Day 35 - El Reno to Oklahoma City

- March 29, 2019

Lots of interesting pictures and happenings today.

First off a shout out to Subway. They are the healthiest and most zero waste of fast food chains -- can get inexpensive subs on whole grain breads with lots of veggies and just a little bit of paper waste.

Pipelines are important in Oklahoma.

My first sighting of a Halliburton facility -- lots of big fossil fuels (and CO2 generation) in Oklahoma.

Went by a courthouse that handles foster kids. Back in Silicon Valley I do a lot of work with foster kids as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (see Child Advocates of Silicon Valley).

Entering Yukon, OK, home of singer/songwriter Garth Brooks.

I needed a snack so stopped at this donut shop...

... and met David from Louisiana who does a lot of construction work for AMC. His wife is from Mexico and he speaks Spanish. He is a staunch Republican but does not like how Trump tweets like a 2 year old all the time. He agrees we need to be respectful and talk with others -- communication is important.

I went by lots of churches including a Cowboy Church (I had passed some of these on previous days too).

And some more churches...

And a new fire station.

The Yukon library was very interesting.

It and the senior center used to be a super market.

Here are two librarians and a circulation staffer who applauded my efforts at zero waste and reducing greenhouse gases.

Outside the library I met Mike who works with homeless vets. We need to do more for our vets as well as work to eliminate homelessness for everyone.

Back on Route 66...

...I went down a road with lots of fences & walls. These sorts of streets are not very appealing as bicyclists and pedestrians have to walk very long distances to get around. They segregate people and force them into cars -- wasting lots of energy.

Not much further though and I reached a lake near Oklahoma City.

Can you spot the couple enjoying this purple field of spring blooms? They were romping around and having a great time!

Oklahoma City has a most excellent bike & ped trail!

It is nice to avoid the big roads.

And find hidden art work.

And bison.

And bridges and trees.

And views of downtown Oklahoma City.

And ferris wheels.

Later at a McDonald's, I had an interesting conversation about disposable plastic with Sophia. She was inspired to think more about plastic waste. I also met a former Lockheed contract engineer (not pictured) who really liked my zero waste message.

And I encountered an unexpected trail near Tinker Air Force Base

This extremely loud and large AWACs plane passed directly overhead but I was able to get a good picture of it while I biked.

Very glad Oklahoma has some reminders for motorists that yes bikes may use the full lane.

Alas I ran into quite a large number of armadillos and possums that were roadkill. Our kids will be road kill too if we do not do more to reduce plastic and fossil fuels.

This part of Oklahoma had lots of rolling hills.

And many tornado sirens.

After dinner at Pho Lien Hoa, an excellent Vietnamese restaurant, with Mike Farrell and Jessica King from Oklahoma Gas & Electric, we walked over to Hurts Donut to indulge in sinful sweetness.

Later Mike and I went shopping and he showed me the amazing bulk foods section at WinCo Foods. It was HUGE!!! It is the biggest bulk foods section I've ever seen at probably the biggest supermarket I've ever been to. I did not verify if they could handle customer provided containers but if they do, you can easily go zero waste in Oklahoma City. BTW, buying spices in bulk is way cheaper than buying them prepackaged.