Woke up to cloudy skies and moderate temperatures. If only I could ride for three hours or so before packing and leaving.

But it was after 0900 before I had all my stuff together and said goodbye to Bill & Cathy. I've decided not to head for Atlanta, which is three days east, the way I travel, adding at least a week to my meander.

So north it is, almost directly, as I want to avoid both Dallas/Fort Worth and Oklahoma City megalopoli. Fueled up just south of Fredricksburg, where it was already hot. There's not much interesting happening on these roads in central Texas, and that's pretty much a good thing, but it's almost as boring as the Interstates, with a bit lower speed limit. Still, I prefer it as there are breaks for little towns, and occasional interactions with locals and fellow travelers.

One of whom started a conversation when I stopped for gas in Strawn (just north of I-20). He asked about my trip, mentioned he had a bike and admired all the paraphernalia I traveled with. He recommended a local diner for lunch, wished me luck and peeled away. I don't usually eat in the middle of the day, so I broke out my wet neck towel A/C (for the first time this trip) and headed north again.

I didn't have a good idea for how far I was going to make it, so I'd laid out a route all the way to Enid; by mid afternoon it looked like somewhere south of OK City was more likely, and I started searching for lodging on my route with the Garmin Nuvi. Looked like Chickasha was a good candidate, on I-44 with a couple of major highways also converging. Rolled past a Wal*Mart, and then there was the Budget Motel. It is, too, $40 total for a (admittedly, not great) room with decent wi-fi and air conditioning.

I was just startled by a clap of thunder, and looked out the door to heavy rain. According to weather.com, they're pop-up showers, quick moving. It's 0725, time to start packing up, and they'll probably be gone by the time I leave.

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