Lake Overholser (Oklahoma City) to Stroud

April 28, 2025

Jumping Ahead

After delaying the rest of my Route 66 tour for a week to attend some funerals, I hit the road again today. Of course the wind returned to send me off (I wish). A south crosswind 20-30 mph gusting over 40. Fortunately for me riding across Oklahoma City meant there was a lot of wind disruption by the buildings, and there was a 7-8 mile south to north section to get up to Edmond that meant a nice tailwind for a while.

They’ve started putting up route signage through Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma is the only state with active oil wells or it’s capitol grounds. Zoom in and you can see that that old derrick has a Phillips shield on it. My alma mater.

Pops. They sell over 700 different bottled soft drinks, along with pretty good burgers. It was created by Aubrey McClendon, the founder of Chesapeake Energy.

The Round Barn in Arcadia, built in 1898.

Reminder of how much farther I would have to ride Route 66 to get really good pizza.

John’s Place. I’ve been here a few times before. It was created by a very interesting character.

Came across this intersection, with Old Route 66 coming from the right and joining the road I was on. I looked back…

…and found a quiet narrow road disappearing into the trees. I have no idea where the other end intersects the modern highway, or if it does.

Ruins of a historic Route 66 gas station.

The Indian Meridian (longitude 97 degrees 14’ 30” west from Greenwich, governs the surveys in Oklahoma, except for the Panhandle. It’s position was selected arbitrarily as part of the land survey of 1870.

Today’s botanical interlude. More many-petaled yellow flowers.

Oh, yes, the hills made a reappearance. It’s a feature that GoogleMaps refers to as “mostly flat”.

I left the official U.S. Bike Route 66 to go through Wellston, which once upon a time was on the old Route 66.

Too bad they don’t still sell gas here. 99.9 cents per gallon max.

My reward for diverting through Wellston. They’ve removed the old overpass over I-44 to build a new one. I had to turn back east to make a 4-mile detour to get to the other side of the interstate.

For the past week the weather folk have been predicting severe weather early this week. It’s beginning to come true. No rain or storms today so I pushed all the way to Stroud, ending up riding 18 miles farther than I planned. The longest touring day since two years ago crossing the country, when one day in Illinois was 86 miles, but without wind.

Pretty much all that remains of Warwick, Oklahoma.

I don’t understand why some motorists decide to sit behind me when there’s not a shoulder for me to ride on, even though they have every opportunity to pass. Sometimes I will pull off onto the gravel or grass to let them by. As I was coming into Stroud I was followed by a car for about a mile. When I turned off Route 66 to find the motel where I’m staying tonight, I saw he had accumulated perhaps a dozen followers. Ai turned off I heard one of the motorists in the parade scream, “Get off the road, you piece of s**t!” Perhaps that’s Okie for “Welcome to Stroud!”. Why not yell at the driver who refused to pass me?!

As I sit here in the Sooner Motel I’ve been watching the weather. Close to 100% chance of rain and storms for the next 2 days, with many severe storms, and 4” to 6” to 8” of rain expected. It’s raining right now. The axis of the bad weather forecast aligns with Route 66. Depending on what the weather is doing in the morning I may just sit here. Or get out and make a dash for the next shelter. We’ll see.

Today's ride: 81 miles (130 km)
Total: 240 miles (386 km)

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Karen PoretSorry you had to get a non-cyclist-gas-infused jerk. Probably mad because it’s “Monday”..who knows..
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3 days ago

Ed ChimahuskyAt least he didn’t double back and yell at you again going the opposite direction.
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2 days ago