I have to stop writing the day after.  I am forgetting everything that happened.  I think the ride was fairly uneventful, which is a good thing.  The roads were straight with only a few hills (at the very end).  Most of the day I spent with my Aunt Tudy, just lazy-ing around.  Oh yea, pizza!!  I spent the night at a pizza parlour.  So the plan was to wake up, write a little, take a nap, and eat pizza when the store opened at 11.  That is not what happened.

The night was long and sleepless.  The trees I chose were rather close together.  Ten feet is about the optimum distance for hammocking.  These were more like seven feet, but the best I could do that late at night.  It took me till probably 1 AM to realize that I could easily add more length simply by hanging the hammock from the outward facing side of the tree.  This added the radius of each tree to the hammocking length, which allowed me to lay flat!

These guys are what kept me up all night and disturbed my little bit of sleep in the morning.  Those trees belonged to their colony and they were protecting it.  In the morning they really got organized and started attacking.  My backside is now covered in bites.  At that point I was done and did not feel like sticking around for pizza.  I gathered everything up, away from the trees, and packed up.  The new goal for the day was ride to my Aunt’s place in Claremore.

I made real good time and was hardly feeling the miles.  I stopped at the Amish Cheese House to collect my free sample of every pie they made.  Sorry Jamie, closed on Sundays, ride on.  Since I didn’t get any pie I stopped at the next town for lunch.  What I was really looking for was a small container of Gatorade mix to carry with me.  Gatorades are expensive! No luck, I had a quick bite and got back on the road.

My bike is built to ride through most anything.  We got a little muddy on the next leg.  Google said to take a county road to connect to the highway going West.  Google did not say what kind of road it was.  It quickly went from paved to gravel to dirt to mud.  My pace slowed significantly once I got on Hwy 20 West.  The wind, hills, and sun were starting to get to me.

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Finally, past the race course and up the hill to Aunt Tudy’s house.  She had a lovely patio that I wanted to sprawl out on, but first layed out all my gear to dry and used her sprinkler as a shower.  Her neighbors, which turned out to be my cousins, probably did not know what to make of me.  When she arrived from church we sat and talked before heading to the grocery store.  We spent the rest of the evening talking, cooking, and eating.  Oh, and she also fixed the tear in my hammock.  I blame the ants!

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Here is the recipe for the date bread.

Date Honey Nut Bread:

• 2 Cups pitted dates
• 1 Cup flower
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 Cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 Cup brown sugar
• 1/4 Cup honey
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Throw it all together and bake at 325 F for 1 hour.