A Day of Rest

Sundays are wonderful, and this one was no exception. I woke up from a solid 10 hours of sleep, feeling somewhat rested, and looked at the map on how to get to the church. If I took the turnpike, it estimated 10 minutes, or 20 minutes if I took regular roads. I opted for the turnpike, but when I got going down the road, it turns out you can't get there from here :) There was a sign for 44 East, but I needed 44 West.

I hopped onto I-35, and took the next exit, which was Memorial Drive, and started heading west on that. I knew the church was on North Western Drive, and was pretty sure Memorial would intersect it. A few miles and stoplights down the road, and there was Western Drive, big as life, and I turned left. I realized within about two blocks I should have turned right. My mental map had Memorial on the north side of the church, but when I turned left, that put me back under the turnpike, and I knew the turnpike was south of the church. Did a quick u-turn, and about four blocks later, pulled into the parking lot. The worship service was good, followed by an interesting Sunday school. The interim pastor there went to college with my senior pastor in Greenville, so it was nice to bring greetings from South Carolina.

After changing back into riding togs, I headed back out and explored a couple of side roads in the area. It amazes me how straight and long the roads are, coasting up and down hills. There are a lot of trees in the area, too, which is nice. I've not exactly hit the 'dust bowl' area I thought I would. Perhaps that will be tomorrow, when going through Western OK, or perhaps it only remains in the pages of Steinbeck. Tomorrow will tell the tale.

One other cool sight for today was the Memorial Park Cemetery. It's bounded by a brick wall that is very interesting looking, and the design extends to the buildings that bound the area as well. I didn't go into the cemetery but did want to get some shots of the brickwork outside.

Pueblo is the goal on Monday, and I'm hoping for an early start. I'm also hoping for some of my sadly out of shape muscles to stop protesting quite so loudly. It's about 550 miles (might have to write some directions down this time), which will be another long day, but once again, after Monday and Tuesday's ride, I've got a two day break in Aspen. I just looked at the map, and I'm going to stick to the state highways instead of interstate, which will run me through Woodward, OK and Dodge City, KS. Turns out I recently had business dealings at work with someone in Woodward, OK, who it turns out rides a BMW 800 FST. Small world, indeed!