June 6, 2018 Chandler, OK to Tulsa, OK

79.88 miles. I walked out the door at 7:30 in the morning, only to be greeted by some heavy humidity. It did not relent all day long. Temps started in the seventies and we're still in the nineties at nine o'clock at night. Historic US 66 ran conjointly with OK 66, but they are not the same. OK 66 was a straightened out, wider version of the old road, with nice wide shoulders in most spots. Therefore, the feel was a little different today than previously. I'm not complaining, but OK 66 is a much busier road than the old 66 I've been on. It is a main thoroughfare for locals, because the interstate that Pam was on today, I 44, is a toll road. Old 66 was apparent in many places, as a residential road, and through the towns. It started and stopped with dead ends in many places, and if I wasn't looking for it, it may have gone unnoticed.
The ride was pretty uneventful for the first half of the trip. About 42 miles into the ride, I came across Ben, who I rode with yesterday some, in a convenience store. I stopped for water, and  saw his bike parked out front. I filled up and rolled out ahead of him, but we discussed routes, and I invited him to meet at the Hard Rock Casino, and set up his teant next to the Rv.
About ten miles later, in the town of Sapulpa, I pulled into I little town park on the corner, with, shade, tables and chairs, and ate a sandwich I had packed. I was about 50 miles into the ride, and just getting into the suburbs of Tulsa.  Somewhere near that town I believe, Ben went in a different direction, where old 66 and OK 66 split. I missed it, and that was ok, because I really didn't want to go out that way. Ben said it was mostly country riding, with not much traffic and decent road.  OK66 was rolling  along just fine, as a frontage road to I 44, then, the toll road portion of 44 ended, and my frontage road merged right onto 44. So, unsuspectingly, I was suddenly on I 44 headed to downtown Tulsa. I was totally good with that, but I knew I better not press my luck. I rode a few miles and got off an exit to turn on my GPS, to see what I needed to do. It turns out that I got off just before the interstate crossed the Arkansas River, which is a really wide river, just not very deep and not navigable. I rode a nice Riverside bike trail system for 5-7 miles to get to a bridge that bikes could cross. It was nice, with shade trees and rest areas. Once crossing the river, I got in more bike trails, heading north towards downtown. At some point I turned to the east, and went right past the University of Tulsa, which I explored by bike last time I rode through. It was too hot to revisit, so I continued my gradual climb from the Arkansas River. About ten miles further east, I finally saw the big guitar and tower with ' Hard Rock' written on it. Pam was in the casino winning money when I pulled in. She came over to the Rv, I took a shower, and we went back to the casino for the buffett, drinks, and Pam won more money. When we got back to the Rv, Ben's tent was set up in the grass behind us, but he wasn't there. We finally hooked up and talked a little about the differences in our route today, and possibilities for tommorow. We ran the generator all night so we had AC in the back bedroom. It was still an oven in the front when we called it a night.