Day 14. Stroud, OK to Stillwater,OK

52.2 miles
4:01 ST
12.9 avg

In the above numbers, what is your first clue that it was windy today? Good job! Yes, it's that low average speed. And that 52 miles looks quite low, but when you consider that with the wind it probably equals about 65 miles in energy output, it starts to look a bit better.

We were riding north and west and north again today. Guess which way the wind came from. Right, again! The northwest.

The sun was shining when we left at 7:25 and turned Silver Streak up hwy 99. We had prayer warriors praying for that 17 mile stretch of two lane with no shoulders. The traffic was light-medium and we had no problems.

There appears to be some attraction that the rain clouds in Oklahoma have for Silver Streak because it seems that as soon as we take him outside into the sun, those clouds start to gather.

Watching the dark skies move toward us, we made the turn off of 99 onto 33 toward Cushing. The rain was about a mile or so away and coming fast. "Lord, can you show us a place to stop?" Behind the next trees that we passed was a building all by itself...with a covered entrance. Thank You! About a minute after we pulled Bob under the overhang, the rain began. Good time for a break.

A little over an hour later we could take off without threat of rain again. It was still pretty cloudy, but no rain. We had four lanes into Cushing then it dropped to two lanes with a shoulder. Still okay even though there were lots of big trucks.

If you Google Cushing you'll find that it had an oil boom in 1912 that led to its development as a refining center. Today it's a major trading hub for crude oil. It is a "vital transshipment point with many intersecting pipelines, storage facilities and easy access to refiners and suppliers." (This info from Wikipedia.) At one point we could see some of those huge storage tanks from the road - many, many of them.

Okay, all that to explain why there are so many big trucks on the road. Tanker trucks, construction trucks, big dump trucks. For the most part the drivers in Oklahoma have been quite courteous, moving away from us as they approach from behind. You know what? They're not all friendly. 

We both saw in our mirrors that one big dump truck was one of those "unfriendlies". He wasn't moving for anyone, least of all a tandem bike and trailer. On a section that had NO shoulder. 

What do you do?  You do what my Gerry did: you head into the ditch. We were so grateful that it was not a deep ditch, but shallow enough that Gerry was able to steer us safely through and back onto the shoulder that appeared in 20 yards. Do we believe in God's protection? Yes, we saw it so very clearly today.

A mile or so farther we stopped at a Sonic to rest and get ourselves calmed down and ready for the last push into Stillwater.

The wind still challenged us but we were overcomers! Well, kind of. We were very tired finishers at least. Oh, did I mention that it was still hilly today? and that many times we had to pedal downhill? Uh huh.

After a day like today, Motel 6 looked like a haven! A shower, late lunch next door at a Mexican restaurant (thanks, Mom)

and a walk to Wal-Mart. We're now trying to NOT take a nap so we can sleep better tonight.

Gerry has been working on an alternate route from what we had planned for tomorrow. The desk clerk strongly recommended that we not continue up 177 because of the narrow road and high traffic volume.

It's clear that we're grateful for God's care today. But even more, we're grateful for His love for us, His children, whom He has protected through the blood of Jesus.

In Him,
P@

Not many pictures today cuz you've already seen plenty of hills and storm clouds. But I forgot this picture the other day for my brothers and brother-in-law (like they don't see enough of these).