back to AJA.CarlRaffaDeleted's great American bicycle trip

---

Edmond is just a few miles north of Oklahoma City. It happens to be the home town of gymnast Shannon Miller. They have a rather unflattering bronze statue of her right outside the library.

With flatter terrain and some favorable winds, I managed about 400 miles of riding this past week. Fifty of those miles were a side trip to West Mineral, Kansas to see Big Brutus. The rest of the miles have been along Route 66.

Oklahoma in general is full of strange looking people. And trailer parks. It's no wonder they have such a problem with tornados. Route 66 is still in use as OK Highway 66 in much of the state. That means it's easier to follow the route, but there's also a lot more traffic. Most of the roads have a decent shoulder to ride on, but there are occasional stretches where I have to ride in the lane. My first day in OK I was riding on one such stretch and had a small car come up behind me. They waited until the last minute to slam on the brakes, then honked and nearly ran me off the road trying to pass me. Then, they stopped, got out and yelled at me for riding on the wrong side of the road. They were convinced that I should be riding against traffic, a practice which has been out of favor since the 1950's. The guy's brother or cousin or uncle or something was a cop, and apparently they spend their evening debating the finer points of vehicular law, because he was certain that the law stated that bikes were not allowed on highways, and even if they were, the bike was supposed to ride against traffic. I thanked him for his insight, and let him go on his way. (I later confirmed with a cop that bikes have the same rights and responsiblities as automobiles).

I am running out of time, so I'll have to cut this short. I'll try to respond to individual emails if I can convince the librarian to give me another 30 minutes.

Carl - dearcarl@yahoo.com

---

back to AJA.CarlRaffaDeleted's great American bicycle trip

-- MadisonBryan - 08 Oct 2001