What a long night it was. It had to be another night in the teens. For almost the whole night, I laid there in a semi-awake state. I could never get warm enough to really get into a good deep sleep. When I "woke up" this morning I felt like I hadn't slept hardly at all. It's no comparison to yesterday night when we were in a nice warm bed. Even after yesterday's wonderful nights rest, we were still exhausted about 20 miles into the ride because of the wind; we're hoping the wind will be better today. We both struggled to get out of our sleeping bags this morning, but had decided that since the hot chocolate was so good last night that we would head straight over to the convenience store and get a nice big glass for breakfast. Before we got out of our sleeping bags completely, we snacked on the mini bagels and ham that Beth had sent with us so that we would have a little something in our bellies besides just hot cocoa. Once we were changed into our cycling clothes (probably one of the hardest parts of the being in the cold) and out of our sleeping bags we got to the convenience store as fast as we could so we could get in where it was warm. It was so nice to just sit there in the warm dining room with that huge cup of hot cocoa. As our toes warmed up and we sipped our cocoa, we watched a little of the weather channel to see what was in store for us the next few days. We knew that the detour to ride to Kansas and Missouri would be tough, and we were right. But either way- we aren't going to give up on those two states even if it is cold. Instead we will just complain to each other about the cold and stop at every convenience store we see just to stand inside for a few minutes to warm up. We will make it, I am sure of it! The wind was still going in the wrong direction today, but it didn't seem to be quite as strong as yesterday, which was really good because we didn't have a whole ton of energy to waste pushing through another wind like that. The sun was shining bright today, though, so there was hope that it would warm up a little by this afternoon. It was still much better than yesterday's cloudy, foggy, gloomy day! As we were riding along, a couple dogs decided we looked like fun things to chase. We've noticed that happening more and more lately- something we didn't see at all in the desert or in most of the areas we've ridden in the last few months. Luckily none of the dogs we've seen the last couple of days have been ferocious, but it may be time to buy a new can of Halt (since ours were taken when we crossed the border into Canada this summer), just in case one of these dogs ends up being ferocious. It has happened before where they try to bite at our ankles, so that Halt spray can really come in handy. The road crossed more rolling hills and meandered here and there before we got to the little town of Allen. It wasn't quite lunch time, but we were already a little hungry and needed a little something to keep us going and a chance to warm up for a few minutes. We stopped at a convenience store/ deli and got an order of hot potato wedges. That turned out to be enough to keep us going for a while so we didn't have to worry about stopping again for a while. After that town, our path turned a little and we had a tail wind for a few miles which was a wonderful break. We passed through a couple more tiny towns, stopping for a quick potty break at one of the convenience stores. By that time the temperature warmed up to somewhere in the low 40s. We almost felt warm sitting in there in the sun! I guess we thought it was warmer than it really was because we took off our face masks and ended up putting them back on about 2 miles down the road when we turned onto another road that would take us all the way to the I-40. We had a straight head wind on that new road, but the wind had died down a few mph even since this morning, so it wasn't too bad. As is the norm now, we passed by quite a few fields filled with cows and horses. The one herd of cows saw us and came running clear from the other side of their field to the fence near the road. It is so funny to watch, but a little sad at the same time because I think that they think we are coming to see them or give them food. They always look a bit sad and confused when we just keep riding by. A little while later, we had another dog friend come visit us. As I was riding up, I could see the doggie was standing on it's two back feet had his paws right up on Joey's chest getting some attention. After I got there, the doggie came running over to me and did the same thing. She was so cute and wanted nothing but attention. Being dog lovers it was hard to leave her. When we started riding again, she started to follow us, and continued to follow us. We heard a couple yells from the kids on the trampoline at the dog's house saying to "just keep going, she will come back home." It was getting closer to dark, so we had to keep riding anyways. That doggie ran next to us for longer than I've ever seen any dog run with us. We were beginning to get very worried because she ended up being almost a mile away from home. There wasn't a ton of traffic which was good, but we were still worried that she might get hit by a car. Eventually she stopped when she realized that she was far from home. She watched as we rode away and then turned around and headed back to the house. She seemed pretty street smart, but I still prayed that she would make it back ok without getting hit. A few miles later, we arrived in the town of Wetumka. After a quick ride around town to get our bearings, we stopped at the grocery store and bought a box of cereal for the morning. There was a nice little convenience store on the way out of town that sold milk (since if we bought it tonight it would freeze) and also had a table for us to eat indoors at. Since the time we got into town, the temperature had already dropped from 41 to 29, and it wasn't even 7pm yet. Another cold night was ahead of us. We were very hungry for dinner since we hadn't eaten a whole lot today and were looking for somewhere so we could at least be warm while we ate our dinner. We happened upon the post office which had unlocked doors. It was nice and warm inside, so we figured that would be a perfect place to sit and eat our dinner. We cooked up a Voila frozen pasta, chicken, veggie dinner outside on the sidewalk and then sat on the floor inside to eat. It was wonderful- such a good idea. At one point we even thought that if the doors were going to be open all night that we would just roll our sleeping bags out on the floor inside and sleep in there. But, that thought soon came to an end just as we were finishing up our dinner. The policeman came by to do his nightly lock up of the post office. He was very nice and didn't mind at all that we ate in the warm building. So, it was on to plan B- the church. There was a nice little spot behind the church that was out of the way, so even if for some reason we weren't packed and already gone before people came to church in the morning, we wouldn't be bothering anyone or be in the way. After last night in the cold and not getting any sleep, we needed to figure out some way to get warm. That is when I remembered I had a few of the "Hot Hands" hand warmer packets. I originally bought them for when we are riding, but now seemed like a much better time to use them. That did the trick! The ones that we had- "Super Hand and Body Warmers" were perfect. They lasted up to 18hours and really did get hot- with an average temp of 140 degrees! We each had just one and they heated our sleeping bags up enough that we would easily be able to fall asleep. Thank goodness!!! We snacked on some Jam cookies that grammy sent with her last care package and then huddled in our sleeping bags. I guess I'm tougher than I thought I was- sleeping outside for multiple nights in 15-25 degree weather after cycling in the cold all day and still being in high spirits is a good sign. I look back to the days before I ever rode bike and I know I would have never imagined I would ever do something like this! I am so glad that things turned out this way though- I can't imagine it any other way now. Who would have know I would find such joy in such an adventure as this! We did a little better miles wise today, having a total of 54.73. We are less that 80 miles away from Tulsa now, so it looks like we will make it just as we planned for New Years Eve! We are both looking forward to that so much, since it's something we've been planning to do for months- go to a hotel for NYE! Can't wait!!
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