Day 10: 6/28/24: Fairyland, OK to Chanute, KS

I went to sleep earlier last night and slept soundly.  I woke up a little before 4 a.m. and decided to go ahead and hit the road.

Couple of pics below of Oklahoma sunrise.  A big advantage of starting out in the dark is getting to watch the sunrise.

Pics of bison near Miami, Oklahoma.

I didn't even know there is a Miami, Oklahoma, but I rode through it today.  It is a good size town and home of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M University.

From Miami, I went north through the town of Commerce, OK.  Pics below of blasts from the past in Commerce along Route 66.

More pics below of downtown Commerce.

After Commerce, I didn't go through any towns until I got to Parsons, KS.  I was mainly on gravel roads to Parsons which was a nice break from the speeding, loud traffic.  I entered into Kansas on a gravel road and there was no state welcome sign :(  Pic below of some of the roads I was on and some of the scenery.

I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pics of the wildflowers alongside the road.

The plan today was for me to stop in Parsons and camp at the city campground.  When I got there I discovered that there were no showers and the bathrooms were pretty far from the campsites.  I rested about 30 minutes and during this time I got to wondering if Chanute KS, a little over 30 miles away, had a campground.  I searched on the Internet and found out that they do, and it's free to tent camp there for up to 2 days.  They even have showers.  I was sold, off to Chanute I go.

What also convinced me not to stop at Parsons was the nice tailwind I had ridden in all day heading north.  Chanute is NW of Parsons with mainly flat terrain so I knew the ride would not be that difficult.

Just outside of Chanute, I got on U.S. Bicycle Route (USBR) 76 (pic below).  I'll probably stay on it for the next day and a half.

Pic below of Marc from Berlin, Germany.  He started in early June in New York and has biked several rails to trails.  He is now going to take USBR 76 to Colorado where he will go visit friends in Denver before getting back on USBR 76 and bike to the Pacific Ocean.  He is also camping tonight in Chanute.

Today's sunset and a unique cloud formation.  It reminds me of a whale's head.

Total miles today: 101.9