Day 290
Bruce Almighty
Today we were very excited. All the way through the USA we have seen massive RVs and tonight we were going to stay in one! Just the small matter of 53 miles to go, but our hotel provided breakfast so whilst Tom ate a sensible boring bowl of cornflakes I had 6 blueberry pancakes, well I am in the USA!
We had a reminder of home as we rode our first 8 miles, busy roads with some inconsiderate drivers! Thankfully after a major crossroads most of the heavy traffic disappeared and then, even better, we had a newly resurfaced road with a wide hard shoulder, cycle tourers’ heaven!
A few miles from our destination, Minco, we spotted a road cyclist coming towards us, this was Bruce, our Warmshowers host for the evening. This was a first for us, back on Day 97, Jean-Marc had ridden with us as we left his home but no one had come out on the road to guide us in, thanks Bruce!
The family RV was waiting for us and Tom and I were like kids at Christmas! Anne, Pete and Martin... now this is the way to travel! In Bruce we had found another wonderful WS host. He took us to the local town of Chickasha, we had a drive-thru tour, then it was onto the important stuff, food! Bruce treated us to a fantastic meal, the waitress was somewhat surprised we declined the offer to box up any left overs, but Tom and I devoured the lot!
Conversation flowed with Bruce, he was a mine of useful information which we gratefully received. Then it was onwards to the local brewery and bar, the Canadian River Brewing Co. I was all excited, not about the beer, but because we were to meet the local cycling group. It was fantastic, they treated us to beer as we sat and chatted. For me it was so like home, years ago a group of us set up a club and every Tuesday and Thursday evening we had similar evenings, I could so easily have been sat in the Anvil, chatting away with Father Ted, Jax, ATL, the Mayor of Sawdon, Squeak and all... different continent, same cycling crew. Thanks guys, it was wonderful. Bruce is a guy who has worked hard to create a wonderful life for himself, a dedicated teacher, clearly very contented with his lot and happy to share it with us thanks Bruce, you’re a star.
