Stephen H. Long Trail 1819 — 1820

Day 23: September 15th, 2008 Ponca City — Tulsa

Map Ponca City to Tulsa

Around half past five I wake up, whereas I cannot tell if it was due to something else or the ringing telephone, which I am barely able to hear thanks to my ear plugs. They are not bad. But they don’t hold very well in the ear canal. Lucky me, I fall asleep soon again.

Around half past seven I get up and first try my luck again with the email from yesterday. But as soon as I attach some pictures everything stops working. Therefore I send my email now without pictures. I have been fighting with this issue yesterday evening long enough and I don’t plan to continue now.

After having my shower, I pack my stuff into the truck. Then I check out. When I ask for a breakfast restaurant, they recommend the Perkins, which I already suspected. In the meantime I know the roads to take very well…

But the breakfast is quite okay and my server even forgets to put my coffee on. When I tell him about this, he is very happy that I am this honest. Then I drive over to the next gas station.

Highway 60/E Harding Rd, Arkansas River, OK

Around eleven I am eventually back on the road again. Somehow, it takes longer and longer until I am able to leave.

CR N3340/Old River Rd, OK

This time I have no problems following my planned route.

CR 6301/Wulf Rd, OK

CR 6301/Wulf Rd, OK

Only once private property stops me and I must turn around.

CR 6210, OK

CR 6210, OK

CR 6050, OK

CR 6050, OK

Now I am passing a lot of fields — and everything without any flooding!

For a change, I am now driving once again on paved roads, whereas the CR6015 has seen better days for sure…

Highway 18, Salt Creek, OK

S 8th St, Arkansas River, Ralston, OK

S 8th St, Arkansas River, Ralston, OK

At Ralston I cross again the Arkansas River.

E0400 Rd, OK

E0400 Rd, OK

Grain Elevator Rd, OK

Grain Elevator Rd, Bridge Out, OK

On another stretch, a bridge is missing again. But this time there is no sign making you aware of this. Just after a mud hole you see pretty high growing plants. When you try to drive through this mud hole with momentum, you end up in the river pretty sure, because directly behind these plants is the missing bridge!

E0420 Rd, OK

Lucky me, I already suspected something like this and haven’t even tried to drive through this mud hole. So I turn around and look for another road. Now the software is really comfortable. In the past I was really busy measuring new roads out of my printouts to circle around the blocked areas. And if the detour was not in the printouts I could only take the bigger highways, which are also in my Rand McNally. But now I can simply follow my map on the laptop screen.

East St/CR5715, Arkansas River, OK

At Blackburn I cross once again the Arkansas River. But you get really mixed feelings when driving over this bridge while seeing the torrential river below…

CR5250/D0440, Bug Creek, OK

CR5250/E0420 Rd, OK

On gravel roads I cross Bug Creek.

New Prue Rd/CR1200, OK

New Prue Rd/CR1200, OK

New Prue Rd/CR1200, OK

Then I continue on paved roads along Keystone Lake, which is fed by the Arkansas River.

After all, I finally arrive at a road closure. But this time it is not due to flooding but to regular road work. So I must drive a small detour over the big Highway 64/412.

W Wekiwa Rd, Arkansas River, OK

W Wekiwa Rd, OK

On Wekiwa Road I am able to drive along the Arkansas River with beautiful river views. Then I take my final turn onto the big Highway 64/412/51 in direction of Tulsa.

Highway 64/412/51, Tulsa, OK

Highway 64/412/51, Tulsa, OK

I make good progress and around half past five I am checking in. I ask for a room on second floor again. Then I put my stuff into the room. Next I look for a nice dinner restaurant. First I try it with the phone book until I eventually understand how searching with my GPS software works. Restaurants and e.g. Wal–Mart are stored as POI!

So if I simply search for Outback I can see all of these restaurants within a certain radius. This is really great. So I am able to locate an Outback Steakhouse and a Wal–Mart very fast. Whereas the Wal–Mart, which has the extension Neighborhood & Grill, has only groceries. So it seems I will need another one.

Therefore I only take some drinking water with me and put it into my cooler. Suddenly, a young black guy starts talking to me. He tells me an endless story where I am only able to understand half of it. Allegedly, a tree has been fallen on his car and he must have spent his last dollars on getting it out. For me, it really looks like fiction. But I hand him over $10 just to have my peace and quiet. He leaves, giving me the impression that he would have expected much more. But I don’t care. I am happy that he has eventually left…

Now I am driving to the Outback Steakhouse, which I promptly miss. Again, it is in the complete opposite direction as where I have expected it. So I must take another lap of honor until I am finally there. Unfortunately, my server is not able to serve me a second coke and leaves me with the tiny little rest in my glass. Not till I am finished she asks if I want another one. When I tell her that I would have appreciated this question while I was busy with my dinner, she first smiles then meets me with disbelief. You can tell that she was not prepared to receive criticism and also does not really listen to what you are saying.

Also when asking the hostess at the entrance how she is doing, I got no reaction when entering the restaurant. Pretty annoyed and with way lower tip than usual I leave the Outback Restaurant and decide to better look for other restaurants in the future.

Around half past nine I am back at my motel. First I check whether I should better drive from Ft. Smith to La Junta via Wichita. And indeed, the navigation system also says, this is the better way, even when there are no Interstates. This is something I can still think about the next days. I also checked in today only for one night because I am not sure if I might skip the River Trail tomorrow. Probably half of it is still flooded anyways…

Around midnight I have also finished my diary and I am eventually able to go to bed.