17 September 2011

It was sprinkling just a bit as I packed up the bike, but it didn't look like it was going to clear up, and trying to project my route against the predicted 'future' weather (at weather.com) didn't reassure me much. With luck I'd duck it all, but I wasn't optimistic.

According to the gps, the day's ride was going to be ~490 miles, and get me to Mike's house around 1740. That doesn't take into account stops for gas, or whatever, but is usually pessimistic about speeds, so it evens out.

It was a bit warmer than yesterday (started at 55) but I was still wearing long pants and a sweater under the 'Stich. I didn't put the gaiters over my boots; I had them in the tank bag, but figured I'd be ok as long as I didn't go through any heavy rain, for too long.

I started the day with over half a tank of gas; I figured population was dense enough that I wouldn't have a problem finding it whenever. So of course, I did...the light came on, and the RTE started counting down. I didn't stop in Slater (too soon), and then--nothing. GPS said 'next gas 30 miles' but a couple of towns before then. Right about then I went past a tumble-down in the middle of nowhere, but passed it by. The next 'town' was Arrow Rock, which turned out to be a museum of sorts--I pulled through the parking lot, but it seemed pretty obvious that the 'town' would be a re-creation of some sort of pioneer village: hay, perhaps, but no gas.

Never did see the next 'town', but as the RTE counted towards 5, saw that I was approaching I-70, and the promised gas station. Sure enough, there was a Conoco on the other side. Put in a bit more than five gallons, disaster averted once again.

Then I started hitting rain. It was mostly light, and wouldn't last long, so I didn't bother with the gaiters or changing to rain gloves. By the time it did start to get heavier, it didn't seem worth it to fumble with the gaiters, although I changed to rain gloves, and tucked the mp3 player into a pocket. I went through pretty heavy stuff a couple of times, for maybe a total of half an hour; it stayed dizzly mostly the rest of the time through Missouri, and across the tip of Kansas. Occasionally, the sky would lighten a bit, and I would think I was getting out of it, but then the road would turn, and it'd be back.

Sometime during the day, I checked the trip odometer, and the 'distance to go' and they added up to just over 500 miles. What the?? I hadn't taken any detours, so I was puzzled.*

Almost as soon as I crossed into Oklahoma, the skies started to clear, the temperature rose into the 70s and the sun came out. Yay! Crossed the Will Rogers Turnpike on a couple of smaller roads, detoured around a street fair in Coweta, stopped for gas one more time in Haskell, and got to Mike's at 1810; Mike and Janie were sitting in lawn chairs in the driveway, having monitored the Spot tracker to pinpoint my arrival time.

*The distance anomaly was explained when I looked at the track: the MapSource program had routed me on some straight sections of back roads; the gps picked major roads that may have been quicker, but were definitely longer.

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