Moutain View To Bartlesville

What can happen to your legs after a night of camping in Pointsett State Park, AR

A pace line starting up in early morning

.... Ok so from where I left off last time....
After the leaders called off the ride we had to shuttle 60 miles to Mountain View. I was not happy that we didn't get to ride. I think the leaders made the best decision they could with the information they had, but that still didn't make me happy about having to ride in a car instead of on a bike. I figured that if we couldn't ride I'd be happier getting to the church we were staying at to unpack everything the trailer, set things up for the night try and take care of some much needed organization. For this reason I decided to get in the first shuttle. About 5 minutes in to the ride it became apparent to me (and I think most other people) that the weather wasn't going to be as bad as had been reported, 20 minutes later it was apparent that it was in fact be a beautiful day! This of course added to my sour mood, which I tried keep contained to myself by sleeping. About 45 minutes into the 60 mile shuttle ride the trailer got a flat tire on the way down a winding hill. When we were finally about to pull over the tire was torn to pieces and we didn't have a spare. So we were stuck on the road for about 3 hours waiting for someone to come and change the tire. I took a short walk, and worked on thinning my tan lines on top of the van while we waited. The guy who came out to change our tire was awesome. He changed a tire faster than anyone I've ever seen, and after a short conversation with Mike Madormo (our ambassador to the world, seriously this kid can make absolutely anyone tell them their life story within 5 minutes of meeting them) we had his life story and a $100 donation!

So, we got the tire changed and got back on the road. After arriving we unpacked the trailer got things setup and then I went on a run to burn off some steam. The rest of the day was great. We had a great dinner, no mosquitoes, and listened to some amazing live bluegrass.

The next day was Harrison, AR, and the day after that was a great ride. We stayed at the Methodist church there and it was again a wonderful night. We had a wonderful dinner of donated Subway Subs (thanks Subway) and Little Caeser's Hot and Ready $5 Pizzas!

(Picture to right is of Andy McDonald and Anita Chang)

The ride after that was to Rogers. In the morning we started off to a good pace. I stopped to take pictures and people we cruising along. When I caught back up I was heading up a hill behind Molly North when her chain came off, got stuck in her front chain ring and broke! What a bummer. We ended up sitting on the side of the road for 3 hours waiting for the van to be able to come back and give us someone else's bike for her to ride. If we had been in a dangerous situation the van would've come back faster but since we weren't they had to support the other riders. Just the name of the game when riding with a group of 30! Anyway, Molly and I decided that we should make sure we enjoyed the rest of the ride and not try and rush which is easy to start doing when you're behind. The ride was beautiful, we peddled through the Ozarks and they were some awesome views. Molly and I ended up having a great ride and got into Rogers at about 4pm.

(Picture to left, Molly North on our day through the Ozarks)

The next day was a ride into Grove. We crossed two state lines that day (AR to MO, and MO to OK) and largely stayed together as a group. It rained about bit but it was still a ton of fun. The place we stayed at that night was again really nice and we were grateful for their hospitality.

(Picture to right, Molly and I again on our day through the Ozarks)

The 28th was Kim Webber's birthday. The ride to Bartlesville was about 80 miles, largely flat, and pretty fun. Part of the ride was along US 60 which becomes a two lane road with no shoulder. Most of US 60 was fine but at one point I got run of the road by a WalMart semi-truck.

After arriving in Bartlesville, we had an awesome dinner cooked for us by our hosts, the members of the Church of Christ, and went out to Vern's Tavern to celebrate Kim's birthday. Vern's was amazing. It is quite literally a metal sided shed with OSB walls covered in pictures, and beer signs. They only have Budweiser on draft, and serve a Budlight, Coors light, Michelob Ultra , and pop in bottles. The people there were super friendly and we quickly felt like family. It was an awesome night, with about 30 rounds of Happy Birthday sung to Kim whenever there was a lull in the Jukebox music.

(Picture to left, The gentlmen of the trip at the Missouri state line, our first of the to for the day)

Today, the 29th, was a day off in Bartlesville. I used the time to rest, organize, clean up and do some needed bike maintenance. The local YMCA let us come in and use the pool, jacuzzi, sauna, etc. It was a great day and I'm excited for the ride to Ponca City tomorrow!

Hopefully I'll be able to post again soon!

Cheers,
Vandy