Sunday, July 28, 2013

A day at the ZOO

July 25, 2013
Vinita, OK to Tulsa, OK

For some reason, my group today wanted to go super fast. For much of the rest of the trip we will be on Route 66. Some times there are lots of things to stop at and see since it is quite touristy, but some sections are very boring and empty. Today was an empty day, hence our 18mph average into lunch. However, about 3 miles out from lunch, Chris, one of the guys I was riding with, got a flat. There wasn't much we could do on the side of the road because he needed a new tire, and the van was all the way in Tulsa doing errands so we were kind of stuck. We started walking to lunch, and I quickly realized we needed to figure something else out or it was going to be an hour until we got there. So for the first time in my life, I stuck my tongue out and attempted to hitch hike. After only about 5 cars, a car pulled up on the side of the road and asked what he could do for us! It was so cool. Chris hopped in with his bike and got a ride to a local bike shop near lunch while I jumped on with the group behind us and biked to lunch. After lunch we continued our fast pace, but had to slow down a bit because the road was so bad. There was gravel and debris everywhere with large bumps and pot holes. Over the course of the day between Chris, Casey, Jeff, and myself there were 6 flats. Luckily, around mile 57, we encountered the Tulsa Zoo! We stayed at the zoo for over TWO HOURS! We saw almost every exhibit and a few people rode a camel! 






As we were leaving the zoo I looked down at my odometer and realized that I had finally reached 2000 miles!! It was a super exciting moment yet also kind of surreal. It's hard to believe that we've actually gone 2000 miles so far on this trip and have just about that left to go. A little ways past the zoo we reached our officially half way point!



The halfway point was only about 5 miles away from our host site in Tulsa. It was really fun biking into a big city again and being able to see the skyline from a few miles out.


The part of the church we were staying in was called The Powerhouse and it was absolutely awesome. It had so many couches for everyone to sleep on and tons of things to do. It was also walking distance from a lot of cool places on Tulsa. That night we went out to three very different places--a biker bar (bicyclists, not motorcyclists), a country swing dance ballroom, and a club called The Yeti (apparently big foot has been spotted here multiple times). The biker bar was super cool because they had bike parts and bike jerseys hanging everywhere. Turns out Tulsa is a very bike friendly city. Next we went to Cain's Ballroom, a historic place for country swing in Oklahoma. It. Was. Unreal. There were lots old people in full out country get-up doing all sorts of awesome country swing dances. They all made them look so easy so a couple of us tried our hand at it. Lets just say we were more concentrated on not bumping into other people than anything else. Even the basic one step was extremely difficult! I would love to actually try to learn these dances because they looked like a whole lot of fun when you know what you're doing. 





Walking home, Jeff too Casey and I to a place in Tulsa called The Center of the Universe. It was this spot in Tulsa where you can stand and everything you say reverberates perfectly back to you and only you and can hear it. I've seen phenomenon like this before with things like domes, but the crazy thing about this spot was that there was nothing obviously causing this spot to be any different than any other spot around it. It was really cool and a fun way to end a really fun day. 

1 comment:

  1. Sarah...........and I thought your trip across the country was around 3,000 miles,not almost 4,000. By the way, you'll have to explain later what hitch-hiking and your tongue out means to drivers. Never saw or did that. However, western dancing I have experienced in Red Lodge, Montana on an Amherst alumni trip. Always look forward to your reports and photos. PaPa

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