After having a week off of relaxing and sleeping in, we woke up nice and early today. The roads look like they are passable, so we got everything all ready to go and packed. Joey woke up with a little bit of a stuffy nose, but nothing too extreme. I took a shower this morning because after leaving somewhere like this, we never know when the next time we will get another one is. We had a little cereal for breakfast this morning and had everything all packed by about 9. Papa Mike and Raven came over this morning, so we got to seem them one last time before we left. It was so sad to leave because we had such a great time here in Leonard. Not only were we going to miss Michael and his family, but I was really going to miss the little doggie. Oh how I've grown to love Angel; before her, I never knew how much I loved little doggies. Angel is so cuddly, portable, quiet, happy, energetic, and just plain adorable. One of my favorite memories of this week is just sitting there relaxing with a cute little doggie in my lap curled up under the blanket. I think part of the reason that I loved little Angel is that she did a lot of things that cats do- like nuzzle their way under covers, pounce when she plays, etc. I definitely got my animal fix to hold me over for a little while. We got back on the road a little after 9 after saying all our goodbyes. It was definitely cold out, probably around 20 or so when we got going. After having been off the bike for a week, it was a very weird feeling once we started riding. It reminded me right away of how it felt when we first pulled away from the apartment in Buffalo at the start of our trip, over 11,000 miles ago. The weight of the bike and all the gear was very noticeable and I felt very wobbly at first. Joey made a comment within the first half a mile that he felt like he was "really far off the ground." It's truly amazing that it only takes a week for our muscle memory to be gone like that. So, there we were, beginning the next "leg of the trip," from Leonard, TX to Altamonte Springs, FL, with a "little" detour to Kansas and Missouri on the way! We didn't even get a mile into the ride before we had to stop to put a little air in Joey's tires. Despite having checked them in the house before leaving and them feeling fine, it was a different story once we were out in the cold and riding on them. They felt a little too squishy for what they should have been. Shortly after we got the tires pumped up, we saw Papa Mike coming down the road in the truck. Raven, Anthony and Michael were accompanying him as they were all on their way to the shooting range to try out the new gun that Anthony got for Christmas and was excited about. We waved one last time and then headed our separate directions. There was a little snow and ice on the road here and there, but for the most part the road was nice and clear. It sure did feel really cold though since we had been spoiled by being in a nice warm house for a week. We were all decked out in our pants, coats, heavy gloves, face masks, hats and booties. The riding wasn't bad because our bodies generated enough heat that we were warm enough. The only hard part would be stopping for lunch. With it being this cold out, we knew we would be going out to eat so we didn't have to freeze our tooshies off cooking, eating, and cleaning. Grammy sent some gift cards to Subway as part of her care package/ Christmas stocking stuff, so that was the plan- subs for lunch! We were really excited when we opened those because we knew they would come in handy on this next leg of the trip. It took us about 5 miles or so to get comfortable on the bikes again and be "back in the groove of riding". The first 20 miles or so to the first town, Bonham (where we went for Christmas Eve Service and for dinner), wasn't too bad. There was hardly any traffic on the road, which was good because for most of the way on that road the shoulder was lacking. We could really feel it in our legs because of having not ridden in a week. I think the cold really amplified that soreness too. After a little searching, we found the Subway in Bonham and enjoyed a nice hot chicken terriaki sub with extra sweet onion sauce for lunch. Although it was a little early miles wise, and time wise to have lunch, we knew it would be the only Subway for quite a while, but also hoped that taking an earlier lunch would give it time to warm up a little outside. We dragged our feet a little because we didn't want to go back outside, but at the same time were excited about getting down the road to cross into Oaklahoma. From Bonham, we had about 20 miles to go before reaching the border. We were quite happy today because for the most part we had a tailwind, which would have not been the case had we been able to leave yesterday. Just before leaving Texas, we made a quick stop at a little convenience store. Just before we went inside, a guy came up to us in his car and told us to be careful because there was A LOT of traffic on this road and there was no shoulder at all once we crossed into OK. We thanked him for his concern, but had a hard time keeping in the giggles because of how insistent he was about how much traffic there was on this road. We tried to reassure him that we would be careful and that there really were hardly any cars on this road (which was NO lie, in the last hour, maybe 15 cars have passed us going either direction- almost no traffic here!). The guy was trying to be funny and said "No there really is a ton of traffic on this road- look in your rear view mirror once in a while!" It was nice of him to be concerned, but compared to a lot of roads we've been on, this one was virtually a ghost road. We crossed the Red River