Friday 14th September 2012 Muskogee – Tulsa – Wichita – Colby Kansas 531 miles

Friday 14th September 2012  Muskogee – Tulsa – Wichita – Colby Kansas 531 miles

Today was intended as a “ride the slab” day, to head into Kansas then Colorado. It was a rain deluge at 7AM this morning, and I checked the local news channel radar where it seemed to be clearing from the north. As I was going to head that way, I waited until about 8AM, but with no sign of slowing, I battened down the hatches, prepared for rough seas, and headed out towards Tulsa. It was a deluge for about an hour, but the traffic was light which helped. As I got close to Tulsa the rain eased, then stopped, and the roads were actually drying as I rode through the city and picked up US412 heading west towards I35. It was very cold though, so I stopped and dressed up with my fleece. Part of US412 is a toll road, and for the 100 miles or so to I35 it was empty, hardly any traffic. Traffic was a little heavier heading north on I35, mainly Texas plates, and I eventually glimpsed a lightening of the sky to the north. So it was farewell Oklahoma, hello Kansas.

It was ironic seeing as to the weather, there were signs everywhere stating “Burn Ban Statewide”. Much of the area looked very brown though in eastern Oklahoma, the same as I entered Kansas. Most of the areas I had passed through seemed to be Indian Reservations, Pawnee, Cherokee, and Muskogee for instance. All had the obligatory casinos at each highway junction. Muskogee is defined as the ‘Port of Muskogee’, and apparently has access from the Gulf of Mexico. I couldn’t find anything relating  to a major river, but the whole area has some serious interconnecting  lakes and reservoirs so maybe they feed into one.  One sees many pickups hauling those monster bass boats with even larger outboards.

Once reaching Wichita, the roads were dry, and as I left heading north on I135 towards Salina and the I70W, the sky cleared and I had blue sky the rest of the day. It was really pleasant. Once on I70, one circle was complete, as I had headed east on this highway over 4 weeks ago. I even passed the monster wind farm I had previously mentioned. Traveling through Kansas on I70 is kind of blah, flat and windy. One good thing is that as traffic was light, it was cruise control for much of the journey. No photos to-day.

As lodgings are not that frequent I decided to stop in Colby, labeled as the “Oasis of the Prairies”, and continue west on I70 into Colorado tomorrow, then head around Denver towards Jackson Wyoming. I’ll take advantage of the extra hour due to mountain time being just before the State line.