Oklahoma

I snapped this picture of the now topped off Devon Tower after catching Melancholia with Grace and Gwen.

Grace and I finally found some time to go out to dinner together and stopped off at our favorite Pho place in town. I just like the contrast of the chopsticks against the dark green background.

Some nights, the prospect of cooking after a long day of working doesn’t have much appeal. Unfortunately, some of the best remedies to this problem aren’t the healthiest.

I had the opportunity right before Thanksgiving to take part in a fun cycling event called Cranksgiving. This informal ride takes part in many places around the country and consists of several stops at area grocery stores where riders will pick up selected food items which will then be donated to an area food bank.

Since I can never compete on speed, I put Ms. Blu Haul to good use by going for the most weight which ended up being about 40 lbs of can goods. It was a nice ride and I got to meet some nice folks.

For most of this year, looking out over Lake Hefner was a bit sad with long spits of dry red earth sticking out into the lake. However, we’ve been geting some great rains for the last couple of weeks and when combined with some water releases from another lake, and the view is definitely improving. Here are some older pics for reference:

After a night of partying, there is nothing more satisfying than the guilty pleasure of a Coit’s breakfast. Snapped this shot of the dining room while picking up our breakfast.

The pelicans have been at Lake Overholser for a while now on their way south, but I finally got there at the right time of day for a close shot.

Dawn at Overholser is always really pretty so here are a couple of more runners-up from the same day:

The wind was blowing across the lake at 30-40 mph and with the amount of lake bed exposed, the dust in the air was quite impressive.

This year I’m chairing a subcommittee for the 2012 Tour de Cure ride in Mustang.  This ride raises critical funds for diabetes research and advocacy through the American Diabetes Association.  Diabetes is a major health risk in Oklahoma.  In fact, according to Kaiser Health, in 2010 over 10 percent of Oklahoma’s population have been diagnosed with diabetes.  This is a situation that needs your help!

The Tour de Cure will happen on June 23rd, 2012. Routes for the next tour are still being determined, however they will include 10 mile routes through metric centuries.  However, this is a perfect time to sign up and start raising funds.  If you sign up and donate at least $15 dollars to your self before the end of October you will get a free “in training” t-shirt!  Sign up by clicking here today!

The old Route 66 Overholser Bridge has been closed for the last year which has made cycling around the lake very difficult. Thankfully, the restoration job on the bridge finished last week and I got to experience the new bridge myself this weekend!

I took several more picture during my nice ride out to El Reno and back which you can see here.