FreeWheel 2001by David Kincannon| Intro | Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | |
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FreeWheel
Day-0: Saturday, June 9 The day started with breakfast at Feco's in Hugo. The Red Dirt Pedalers in our group were Bill Burke, Susan Walker, Jennifer Holle, Harmony McDaniel, Glee Kincannon, and David Kincannon. Fellow club member, Terry Raymond took a break after riding Pre-Wheel. (PreWheel was a three-day ride from Payne County to Hugo). The Day-0 optional ride was 12 miles to the Texas border and back to Hugo. I had French toast for breakfast today because my goal was to ride all of the way to Paris, "The City of lights." It was a pleasant ride down to the Red River. On the Texas side we posed for several photos at the Welcome to Texas monument. Then Bill, Glee, Harmony, and Susan got homesick for Oklahoma and rode back to Hugo, while David and Jennifer continued south, deep in the heart of Texas. We stopped in Paris so that I could get a photo taken in front of the Eiffel Tower. It looked surprisingly similar to a red and white communication tower. The first person we met there was rude. Oui! C'est Paris! We rode to the center of Paris and saw le fontaines and le Palais De Justice De Lamar County. I thought that we had found the Cathedrale Notre Dame but it was a Methodist church. I asked a Frenchman (who had a Texan accent) where I might find le Arc de Triumph. He said that there were some golden arches out on the Highway 82 loop. That was too far away, so we stopped at a convenience store for food and water for the ride back. I of course purchased a bottle of Evian which comes from the French Alps. Highway 271 was very nice riding south towards Paris because that was the new side. It was a rough ride going north on the old side. Okay, it was not Paris France, but it was still fun saying "bonjour" to the Parisians wet met along the way. Don't you think they hear a lot of that. It was hot today, but a good warm up for FreeWheel. Back at the camp we saw the remainder of the hometown contingent arrive and several of us got to enjoy the shade of the new RDP green and white canopy. During the week of FreeWheel, the Red Dirt Pedalers were primarily in three camps. Some stay in the air-conditioned churches with Bill Burke, one group camped in "Sun Valley" around the green and white canopy, and the group I was with tried to set up camp on the east side of buildings where it would be shady in the afternoons and evenings. An excellent spaghetti dinner was served tonight in the Hugo Middle School cafeteria. But isn't almost any meal after a long hot ride pretty good There were several attractions set up for FreeWheelers in Hugo. One was a visit the circus cemetery (Hugo is the wintering site for the Carson & Barns circus). When they have a funeral for a clown, do about a hundred other clowns all arrive in the same car? David Kincannon | Intro | Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | |