Woke up to a grey, crisp morning eager to get on the road. After a nice oatmeal breakfast, I hit the road. It misted all morning, but it never really rained on me and with the temperatures under 70 degrees I made really good time without any worry of overheating.
After a few hills coming out of the mountains, the land really opened up back into flat farm land and not much else.
In fact there was almost no sign of any people in this land. I was passed by only three or four cars in the first several hours. Of the houses I did pass, many were abandoned which led to a feeling of passing through a really deserted land.
However, I soon left the county roads for a larger highway and came upon the small town of Roosevelt, Oklahoma. In most of my travels, I have always been able to find something nice and good in the places I’ve traveled through. However, when it comes to Roosevelt, I am kind of drawing a blank. It started when I stopped in the small gas station/grocery on the north of town. I got a breakfast burrito and cup of coffee from the almost completely unresponsive clerk and took a seat in a booth in the corner of the store. I then got the pleasure of hearing a detailed discussion between the clerk and a local about exactly what they “should do with me” if I stayed too long. Thankfully, calling the sheriff was the general consensus. However, I drank my coffee extremely quickly and headed on through town.
The town center was almost completely abandoned except for a beer bar. The major business in town was a giant junk yard to the south of downtown. All in all, it was a nasty and scary place and I was glad to be clear of it.
However, the rest of my ride was very pleasant and I rolled into Great Plains State Park just as the sun started to come out giving me time to put the solar panels to work. I ate the last of my backpacker meals (stay away from the Pad Thai) and settled in for the night excited and sad about the last day of my self-contained travels.
More Photos Below:
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