into Oklahoma and were happy to see a welcome sign. Yet another state down- Texas is now just a memory like all the rest we've done. Now on to making more memories in Oklahoma. Although we were hoping the sunshine would come out today, it was cloudy and actually a little foggy all day. Temperature wise, it did warm up nicely to somewhere around 40 degrees during midday. We ascended and descended through rolling hills shortly after getting into OK, but yet still managed to make pretty good time with the tailwind. The one thing that I have enjoyed about being back out in "farmland" is that we pass so much livestock, that all react differently when we ride by. Sometimes we have whole herds of cows running in their fenced in area next to us, while other times the cows just simply stare at us. The same goes with horses, we have the runners and also the stare-ers. It is a lot of fun to see the animals frequently and see how they react to us going by. It really breaks up the riding time and makes it go by much faster. The day went by and we never once saw the sun. We kept riding along and passed through our first little town in OK before heading onto Durant. Although our legs were feeling it from the cold and lack of riding the past week, my knees were giving me the most trouble. They used to hurt quite often on the other trips and in normal riding when I was back home. It's been quite a while since my knees have hurt this much on this trip. I have a feeling that the cold air really takes a beating on them. I'm sure they will get better as time goes on and they get used to riding again. After a quick potty stop at a convince store about 5 miles from Durant, we were riding along when a white vehicle pulled over on the other side of the road and rolled down their window. The driver, who looked VERY familiar to me, said "I'm Hatton Humphrey's mom!" Hatton is one of our faithful followers of the trip and used to live in southern OK. He called his Mom, who lives in Durant, and told her that we were getting close, so she decided she would go try to find us! It was such a great surprise! His Mom, Beth, gave us directions to her house, which was about 5 miles north of Durant. Now we were just SO excited after that. We told her we would be there in about an hour since we had around 10 miles left to do, but I think with our excitement, we made a lot better time than that. We just couldn't believe that we were going to be inside where it was nice and warm tonight- and have a nice hot shower to warm our bodies up! By the time we got to her house, it had started to get even colder out. When we got to Beth & Jim's house, we pulled our bikes right into the garage and got settled. Beth took us on a quick tour of the house and showed us some amazing stuff- a bed, and the best thing anyone could ever ask for- a Jacuzzi bath tub!! I was going to be in heaven later! When Jim got back from a quick trip to the store, we sat down to a super yummy meal of beef stew and cornbread hot out of the oven. It warmed us right up from the inside out. We still couldn't believe that we were there enjoying a beautiful meal with them- what are the odds that we would have just happened to come through the same town that they lived in!? If we wouldn't have met Michael and Papa Mike, we wouldn't have gone to Leonard, TX and probably would have cut into OK someplace else. I am still amazed at this trip- everything has worked out so well. Everything we've done and everyone we've met has lead to something else, almost like everything was supposed to happen according to some kind of plan. My motto that everything happens for a reason- good and bad, has held true. After a wonderful dinner and great conversation, Beth got a nice hot bubble bath ready for me. It was like stepping into a paradise. Fit with candles and a glass of wine, I don't think it could have gotten any better than that! The hot water and Jacuzzi jets felt great on my sore legs and knees. I was definitely in heaven. As we were riding through the cold today, this is the last thing I pictured myself getting to do today- what a treat. I love the surprises that the days bring while touring- that is one of the things that keeps me going strong. I stayed in that heavenly water for a little over an hour. It was a lot of fun because when the jets were on, so many bubbles would form that you could get lost in them. Then you turn the jets off for a little bit and they would go down a little. It was the ultimate bubble bath! I can't remember the last time I've taken a bubble bath, but that is definitely something I need to do a little more frequently! It was so incredibly relaxing! As I sat in there, all I could think about was the cold weather and how we would be riding in it again- that was enough to make me want to stay in the nice hot water as LONG as I could. Beth had a nice snuggy bath robe for me to wear when I got out, and it was just so comfy! Before going to sleep in the nice comfy bed, I threw a load of laundry in to get everything all cleaned. It had been a couple days since I'd done it last, so we had "regular clothes" and it's always nice to have nice fresh cycling clothes. The bubble bath made me feel totally relaxed and I knew between that and the super comfy bed, I would get a fantastic nights sleep. We are so blessed to be indoors today because we watched the weather channel for a little bit this evening and they called for a chance of freezing rain this eve
ning- that would not have been fun! Even with the cold, today turned out to be a wonderful day! Our miles totaled 63.84 today.
ning- that would not have been fun! Even with the cold, today turned out to be a wonderful day! Our miles totaled 63.84 today.