91 miles in 6hrs 10mins (incl. two muffin, Nesquik & Doritos stops)
Total Distance - 3,001 miles (I think, network stuffed again so can't check yesterday's total)
It's flat round here. Very, very flat.
It turned out that yesterday's six hour sprint had left me more tired this morning than I thought I'd be (though it might also have had something to do with that extra stein of the local brew).
Conditions were perfect (25C, clear skies and only a light northerly wind) as I set out at 10.30 with no real idea where I was going to finish tonight. It was just going to be one of those days of spinning the pedals, seeing how I felt and how far I got.
There really was absolutely nothing of note for pretty much the whole day on a practically straight road. Just the occasional little windpump, numerous vast grain stores, and cows, cows and more cows. Not an unpleasant part of the world at all, especially given the weather, but not exactly inspiring either.
Today's stage also saw my altitude descent of recent days continue as I dropped a further 1,200ft to 2,300ft into the thicker air by the time I stopped in the town of Shamrock, 10 miles short of the Oklahoma state line. And the air's thicker in more ways than one as the humidity is notably creeping up. It's at a fairly pleasant level now compared to the harsh, desiccating high desert air but it's likely to be the next big challenge I'll face as I head off further into the deep south in a few days.
With little else of note today I thought I'd briefly touch on the campervan culture here. The size of some of these machines are really astonishing and I reckon nothing else I've seen symbolizes the stereotype of American over-consumption as these things. While I'm used to seeing them now, it took me at least a month before I stopped thinking they were tour buses coming along the road until I saw the boat/golf buggy, 4x4 being towed along on the back. What I still haven't got used to, though, are some of the names for these vehicles; Explorer - fine, Dolphin - a bit weird, but ok, and of course Winnebago. However, 'Cougar' is a little puzzling but not half as worrying as 'Prowler' or, worse still, 'Intruder'. Or is it just in my mind that those are disturbing?
