Route 66 Through Oklahoma

I finally found a map of Route 66...

Interstate roads and trucks.

Trucks at the gas and truck stop on Interstate 44.

These windmills speak to me.

The landscape is getting drier and more ranch like.

Monday, July 1st.   Happy Canada Day!

I left the hotel by 9 and began another long hot ride. The temperature was very nice in the morning but climbed steadily. I rode about 15km to Oklahoma and immediately found myself on an interstate toll route that cost $5 to get to Tulsa and then another $5 to get to Oklahoma City. I am not a city person and with the heat I have no desire to get caught in traffic in a city I don't know on my bike. Besides it is landscapes and the natural world that I am more interested in. So, I continued to ride west from Oklahoma City. The landscapes became drier, flatter and more ranch-like as I went. Eventually, I crossed the state line into Texas. I adjusted my goal to spend the night in Amarillo, Texas. As I rode I saw more ranches and most of the cattle were hiding under trees if they could find one or wading and drinking in the water holes. Just before Amarillo I rode past hundreds of windmills. With all of the sunshine, I wonder why they don't also make huge solar panel fields...  I rode 786km today. When I got to Amarillo, I was very tired and checked into another Comfort Inn. I had a quick shower and then went next door to the Cracker Barrel Country Store for dinner. I had a very nice rainbow trout meal with a beer and tip for $20. It is somewhat surreal to eat in a restaurant by yourself. I just sat and watched people and marveled at the size of some of them. It's interesting that we are all going about our lives and will likely never connect or see each other again... they all look quite normal but then you wonder which ones are Republicans, anti-vaxxers and gun toters... ahh America.

Being Canada Day I wished everyone I came in contact with, a Happy Canada Day, from the hotel staff, to gas station employees, to people I met there, to restaurant staff... A typical conversation went like: I'd like to wish you a Happy Canada Day... pardon?... Your country's birthday is July 4th and mine is July 1st... so Happy Canada Day... oh thanks! and sometimes it went a bit further, but everyone was receptive and friendly.