In Weatherford, our camp site wasn't what we thought it'd be. We had ice cold showers and no water or power. They stuck us on the lake with high, really hot, winds and no shade so we wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. After waiting for the sun to set, we woke at a couple times that night to a family (set up about 50 yards away) walking back and forth saying, "oh look, their getting their camp on!" like we were an exibit, really annoying. The next morning we woke at 4:15 AM with our head lamps on singing "we're getting our camp on!" as loud as we could...wonder if they got the message.
Anyway, we rode out of there around 5:30 with every light we had on, taking the country roads, alone to watch the sun rise over the wind farms in the east. We got so close that we could hear the blades as they cut through the Oklahoma morning winds.
After 12 miles we reached the highway and went east toward Tukon, beating the heat and traffic. We had set up a warmshower in Oklahoma with Moni who was leading a ride out in Yukon. We got there with time to spare and holed up in a small diner called Millers, chatting with the locals. The people out here are truly nice, not the best drivers, but nice. Evan briefley spoke with a family in for some milk shakes and as we went to go pay our tab, the waitress informed us that that family had already paid for it! Thank you mystery family!
After Moni was done with her ride, we met here outside Millers, crammed the bikes and ourselves into her van and made way for Oklahoma City just a few minutes up the highway. At least it felt like a few minutes. I fell asleep holding onto the bikes in the back and rolled out of the van at her house when they open the door. There, we were greeted by Jerry, Moni's husband who was preparing for a triathlon the next day.
Moni and Jerry were the definition of the active couple. Moni has toured the United States 1.5 times and still continues to tour while Jerry competes in 5k's, marathons, and triathlons. Evan and I had a ton of questions and tried to learn as much as we could about their races and touring. We wish we could have stayed longer, just to learn from them.
That night, we all went to Maccaroni Grill so everyone could carb up for their day on Sunday. Jerry and another couple were part of a three person team on the Route 66 Triathlon and Moni had lead a ride early and planned on riding out with us the next morning. Evan and I welcomed the meal and listened to all the stories and tips they had about riding and competing.
Back at their home, Jerry showed Evan and I his triplete. If you can see it below, it's custom built for three individual people who have their faces on the ends of the drops, it's all gold leaf across the frame, and Jerry somehow got 16 spoke wheels strong enough to hold a three person load. It really was a piece of art and they've gotten it into the higher 40's on the road.
Moni had us set up with a great room to crash in, we finally got some laundry done, had our own bathroom and Moni made us muffins for the road the next day. We couldn't have found better people to stay with! Also, they knew more about the area than anyone so they gave us different camp grounds to stay in the next night and drew out our routes to them.
The next day, our plan was to get as close to Tulsa as possible so we'd have a short day riding into it. Tulsa is like our vacation from this vacation because we get to stash our bikes and explore the city on foot. Only two days until then!
Below is a the camp ground in Weatherford. Don't let it fool you, it was 103 degrees there! Also, the triplete is shown, enjoy!
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