Beam Me Across Oklahoma, Scotty

Confession time.  I rode Interstate 40 almost the whole day today.  And you know what?  I sort of enjoyed it.  It was kind of like a day off.......set the throttle for 75 mph and sit back and listen to music.  Even Oklahoma City wasn't too bad, although the freeway pavement in the city is cracked and uneven most of the way.  Traffic was surprisingly light on the interstate.  My past experience with I 40 was that it is loaded with trucks, but for some reason it wasn't like that today.  The distance was about 480 miles and I got to my motel about 5:30 pm. after starting about 8:30 am.

Oh, and those temperatures I feared in the morning?  Piece of cake.  It was 30 degrees when I got up and about 32 when I started riding, but I did some preparation that actually made me feel warmer than the previous day.  The main things that made the difference was that I wore my rain pants over my leathers to act as a windbreaker and give a little more insulation to my legs. I also wore a long sleeve polypropylene undershirt under my normal cotton henley riding shirt.  The most benefit, though, came from wearing a balaclava under my helmet.  It's made for motorcycling, so it's thin enough to fit under a helmet and has a long neck part that completely stops any cold air from reaching my neck.  With my electric vest and grip heaters on, I was actually toasty.  My winter gloves may not be as waterproof as I expected, but they are certainly warm.

Western Arkansas and Oklahoma, up until I got west of Oklahoma City, was some pretty nice country with plenty of trees.  After that it just got flatter and dryer.  I took only one picture for the day; the frost on the bike's seat in the morning:

I promise to do better tomorrow, as I should be getting into some more interesting area northwest of Tucumcary NM.  I'll be heading towards Four Corners and its another long day.  If I don't make the intended mileage, I'm getting into the area where spending extra time will be worthwhile.