US66 Tour - Day 5 - Tulsa to Weatherford

Have the opportunity to do some early blogging due to the inclement weather. It's pissing down. 94 yesterday, 68 today. We have delayed our departure to give the storms time to pass. We are on the edge of tornado alley, so storms in these parts are taken a lot more seriously than one back home would be. Gives me time to write my postcards though. What with all the riding, blogging, etc, take a back seat, hence why most of my blog writing has been done around midnight.

We are starting to bond really well as a group. Nicknames are being given, all in good fun and I'm sure we will all have one by the end of the tour.

Our guide Gary came with his own. The Bear, however, he has acquired several more due his penchant for doubling up on everything (usually food). He currently lists, 2 bellies, 2 scoops & 2 steaks amongst those we have given him.

The first of our group to acquire one was Pat. He's our only non UK member, coming from Eire. We have dubbed him, though I'm not sure he's that keen on it, the Vulture, due to his uncanny resemblance to the very common Turkey Vulture, which sports a bald red head. I think we may find something a bit kinder for him as we go on.

I'll list more as we progress. 

We set off at about 9:15. It was raining and boy did it rain. We only had about 180 miles to cover today and with one planned stop, yet we only got in about 20:00. We were all soaked through. The link will show why.

http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-lt.-gov.-jari-askins-declares-state-of-emergency-for-59-counties/article/3468508

We did manage the stop at another museum of sorts. Gary knows the people there and they opened it especially for us on what is normally their closed day. It was reasonably interesting, with old car seats and motel beds positioned by touch screens. Selecting an option projected onto a white screen hanging from the ceiling, so quite neat. Lots of pictures and various other memorabilia too.

We then had a tour, unintentional, of the Oklahoma countryside. This entirely due to flooding and roads being closed. I can honestly say I have never seen flooding on such a scale. At one point we passed a field with cows up top their armpits in red muddy water. The soil here is almost terracotta colour.

We did manage or rather Gary did, with his weather tracking on his laptop, to find a break between storms and at this point we stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post. A genuine Indian shop and service station/restaurant mainly but tucked away out back, they have a pen with 3 American Buffalo, one a baby. Aaaah!

Having fuelled up and photographed the animals, we set off for our last few miles to the hotel in Weatherford, crossing the mile long bridge on the way, another famous R66 landmark. This town is famous for the fact that Thomas Stafford comes from here. He was an Apollo astronaut.

Tomorow we are off to Amarillo in Texas, so will be entering our 5th State. There we are staying at The Big Texan, famous or infamous maybe for the 72oz steak eating challenge. No, I shall not be attempting it. Gary has tried it 4 times and failed on each occasion. Failure costs $72!!

Neill