworms on the road. Although our route had turned north, we had headwinds again. Fortunately, it was a short day in terms of mileage. I crossed an intersection and saw a box tortoise in the road. It pulled its head in, so I knew it was alive. I turned around, picked it up and took it to the roadside. It peed on me. We had Casey's pizza for lunch. While we were standing in line, a guy walked in and paid for everyone in line, including our lunch. This had never happened to me before. We got to Drumright and set up our tents in what would be shade in a short time. I took a righteous nap. We were in a park, not near a school, so they had arranged a shower trailer. It was very nice. This night was the free catered dinner, and the barbecued brisket was delicious. There was a live band that was a bit southern rock, blues, and country. They played some Jimi Hendrix, which I do appreciate. The singer was funny too. Dot sat with us and it was revealed that she had been a punk rocker in a previous life. I related to her some of my punk creds, such as seeing the Dead Kennedys play on the eve of the new year 1984 in a nearly destroyed roller rink.
Day 5: Drumright to Pawhuska. 60 mi, 2200 ft of climb. We got an early start. We had a pancake breakfast at the Masonic lodge. The first 40 miles went fast, as we had light winds and mild hills. There were some nice country roads, smooth pavement and long downhills. I even saw two live tarantulas. At one point I saw a pair of scissor-tailed flycatchers harassing a crow in a field. There was a looong bridge over the Arkansas River near Cleveland under construction. We had to go about a mile in a single lane against traffic. I waited for the wide loads to pass first. After awhile, I noticed my right leg and foot had become sunburned. There was a nasty headwind the last 10 miles. I met Corky at the school at the end. I took a shower in the school and the water was blazing hot. It's the only time I ever took a Navy shower because the water was too hot. We loaded up and hit the road. We stopped in Vinita at Clanton's Cafe for a late lunch. Corky's last name is Clanton, so this is a big draw for us. The food was good. We stopped at Bass Pro Shop in Springfield to pick up my reel. I spent the night at Corky's house, and drove the last leg of the trip the next morning.
It was a great trip. I saw quite a number of Mississippi kites (a life bird for me), upland sandpipers, and numerous roadside flowers that I have yet to identify. Upon my return, I found that my wife Stacey had a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon. I read it in less than a week. It was timely and relevant, as I had just visited many of the places mentioned in the book.
An online photo album of this bike ride can be seen here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NsfwtLVgVLFz3MPU6
