Day 2

Today was a long day. I woke up this morning feeling bad. I hurt all over. Not sure if it was from riding hard yesterday, but what I knew was that I felt bad when I woke up.

We did our usual walk, and as we were walking, it felt like all my energy was being drained right out of my body. We had breakfast and got on the bikes, headed to Oklahoma City.

As we started out, I felt drained. Legs hurt, back and shoulders ached, and I had no energy. It felt like a hangover, but I knew it wasn't from a hangover.

After a couple of hours riding, I started feeling very nauseous. The thought of throwing up wearing a helmet was not good. What a mess! We stopped so I could visit a restroom and discovered that I had diarrhea. I felt really bad.

We got back on the bikes and I felt a little better. For a while. Mid afternoon, I started feeling sick again. This time I felt even worse. The further I rode the worse I felt. I knew I was in trouble when I started feeling lightheaded, started sweating all over, and the world was turning black. I was about to faint! Recognizing that I was about to black out, I pulled over and got off the bike and laid down on the side of the road.

Gary brought me some water, some of which I drank, and some I poured over my head and chest. After a while, the nauseous feeling subsided, and we started out again. I wasn't sure if I could do another 10 miles or not, and we were about 300 miles from Oklahoma City.

Another bathroom stop later, I started feeling better. Stronger. I started thinking I'd be okay after all.

Then the showers started! Not just a sprinkle, but the kind for which cars pull over to the shoulder. We kept going, got soaked. I stopped under a bridge to pour the water out of my boots; I was wearing mesh pants, and the rain ran down my leg and filled the boots. We were within 100 yards of the Oklahoma state line!

After a few minutes, the rain subsided, and we took off again.

Got almost dry, and I saw another cloud with rain ahead. We pulled off the interstate and got under a shelter so we could put on some rain gear. The roadcrafter felt good--I was cold! But I felt so much better than I had felt all day. Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.

The second storm wasn't too bad, and the remainder of the ride to Oklahoma City was not bad.

I think we've figured out how to deal with the communications system. We have a checklist of things to do before starting out (turn on GPS, connect communication plug, turn on walkie-talkie, etc). Seems to work better when we do that. We could both hear each other most of the day until the batteries died on the walkie-talkie.

Guess that's enough for today.

Oh yes, we rode 572 miles today.