Day 18 - Weatherford to Purcell

Day 18 will be remembered not for the cycling or the scenery but as the day Maureen and her friend Jeff descended upon Pac Tour.

The ride was pretty lumpy, rollers the whole way. None of the hills were over 50 feet high but we had about 1000 of them in total as the day added up to over 5000 feet of climbing. The countryside was pretty and the group felt strong on the road. Funnily enough, the morning looked a lot like riding in Ayrshire in Scotland. Well, if you substitute the cornfields for potato fields. OK, and if it was 20 degrees cooler...

We rolled into town round about 3pm. Older Greg and I have been contending the finish city limits signs. Today was a day for teamwork. I decided to lead Jeanine out for the sprint. I miscalculated the distance to go and had to ride in hard for 3 miles. Fortunately I managed to keep it going and she came round me for the team win at the end. As she was on the podium getting all the adulation, she thanked her loyal domestique. Greg was left to bang his handlebars in bitter disappointment.

Anyway, enough cycling talk. Maureen showed up at about 4pm tonight with her buddy Jeff. They brought three 6 packs of beer with them and a lot of energy. Within an hour, she had spoken to almost everybody on the tour. Seriously. Then the real fun began. Instead of going to the restaurant closest to the hotel, like normal, she offered to drive me to dinner at Norman which is about 20 miles up the road. Norman is the home of Oklahoma University and is way cooler than Purcell. It took less than one second for young Greg, Jeanine and Lori to decide to tag along. Can anyone say road trip?

Dinner was at a great Mexican restaurant and the margaritas were flowing freely. I'm sure we'll pay for it in the morning but, it was loads of fun. After dinner, we all felt like teenagers. All of us except Greg, who is a teenager, seemed to revert back into giggling schoolkids. Instead of heading straight back to Purcell, we went on a quest for gelato. After a bit of roaming about, we found the best place in town. 3 flavours and one double espresso later, I felt human again. It's funny how great it felt to break away from groundhog day to try something different. But it doesn't matter if it rains tomorrow or is headwinds all day. Tonight was a great mental break.

Thanks Maureen. Greg, Lori and Jeanine thank you too.

OH yeah, here's todays pictures