This weekend I was able to do another quarter of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail, a section that pretty well did a big loop around Tulsa, OK. Sat morning started out at the Homestead Family restaurant in Cushing, OK where I had some much-needed coffee and some great french toast.

The rest of sat revolved around the planned route being flooded and finding ways around it back to the trail. Then we ended up at our camp site for the night… which was underwater.

We decided we were going to look for another spot and all of them were flooded. Okay, roadside camping it is but we need supplies. No problem right? Wrong. The entire town had no power and the only place that was open was a gas station that was taking cash and offering formerly warm food, which we bought out of necessity.

I managed to find Eagle Bluff Resort and they had openings that were underwater earlier in the day. What the heck, we had to sleep somewhere. It turned out great because there weren’t many people there and the ones that were there invited us to join them. We setup camp, had a few drinks, and went to bed after a long day’s ride.

I decided that I would hammock camp for the first time and I’m still not sold on it. More on that in another post. Waking up, I had a great view of the morning sky, my bike, and the surrounding trees.

After packing up we hit the road and the trails were absolutely perfect. A little challenging, perfect temperature, perfect light coming through the trees, just perfect.

The rest of the day was more of the same beautiful dirt roads with some sporadic strips of windy pavement. Oh, and the occasional water crossing. Some were a little deeper than expected but most of all, going forward I will assess the slipperiness of the bottom of the crossing. Yep, took an unexpected swim.

Overall the trip was a great time and a great learning experience. It was also some good time spent with a new friend, sharing a common desire for adventure.

One thing I will say is that we met a lot of people who talked to us like we were doing something amazing that is unattainable by others. If there is something you want to do but have some sort of reservation, just do it. I assure you there is nothing special about me and all it takes to do something “cool” and embark on an adventure, is to do it. Plain and simple.

Anyway, good luck to you all in your endeavors and check back for more stories about my travels.