Across Oklohoma to Easter Blessings

Sean and Sherri presided over the adult's table at the Easter feast
Here's my first post about why I'm riding, and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope.  If you have already donated, thanks -- please talk with a friend about donating.   If you haven't yet donated, giving will make your day.  Trust me.

We're in the middle of the ride now, maybe a little past halfway.   We ride with Adventure Cycling Association maps, and we've gone through about 75 panels.  We've gone through our initial supplies of Chamois Buttr, and nearly through our initial chains.  Fairly soon we'll leave Route 66.

The people we've met are the best part of the ride.  We've had some rough spots -- I made far more colorful comments about Oklahoma drivers than I wrote in this blog.   Our daily experience, though, is of extraordinary kindness.  If you've lost faith in humanity, or even in America, I highly recommend bicycle touring. 

Warm Showers hosts take us in out of the goodness of their hearts, giving us so much more than lodging.  They provide local information, bicycle expertise and information from other cyclists.  The kindness of the folks who took us in for Easter was just overwhelming.  So especially during Easter, let's give thanks for the goodness that's alive in the world.

Here's the trip diary.

April 20: Chandler to Sand Springs, 65 miles.

We left Chandler with fairly low expectations for riding conditions.  And the first few miles matched that outlook, but then it changed.  The shoulders returned and with them civility.  We relaxed and began to enjoy the ride again.  Steve and Ed the Bus found us all along the way.   It was a wonderful ride.  Our Warm Showers hosts were in Sand Springs, a suburb just west of Tulsa.  So when we got to Sapulpa we paused before heading north to their house.

Steve had parked at a gas station to give us a rest stop, a move that apparently caused some consternation.  We were explaining to the gas station guy that we really would leave soon when Charles Beztler appeared.  He reports for the Sapulpa Times, and did a quick interview and took our picture.   Charles grew up in Sapulpa, and clearly loves the place.  He announced with confidence that he was a "screaming liberal", and an Episcopalian.    Charles launched us into Sapulpa with enthusiasm that buoyed us as we climbed the hill out of town.
Girl power at the children's table

Carol and I soon found the start of the Katy Trail, south of the Arkansas River.  The trail starts modestly enough, with indifferent pavement rolling through a suburban neighborhood.  Soon the trail sported a solid concrete wall protecting bicycles from car traffic on the bridge crossing the Arkansas.  Indispensable.  Our hosts, Sean and Sherri Swift, were just a few blocks off the trail on the north side of the river, and we rolled in gratefully.

April 21: Easter in Sand Springs and Tulsa.  Rest day.

Easter Sunday was as perfect as it could get.  The two block walk to St. Matthew's took me past enthusiastic flower beds and happily blooming trees.  I was welcomed, got a donation from one parishioner and encouragement from a bunch of others.  Multiple generations of families filled the pews.  This is a place where people just stay.

Steve and I pedaled into Tulsa for lunch at Chimera on Main St.   Tulsa is just likable.  Chimera could have been in Decatur -- cheery young women with big tatoos, a DJ for Sunday brunch, great tofu.  They actually cooked some of the tofu the way I do at home -- sliced really thin and well baked.

There was time to lube my chain, and check it for wear (not yet an emergency, but I'll need a new one soon), and sit some before Easter dinner.  Sean is a chef by trade and Easter Sunday showed it.  Sean and Sherri's extended clan arrived, all of them carrying the same air of kindness that Sean and Sherri have.

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