It really was cold last night. We had a couple of the toe warmer packets in our hands/ sleeping bags last night, but they weren't even comparable to the real Hot Hands hand/body warmers that we had a few nights ago. These ones that we had only held heat for about 6 hours vs. 18 hours and were either expired or close to it, so they didn't put out nearly as much heat as the other ones. The Hot Hands ones get so warm that they are hot to the touch, these other ones we had were hardly warm to the touch. So, on the list for today- find some Hot Hands warmers in a store somewhere and re- stock. We will definitely need them to get us through the night tonight and the rest of the time it is this cold outside. It's amazing how much one little thing can help. I didn't sleep all that good last night because I woke up cold a few times in the middle of the night. There wasn't any time that I was comfortably warm once I went to bed for the night. I can't have that happening again- we definitely need to find some more Hot Hands warmers! It was just so cold out this morning. The alarm went off around 7:30/8 and we made an attempt to get out of our sleeping bags, but it was just SO cold. We were really hungry, so we ate some snacks (some yogurt from the hotel, a cinnamon roll from the hotel, and some more potato chips- yes potato chips for breakfast!) in our sleeping bag, and I mean completely in our sleeping bag, it felt way too cold for our heads to even be exposed. We laid there and laid there thinking about how we needed to get up and get riding. It ended up being almost 10 am before we got out of our sleeping bags, and we had woken up around 8! By then the frozen condensation on the walls of our tent had started to melt (and drip on us) and it was a little "warmer" outside. We packed up and bundled up as best we could. The weather channel was right today- we had a nice SW tail wind!!! Although I put on my sweatpants over top of my cycling pants, I almost didn't need it today with the wind at our backs. The sun was shining for the most part and it felt so much warmer not having the wind hitting us in the face. In all reality, it was probably close to the same temperature as it was yesterday afternoon, but it didn't seem nearly as bad. That wind- it can either help us immensely or really hinder us. We are so glad that today will be an easier day! After only about 3-4 miles, we stopped at a gas station/ convenience store to use the restroom and see if they had any cereal and milk for sale. Joey was really hungry, despite having snacked a little, and was ready for a real breakfast. There were some nice tables and booth seats inside the store where we could enjoy our frosted flakes. It was nice to get our fingers, toes and noses warmed up while we sat inside. Although we had only gone a few miles, it worked out just fine stopping so early because it gave it a little more time for it to try to warm up outside. It was of course, still really cold by the time we went outside. As we continued down Old Route 66, we passed by a big plaque for a Route 66 Footrace that happened back in 1928. The guy who won, Andrew Hartley Payne, graduated the year before the race, from the high school in the town we were in (Foyil, OK) and completed the entire world record 3, 423.5 miles (from LA to NYC) in a time of 573 hours, 4 minutes and 34 seconds. It was pretty amazing that they had a race like that way back in 1928. A little further down the road, we saw the signs pointing to the direction of the Route 66 Totem Pole park. We had some very good recommendations to go there by the people that we met in Jenks, near Tulsa. We had wanted to go, but because it was 4-5 miles off the road, we decided to skip it since we had a lot of miles still left to do. It was a bit of a tough choice, but sometimes that's the way it's got to be. We had such a great tailwind that we didn't want to loose our headwind, which would have happened if we turned and headed off in a different direction. But even more importantly than that is it was just too cold to have to ride any extra miles than we had to . Had it been warm weather, we probably would have made sure to go there. I'm just glad we got to see the blue whale yesterday! We had to ride through a few bits of construction later on. The line between the shoulder of the road and the main road surface was separated by a huge drop off that would definitely do some damage if we hit it. After a while longer, we made it to the town of Vinita where we planned to have lunch. Shortly after getting to town, we met a guy named Gerald. He was very intrigued about our trip and asked us quite a few questions. After talking with us for only a couple of minutes, he asked if we were hungry and said he would buy us lunch at McDonald's which was right around the corner. Since he insisted on buying us lunch, our next stop was McDonald's, which we were of course going to stop at anyways