Day 19

Dalhart, TX to Guymon, OK (74 miles) Today was a good day in terms of no catastrophes occurred! The ride from Dalhart to Guymon was a long, straight, flat (for the most part) road and the ride itself was pretty boring. The highlight of today was that we crossed our 4th state line today from Texas into Oklahoma. At the Oklahoma state line, mile 50, a nice couple from around Oklahoma City set up a "welcome to Oklahoma" SAG stop for us with homemade cookies, brownies, banana nut bread, popcorn balls, etc. Don and Helen went across the US in 2006 on a tandem with Crossroads and ever since then have been welcoming Crossroads riders into their state with delicious refreshments and friendly conversation. Upon leaving that rest stop, I looked down at my tire and discovered I had a flat. It was a good place to have one because the SAG vehicle was right there and Pat, our "kiwi" s taffer, willingly changed it for me when I promised a neck and shoulder massage later -- a great negotiating tool! The four sick riders from yesterday stayed behind at the hotel in Dalhart to recuperate a little longer and should be joining us around dinner time. We will only be in Oklahoma one night and tomorrow we will cross our next state line and stay in Liberal, Kansas -- a state I'm sure we'll be sick of because we will be in it for seven nights!