Well I was born in a small town (Cherokee, OK)

The trend of awesome hospitality in Oklahoma has continued to the very end. We left First Lutheran in Ponca City after a great breakfast that prepared us well for the rain coming down in the early morning. Fortunately, the rain cleared up soon after we hit the road and we had nice cool weather the rest of the way to Cherokee. Along the way we passed even more flooding, from swollen creeks to water-drenched fields and marooned houses and barns, which was all pretty sad to see. I rode with the lead pack today, and it was pretty nice to pound it and arrive at our host site by about 1:30. We're staying at the First United Methodist in Cherokee, a small town of about 1400. After showers at the local high school, we relaxed at the church until we had another awesome dinner served by women from the congregation. After dinner and our presentation, some of us chatted for awhile with the pastor, Jim, and his wife Gail, also a chaplain. We learned a lot about the challenges this community has been facing over the past few decades as it "grays." Cherokee faces the same problem as many small towns in the area--as a farming community lacking any industry, its young people are leaving for college and only coming back if their families have owned land here for several generations. In recent years, businesses and churches have closed, and many houses are abandoned, some uninhabitable. First United Methodist once had a robust congregation, but now most of its members are in their seventies. The high concentration of elderly in the area has lead to a greater need for medical care, but there's only one PA in town (no doctors) and the nearest hospital is 55 miles away. This church does some great volunteer work on home repairs in the area, but unfortunately there isn't any need for new affordable housing here. Instead, a nonprofit group has been started recently called Taking a Closer Look, which raises money to demolish homes that are abandoned (or squatted on) and uninhabitable. It's sad to hear so much about the challenges Cherokee has been facing, but also awesome to see how much the congregation here has drawn together to show hospitality to us.

Bike odometer: 1752 miles










Dinner last night at Ponca City First Lutheran










We passed some of the flooding that has so devastated this area. In Cherokee it has rained for nineteen days straight. We learned that two months ago, wheat farmers in this area were expecting the best crop in years, but now they're just hoping to be able to harvest a fraction.










Trying to look like a disoriented herd of cattle to appease my requests for a group picture.










Stopped in the town of Jet, the Goose Hunting Capital of Oklahoma










Pioneers (Anita, Liz, Ryan). We've joked that Bike and Build has a lot to do with the American Dream because we believe in home ownership and we're heading West.











On the road (Amanda et al.)










Marquee in front of First United Methodist










First United Methodist: constructed in the days when it was popular for Methodist churches to be built up toward heaven, the congregation now has six parishioners that can't come to church because they're too old get up the front stairs.