I want to share Saturday’s ride with you. I had no intention of doing anything worth sharing, but the trip turned out to be one of my best one day rides in a long time.
I don’t know why I have always had such a disinterested opinion of riding in Oklahoma, so I never plan a trip across that border. But yesterday, I wanted to ride all day to work out some frustrations I’m experiencing with life in Dallas right now. We are working through a major home remodeling project that is going nothing like the projects on HGTV.
I needed a long ride away from Dallas to get my head straight. Oklahoma City is the only major city within a day’s ride of Dallas that I have never seen. I figured I would ride up to see the Murrah Memorial and then return to Dallas before dark. My thoughts were that this will be a hot, boring, all day ride to a city that has never garnered enough interest for me to visit. But, at least I’ll have a full day of riding unknown roads and that is what I need.
I woke up at 5:30 am and could not go back to sleep so I jumped up, geared up, and pulled out of the driveway at exactly 6:00 am. Wow, perfect temperature, no traffic, and just me and the drone of the Ducati to welcome the sunrise.
I hate interstates so my route was to be the Dallas North Tollway to 380, west to 377 then north until 377 turns into 177 in Oklahoma. This would get me close to Oklahoma City before hitting I40 for about 20 miles into town. On the map it is almost a straight road all the way so I wasn’t expecting much. It turns out that even though it is straight, there are constant rolling hills and beautiful rural landscapes to entertain you. Traffic was light and the temperature was hot, but not brutal. My wicking underwear did the trick all day.
I stopped in Madill, Oklahoma to eat a muffin for breakfast that I had stored in my bag.
After breakfast, my GPS guided me right to the memorial.
I parked across the street and as I approached it on foot I saw the fence covered with personal memorials to the site.
I have to say that this is one of the most moving memorials I have every visited. The outdoor memorial is bordered with walls that have 9:01 on one and 9:03 on the other. This borders the city block and memorial on the east and west sides. The water pond and chairs are in between. The explosion took place at 9:02. The empty symbolic chairs are arranged in 9 rows for the 9 floors where citizens were killed.
A name is engraved on the glass bottom for each person lost and they are on the row matching the floor of the building where they were at 9:02.
The smaller chairs are for children.
The indoor museum goes over the details of the bombing and the aftermath. It also has a room with photos and family momentos for all the people killed. If you can make it out of that room without tears welling up, you aren’t understanding the loss. A very emotional place. I’m very glad I went to see it. It made me think of so many things regarding life and death.
On the ride home I had to swoop by Norman to see OU. I always like to see major universities as I ride around the country.
I had a burger at one of the school hangouts then back on the bike for my return. I started to take I35 but quickly thought to myself, “No way Jose.” I cut back east until I ran into 177 again.
Reversed my route to home and arrived at 6:15 pm after 488 miles total.
If you haven't been to Oklahoma City to see the Murrah Memorial, please do.
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