Spring Fling Thing 2002
 Tucker Tower at Lake Murray |
Friday, April 26th, looked ominous as decision time came on whether to attend Spring Fling at Lake Murray. Storm clouds loomed and rain fell intermittently from the heavens. Jim mused on the sanity of going camping in such awful weather and even cooler temperatures. But I kept hearing Joe DiMonico’s words running through my thoughts, "Never cancel the ride from home." With Gary England’s encouraging words of the storm's passage by 9:00 Saturday morning, we headed for the southern part of the state. The further south we went, the harder the rain fell. My name was about to become mud. But wonder of wonders, the rain stopped when we went past Ardmore and arrival at the Marietta Landing campground found only a light mist in the air. We set up our tent and waited for the Websters to join us from Stillwater. Over in the high-class camping section, secure in their travel trailers and motor homes, warm as a bug in a rug, sat Joe and Margaret DiMonico, Jim and Penny Speck, Mel and Judy Norton and Donnie Dodson.
Jim and Arletta Webster arrived about 5:00 and after setting up their tent, we all rode into the Fireside for dinner and whom should we run across but Moni Neville fixing a flat tire as Dannie Lamb supervised the repair. They were riding self-contained to Spring Fling and had gotten caught in some of the same rainstorms we had driven through earlier in the day. They had one more water obstacle to cross before reaching camp – the low water crossing was carrying 4 inches or more of water over the spillway. Our campsite grew by their two tents. Final count for Friday night – 4 tents in the cheap section, 4 camp trailers in the up-scale section and Gary and Suzanne Cannon living high on the hog in the Lake Murray cabins.
We enjoyed a pleasant night of camping and the possibility of bad weather passed us by. It actually got warmer towards morning and before the sun came up. A few more hardy souls braved the bad weather of Oklahoma City and drove down to join us Saturday morning. With only cloudy weather and nary a rain shower, we headed to Gene Autry with 25 riders, including Jim Bean, Alan Chapman, Rolph Jacobi, John Wente, Tom Russell, Jana Johnston, Esther Goldsmith, Tod Langford, Susan Higgins, Melissa and Ed Huddleston from Lawton and Russell Dolton. Being renegades (or was it free spirits), Arletta led several of us on an alternate route that took us by Brahma bulls and well-groomed buffalo. Some of the group ate at the old airport caf that has moved to a different building than where we visited in the past, but we were with the group that ate at the Tumbleweed next to the Gene Autry Museum. What a find! A sandwich, drink and chocolate cake for dessert only cost $3.30. What a deal! We needed the extra nourishment because a strong south wind brewed up while we were eating. We fought that healthy breeze all the way back to camp. The temperature shot up in the high 80’s and we battled heat, hills and headwind for twenty long hard miles.
Back at camp, the showers felt exceptionally good. As we relaxed in the luxurious shade of the campground, the bugs came out to hassle us in true spring fashion. Food started to appear and another great pot luck feast was enjoyed by starving cyclists. More tents joined our camping meadow and another great night was spent with not a thundershower to bother our tired bodies.
One camper brought along a brand new tent still in the box. Had she set the tent up at home before the event, she may have discovered in advance that it was a rare "wandering tent". It seems that every time she left this mysterious tent for any length of time, it would relocate itself to a new spot in the camping area. All observers were completely mystified by this phenomenon. Even with a campground full of campers in broad daylight, no one was ever witness to the tent's movements except after the fact. If any OBS member has knowledge of such wandering tents, please share whatever information you can provide with the very puzzled Esther Goldsmith (AKA Celeste). She is very anxious to learn about this incredible phenomenon and to determine exactly how rare it really is.
Sunday morning dawned with great weather in store. Peggy and Barry Acker joined us for a ride to Marietta for breakfast at Denim’s. Our ride was peppered with a few more dogs than I would have liked but we made it past the barking demons without incident. Some people opted for a shorter ride back to camp but they had to cross the water. Peggy took a spill on her recumbent but proved she is a true cyclist when she said, "Is my bike all right?"
Gary Cannon picked a great weekend for Spring Fling and the new campground was hit with all the grass to pitch a tent on and trees to shade us from the sun. Thanks, Gary, for hosting one of the best Spring Flings I’ve participated in.
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Oklahoma Bicycle Society:
Spring Fling 2002
created by John Wente
last modified:
February 17, 2007
URL: http://www.OklahomaBicycleSociety.com