Route 66 - Biking, Hiking, and Kayaking

Route 66 is an American icon, and many people come to travel its path across the state of Oklahoma. It's known by names like "The Mother Road" and "Main Street America," and this section was first paved in 1929. Part of the Lake Arcadia campground where we are parked now is on Route 66, so we have to include a few of this area's tourist stops. Oklahoma is in the first phases of opening up from the coronavirus shut downs. From the looks of the parking lot, business is good at Pop's 66 Soda Ranch. In keeping with the Route 66 theme, that pop bottle with a straw out the top is 66 feet tall. At night, the glass rings light up in a changing color display. During the day, Pop's serves up burgers and sandwiches and has 700 different types of pop from all over the world for tourists to buy.

A few miles down the road is the Arcadia Round Barn. Built in 1898, it looks like it is in great shape for its age. It's free to go in and look around, but because of Covid-19, the doors were closed when we were visiting.

We had beautiful weather during our six-day stay. We took advantage of that blue-sky weather to get some exercise. We did some hiking, biking, and kayaking in areas close to Route 66.

We biked Edmond's Spring Creek trail, and loved the wide asphalt surface with lanes for bikers and walkers.

The trail system includes mountain biking options. Mark took one of those side roads, but Denisa is smart enough to stay on the smooth wide surface.

Crews were busy working on the cement section of a new trail that will connect to Spring Creek. It runs right beside Route 66 for miles.

The main entrance to Lake Arcadia Park is on Route 66. Even though we camped for 9 nights on this lake last year, we never put the kayak on the lake. But we got a reprieve from the Oklahoma wind, and it was a nice way to spend a morning.

The water level in the lake is up, and we dodged sticks and stumps and full-size trees in the west end of the lake closest to our camp site. This big dead tree is a favorite roost for the cormorants.

They kept an eye on us as we stealthily approached in our kayak.

We also spent some time watching the pelicans that were congregating on the lake. The picture below shows the different postures of this flock. The guy on the left just caught the joke that Mark whispered from the kayak.

While standing on this sand bar, these white pelicans look quite white. But when they open their wings, we can see the black tips that make them easy to spot when they are flying. With one wing tucked in and the other wing stretched out, this guy was modeling his black wing tips for us.

Again, we like our stealthy kayak that allows us to get quite close before they decide to relocate.

On several different days, we explored different sections of Lake Arcadia park, hiking a couple trails and many of the paved roads. We noticed this foamy substance on some of the plants in the park. A google search educated us that this sticky frothy substance comes from a spittlebug. The immature bugs are hiding in all that spittle, eating the plant that hosts it.

We made another road trip along Route 66. We lived for many years in Weatherford, Oklahoma, whose Main Street is part of historic Route 66. Denisa was very excited to get her hair cut at her favorite salon right on Route 66. It's been months since her last haircut! 

We retired from the college in town--Southwestern Oklahoma State University. We always enjoy going back to campus to see many of our younger co-workers. But this trip we didn't go into any of the offices because of the Covid-19 closures. We saw that even the bulldog mascot is wearing a mask on campus.

We did some urban hiking while we were in the Oklahoma City area. One morning we went walking with Denisa's sister and brother-in-law, and another evening we were walking with our son and daughter-in-law and their dog.

After a three-mile walk in the neighborhood, we were back at their house for more exercise. Claire teaches dance and fitness classes at OU and UCO, and she is working on her credentials to be a personal trainer. She finished teaching her college classes this spring using electronic media when both universities sent all their students home because of the coronavirus. She also teaches adult fitness classes, including those using this piece of equipment called a reformer.

We can tell that she is good at what she does, and she has great patience even with a couple of old wanderers. We have never exercised on a device like this that uses springs and pulleys to give every part of your body a workout.

Sometimes when changing to different exercises, those springs and pulleys can put you into some rather awkward positions. But it was obviously fun!

We enjoyed sharing time with relatives here close to Route 66. It's good to spend a week in the heartland of Route 66. We made a stop at the big cross that a local church erected close to the highway. This landmark is so tall that you can barely see Denisa standing at the base. It's a good reminder that even on Route 66 we are still wandering His wonders.