to Oklahoma City

This morning dawned dry, but with a front moving in with astonishing speed. I packed up my gear -- all dry -- and waterproofed it. Rain started sprinkling as I was leaving the park.

I rode past Enterprise Square, the Kirkpatrick Center, the Legion of Doom, and several familiar parks on my way to Janmother & Ralfather's place, which looks exactly the same. Shepherd Mall is booming now that it's no longer a mall -- it houses a high school and lots of offices. The rain finally stopped as I reached the Oklahoma City National Memorial, so I left the bike uncovered.

The museum was very well done, very emotionally intense, but I got sensory overload from the babble of recorded voices and had trouble paying attention to anything. My bike stayed dry while I was inside, but as soon as I started riding again another cloud burst over the city!

I rode south in a downpour until I found a cheap motel and the tornado sirens blew. The place was named the Swank Motel. It turned out to be a bad misspelling of "squalid," but it provided a dry, well-lit place to repack my bearings again (after the rain), and the Mexican restaurant next door was excellent!

23.8 mi