Day 43 – 24 Hours From Tulsa

13 Jun Day 43 – 24 Hours From Tulsa

So here is the post many people have been waiting for. 24 Hours from Tulsa. This time tomorrow I will be blogging from a point that is more than half way through my trip. I can’t believe it. Seems a long time I go I set off from Long Beach New York and Osama Bin Laden had been assasinated.

Back On 66

I got back on Historic Route 66 today. It is a hard road to follow as when it was decomissioned back in 1985 some parts of it got turned into Inter-states which I can’t walk on. Today I started seeing the brown signs that had been a common sight back in Illinois. There was a warm feeling I felt whenI was back on this historic road that many travelled so many years before. 66 is a great road, buildings and signs pop up that just make you feel the History of classic America. The years of the hitchikers, truck drivers and the Marlboro Man. It is great to be living 66 again.

Clocking up the miles

The miles seem to be just counting up now. Days seem to be getting easier. As I have said before I don’t want to get complacent, but it is nice while it is going on. Today I aimed to do 42 miles I ended up doing 43. This is the most amount of miles I have now done in one day. I felt that with this 4 day week I would push myself to breaking point. It also means that if I do three days of 43 miles I will be right on schedule for starting with the next crew. I feel this is important.

Music

I have been listening to a lot of music, but this is not about that, more the music to do with Oklahoma. I listened to Oh What A Beautiful Morning the other day and if you listen to the lyrics it describes Oklahoma perfectly. Aside from it not being a beautiful morning, as it was the tail end of a thunderstorm that kept all of us up through most of the night, the cattle do stand like statues. They are hilarious, they stare at you and as soon as you turn your back they follow you a little, then stop, then follow, then stop, then for some unknown reason bolt across the field away from you. I was on the phone to my mum and saw a bull or bison or buffalo, I am not sure which, that I described as the size of a bus. If one of those decided to run at me and connected trust me no rugby training would help… that would hurt!

The Heat

I seem to be dealing with it pretty well. This could be due to me being outside as the day starts and I go through the day as it heats up. Or it could be that I am aclimatising. Either way I am happy that it isn’t bothering me as much as I thought it would. Being fair skinned, thanks Scotland, I was worried I would be burnt to a crisp and hating the heat, but so far it has been ok. It is due to be 38 Celcius tomorrow and that will be the real test. I will report back tomorrow. It did rain today for the first time in a couple of weeks but it was a nice sensation. I haven’t missed it but variation is the key in this game.

Big hello to: 1. my little sister who flys back from LA to the UK tomorrow. She has been away since… um… a long time! 2. Ester Van Roy – she has been in touch and some of you might remember Pete, the guy on his mowing contraption… well she is his sister. She hasn’t seen Pete for about 2 years. This is the sort of thing I was hoping for. I wish I had known that Pete had family in California and I could have hand delivered a present for him. Ester, I hope I can meet you in California at the end of my journey at the end of July. 3. everyone who reads this blog. For me it is almost like writing notes but now I know people are getting hooked as I get e-mails asking where they are if I am late…Thank you all so much for reading. Oh and 4. Nic Tindell & Roger Matson… you are both champs for your continual support… it means a lot.