8/31/11 (Wednesday)
Daily mileage: 369
Overall average: 36.4 mph
I’m firing on all cylinders when it comes to packing up. Got my routine down and I’m a rocket out of the hotel.
It was really hot and today. I was sweating even at speed. Definitely was trying to keep hydrated. Drank my whole camelbak before the first gas stop.
Towards the Arkansas -- Oklahoma border, I was flying down a straightaway, and I guess I was spacing out, but a downhill turn took me by surprise and while in a dirt lean while going hot into a left hand corner, I hit the rocky berm and fall over to the right of the bike. My knees a little sore, but the d30 Klim knee armor did its job absorbing the hit. Nothing hurt, bike is ok, and I continue on.
During the lunch stop at a gas station, I briefly chat with Larry, who’s going east to Tennessee. He’s looked hotter than I did in his gear.. Vanson vented suit. Props to him for the ATGATT.
Originally when I was thinking about doing the TAT, I thought I might skip Oklahoma because it was so straight and gridded, but towards to the end of the day, I hit the a couple of Wildlife Management Prairie Areas which are amazing serene, peaceful and beautiful. The roads throughout that section for the most part, do not have fences to the left and right. I felt really close to the land. The hills were rolling and there was a section where cows were just around me unfenced. It was more cerebral experience, something I couldn’t really capture in pictures. The ride and landscape… Everything is getting bigger. I get the feeling the more out west and remote I get, the more cerebral.
