Day 20, Mile 1653: Woodward, Oklahoma

Today: Zero miles (of 125 mile course).

I was feeling really crappy and my cold had come back and I didn't sleep well, so I decided to take the van to lunch and ride from there. At lunch, looking at the bikers, I decided it was a good idea to stay in the van. This was the hardest day so far (much harder than Taos) because of the howling headwinds. I was happy with my choice, especially when I saw everyone stumble in at 6 or 7 pm after a grueling day. Even the strongest riders were exhausted, grumpy, and nearly dead. I still felt bad and went right to bed, even skipping the dinner.

Today was the half way point across the country.

Lunch was at a really cool collapsed old motel with dogs on the roof. The kachina in the van was watching me watch the huge windfarms in the distance (no surprise here!).

In Guymon, the hotel had Christian propaganda everywhere and in the room, the ubiquitous Gideon bible was actually laid out open to Psalms. Offended by this intrusive evangelism, I stole the bible and spent my time in the van ripping out the pages, folding them into strips and constructing a "bible belt" from the strips. (Hope this doesn't offend any of my readers.)