Trans America Trail - 2008

 

Day 6 – from Alva, Oklahoma to Liberal, Kansas.

 

Miles: 139 (road distance as per GPS)

Hotel: Super 8, Liberal, Kansas

 

Commentary:

 

This days started out sunny and not too cold. Most of the rain water appeared to have drained away which was surprising based on the amount of water I had seen before.

 

 

Here I am squinting into the early morning sun. Helmet cam was not active at this point, Don’t know what the street name means. Note union jack, and yet some thought I was from the Ukraine…

 

       

 

These two pics above are typical of the riding in OK. The roads are in reasonably good condition for dirt and there is a 1 mile square grid pattern for most of the state. A LOT of farming going on here!

 

 

The roads just stretched on and on…

 

               

 

And then I came across this – a cowboy grave yard. The last pic shows the ‘new’ gravestone with the story of what had transpired there. The old gravestone can be seen in this too. What was impressive to me was that the lilies (I think that’s what the flowers are) were beautifully kept. They were the same size and well watered. Someone obviously takes care of this.

 

 

More OK roads…

 

 

This scene was repeated quite often in OK. Derelict buildings that looked like they had been hammered by storms and tornados and tree too.

I wouldn’t want to be around when what it was that did this came through. Practically all the trees in OK looked like this.

 

       

 

Is stopped here for a ‘bio-break’ the wind had started pumping, warm and dry, and it wasn’t much fun. You can see this in the first pic. More of this was going to happen the following day (oh joy).

This part of the TAT was beginning to wear me out a bit – long and boring, a bit like dirt interstates.

 

 

I think I gassed up Boise City and ran into a woman complaining bitterly about the price of gas. “ It just cost me $120 to fill this sucker up” (big minivan thing). “What sorta mpg are you all getting with that?” (pointing at the bike). “About 60”, I said. She wasn’t happy.

 

 

More dirt interstate…

 

Liberal was the first major town since Bartlesville and it was nice to see signs of life. When I check in to the Super 8 in Liberal the Mexican cleaners thought I had come from an aeroplane. Odd, must get some weird looking pilots in Liberal. I went to a Chinese all you can eat buffet ($10) and had probably too many fried prawns. Nice though, don’t know how they make a profit. It included a bottom-less soda (common in the USA).

 

 

 

Journal Quote:

 

Rode to Liberal, Kansas today. Started well with good weather. Trail took me through the Oklahoma grids and into the small hills. Went to the Cowboy Cemetery and had some close encounters with cattle. Stupid things – but they taste good when cooked. Ride was good but had some hard braking in places when the road ran out. Got quite tired of this part of the trail so got on the blacktop for a while. Then this wind came up, 40 mph south to north. Was hateful as I was riding east to west. Bike was leaned over at about 20 degrees. Decided to hit the trail again but found riding in Oklahoma sand at speed in a crosswind VERY risky. Saw about 10 people all day so didn’t really want to fall off. Got into Liberal, a bit of a larger town and the Super8 was pretty good. Clean and cool but the bike was parked on the other side of the building. Should be ok as it was parked outside the managers office. Had Chinese buffet for dinner, all you can eat and drink for $10. Washed some clothes and watched sniper and Jurassic Park. It got hotter, it must be about 35 degrees outside. Severe weather warnings are in place! Will be glad to leave the plains tomorrow.