6-20-14
Day 31
Sherman TX to Ardmore OK
The scenery is changing again as we move further west. There are less trees and the ones we do see are much smaller in size. The dry underbrush is seeming to take over the landscape along with more and more oil pumping units. One of the local oil workers told us the pumper we were looking at made someone a very rich man.
The worker told us that particular unit pumps over 1200
barrels of crude oil a day. Ok let’s do the math on that one. Say it
was your field and that was your oil pumper going up and down. There are 44 gallons in a barrel of crude so 44
gallons X 1200 is 52,800 gallons a day!!! Gosh, if you only got 75 cents for
each gallon that would be nearly $14.5 million a year!! Not a bad deal! I need
one of those in my backyard!
Today we crossed Lake Texoma into Oklahoma another key state
in our quest to get them all. Now only two states elude us New Mexico and
Nevada. The team will again cross back into the Texas and travel through the states
panhandle in a couple days on our way to New Mexico.
The lakes and waterways in this part of the country are very
low as you can see in one of our photos.
The drought they have been having for the past few years is taking its
toll. We see temporary water lines for irrigation and cattle laid on the
surface of the ground next to the roadway in many areas.
We are still plagued with the never ending dog attacks.
Today Ken was ambushed by a couple of nasty pit-bulls and one got ahold of his
rear pannier. The bags offer us a level
of protection as most dogs are nipping at the rear most part of the bike
instead of our[K1]
ankles. Even still a dog clamped onto a rear bag can make for some difficult
bike handling.
We have had more dogs chase us each day than in an entire
year at home. Today at least a half
dozen chase scenes took place. Ken tries to film each attack on him by quickly
pulling out his camera while trying to avoid the canine and steer his bike with
one hand. He is accumulating a nice
collection of video clips that will make a cool little movie.
Not all dogs are out to take a bite out of our journey. Ken filmed a Bassett Hound that was running
after Joe who was telling him to go home.
The pooch was set on coming along to Vegas with us. Even after we
finally shook him on a long fast downhill we could see the dog in the distance
following our sent trail in the road. I hope we won’t find him outside our room
in the morning.
76 Miles
Weather 92 degrees Mix Sun& Clouds
3370 Feet of Climbing
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