McBRAAM Stage 16: Ada, OK to McAlester, OK..."An attempt at a Sunday recovery ride."

1,643.3 miles ridden.
64,830 feet climbed.

Some days you just need to recover a bit. Today was one of those days. Plus it is Sunday, a day for rest, right? So we slept in a little, had a later start, and rode our 63 miles fairly easily.

The night brought a change of pace. A front blew through and dropped the temps about 20 degrees and swung the wind around 180 degrees. So today we were pushed from the north instead of the south. Another beautiful day, and it felt more like a Fall day than yesterday's hot temps.

Saw a church along the way, the Canadian River Cowboy Church. Interesting name, I think I can guess how one would dress to attend there, and the style of music one might hear, and what would be served when they have "dinner on the grounds", but I wonder if they have any appropriately themed ceremonies during their services.

Time for another SAGMan story. We've developed quite an efficient ritual upon arrival in each new town. About 15-20 miles out, we'll have our last stop with the van for water and food. I'll then enter the hotel address into the gps device, and send SAGMan on ahead to get checked in. By the time we arrive, he'll have most of our bags and gear loaded into the room. We'll roll our bikes in, and begin cleaning up for dinner. A few nights back, I went back out to the van to get a few additional items. When I came back into the hotel hallway, Pops was standing in front of the room door, inspecting his key card and the lock on the door. "What's up, Pops?" I asked. "My key doesn't work all of a sudden. It worked just a minute ago," he said. "That's because that's not our room," I said. He was trying to get in the 3rd room on the right from the end, which was correct, if your perspective was from the other end of the hallway. I'll give him a pass though. We've been in 16 rooms in 16 nights.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1232298067
https://www.relive.cc/view/1232298067

7 dogs in that pack that gave chase.
0 dogs of the pack that caught us.
1 time SAGMan was caught napping at the wheel when we rolled in for some SAG.
2 sets of strange tan lines.

Hotel: Days Inn, 3 of 5 stars (nice, recently remodeled,let me poach food before bedtime).
Restaurant: Marilyn's, 2 of 5 stars (breakfast again, everybody in here knew everybody else...except us).