Day 71

Cat
I slept great- I always do when I'm inside. I didn't want to get up- there was a cat curled up in my lap that I didn't want to disturb. But it was after 8:30, and I still had to pack up. I got up, folded laundry, filled up my water, and I was ready to go. I thanked Josh and was on my way. I headed to the bike shop, but of course they didn't carry thorn resistant tubes. The Walmart Museum was nearby. They had postcards, but of course they were all Walmart related. They did have Arkansas on them though. The people there were extremely friendly, and asked a bunch of questions about my trip. They insisted I check out the museum- they would watch my bike for me. I've been listening to a tech podcast a lot, so I have heard the history of companies like Amazon, HP, RIM, Apple, Microsoft, but never Walmart. It was pretty interesting. They changed a lot about how department stores work. Sam was a great leader and he always pushed the company forward. When I was done checking that out, I discovered that Google no longer gave me a route through Oklahoma. I could have easily just found a road west and I'm sure I'd get it back, but I couldn't imagine the hills being too much worse just a few miles in either direction. I felt that in order to avoid them, I would have to add on so many miles that it wouldn't be worth it. I usually don't like going through big cities, but it looked like there were plenty of bike paths. I had to ride in the road a bunch at first, but there were a few short bike paths and then more road. Google wanted me to be in the road a bit more than I needed to- sometimes I found bike paths that I took instead. Finally I got to Skull Creek Trail, a nice long bike path. It must have been cross country practice or maybe track- I had to pass by a bunch of high schoolers running on the trail. There were a few bridges to go over- the streams looked pretty. On the rails, there were these disgustingly long spiders- they looked more like shrimp or octipi. Once the trail ended, I was on the sidewalk along a pretty major highway. The sidewalk got worse and worse until I felt like a dirt road would have been better. At one point I had to walk it through grass. Eventually I got a small shoulder that grew into a large one- perfect. The traffic had finally died down as well. I had to deal with some hills. I didn't mind- the shade of the trees was keeping me cool. I heard gunshots off in the distance- it sounded like target practice. I finally got to a place where I could see for miles, right before the sunset. It was a great view. I sat there for a bit, enjoying it. Then a car passed and the shooting continued, this time right across the street from where I was. This brought me out of my short trance an I continued on. There were many more great views. It seemed like some houses were built on cliffs. You could see a valley just past them. It started getting darker. There should be plenty of good places to camp- there are lots of woods here. Then a wolf crossed the street. Maybe it was just a big coyote, but it still freaked me out a bit. I pedaled many more miles to put some distance between it and me. There were actually so many houses that finding a place wasn't easy. I finally settled for a tree next to the road. I'm very visible but at least if I get eaten, I'll be found quickly.