to use the internet. Gerald said to order anything that we wanted. I got a regular cheeseburger and fries and Joey got a Big Mac meal. We couldn't believe that after only a couple minutes of knowing us, Gerald bought us lunch! We fully expected him to join us for lunch, but after paying, he said to enjoy the rest of our trip and then headed out the door. What an amazing, unexpected gesture to add a little spark to our day. As we sat there enjoying our lunch, we still couldn't believe that just happened. It had been quite a while since we had fast food, and I have to admit, it was a nice little treat. Just as we were about to leave McDonald's, we saw Gerald again, so we had a chance to thank him one last time. As we were heading out of town, we made a stop at Wal-Mart to see if we could find some more of the hand warmers since we have now realized how vital they are to us being able to sleep when it's in the teens and 20s at night. Sure enough, they had some hand warmers, not the exact ones that I was looking for (the ones that lasted 18hours!), but they did have ones that lasted 12 hours, so I figured that would be just fine. The ride was pretty flat from Vinita to the town of Afton where we ended up stopping for the night. We had plans to go further than that, but when we got there the sun was almost completely under, so we knew it wouldn't take long at all for it to get really dark. We stopped at the gas station for a quick break and then headed out to find a spot to pitch the tent for tonight. On the way out of town, we found a nice church that seemed like it would work just fine. Unfortunately there wasn't anyone around to ask, but again, it was already getting dark and really cold, so we had to get in our sleeping bags. We were inside our sleeping bags for about an hour or so when our tent filled with light. Someone had come to the church for a church meeting! A few minutes later, about 5 more cars came. We asked one of the couples that was on their way into the church if they thought it was ok that we had our tent set up there. They said that we shouldn't have any problems at all and that it was fine. They asked us a couple questions about how long we had been traveling, etc. before heading into the church. About a half hour or so later, everyone came back out and headed home. That same couple that we had asked, along with another guy came over to our tent and asked us if we wanted any coffee or a hot shower!! We of course asked if they had hot cocoa and sure enough they had quite a bit of it! It turns out that the young couple that we had asked before was the pastor and his wife, Blake and Nikki. The other guy that was with him, Michael, was the youth pastor. Of course the thought of a nice hot shower and a cup of hot cocoa on a cold night sounded amazing! So, Nikki ran home real quick to get us a couple towels and the rest of us went inside the fellowship hall next to the church- which was HUGE! We quickly found out why it was such a huge building- it had a full gymnasium inside, fit with bathrooms that have showers! What a great idea- first for the kids that go there, but also for the community. If there was ever some kind of natural disaster or other incident in town that left some of it's residences with destroyed homes or in need of help in some way, they might have a place to stay and or a place to at least get a shower while they get back on their feet. Once Nikki got back, Joey and I each got to take nice hot showers. It was WONDERFUL! After being so cold in our tent, that hot water felt so great. Once we were nice and clean and warm, we got to enjoy a great cup of hot cocoa, or two for that matter as well as some wonderful conversation with Blake, Nikki and Michael. What a great way to spend the evening! It was so nice to relax inside for a little while and get to talk to the three of them, it was SO much more enjoyable than our normal evening in the tent where we end up just laying there from 6pm til morning. We cannot wait until the days get longer again! After chatting with them until almost 10 pm, we headed back in our tent and they headed home. We are looking forward to tomorrow morning because Blake will be back in the morning and we get to go out to breakfast with him at the little cafe down the road! What a fun thing to look forward to; that will give us some motivation the get out of our sleeping bags in the cold tomorrow! What a wonderful day full of surprises! Tonight it will probably going to get down into the low 20s or teens again, but now that we have the warmers, we should be able to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow is a big day- Kansas and Missouri, the states that we weren't sure if we would be able to get because of the cold, but we are so close now that we just have to get them! Hopefully we have another tail wind tomorrow. Our miles totaled 47.78 today.
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