My two DF friends and I had a nice ride Friday, shortcutting the OK is OK permanent. I was a little concerned about car traffic having to make our way through downtown Greenville at 7:30AM, but it turned out to be no big deal. We had an easy time making our way northbound up to Leonard, then made our way through the "Leviathans," with the last climb apparently being around 9% maxing out to 13%.
We went through Ector, and crossed 82, planning to make a right turn (according to Google Maps) and cut across to the north side of Bonham. We stopped a mile or so up to gaze a while at the Wacko Waterslide,
We continued on, following the road as it turned to the east, splitting from the section that goes north to the OK border. This eastbound road ALSO supposedly went all the way to Hwy 78 north of Bonham -- but when we crossed 121, it dead ended about a mile and a half later! So, we backtracked to 121, where one of the other guys suddenly had a flat.
Two tubes later (the CO2 cartridge blew out the first tube he tried), we were back on the road, through Bonham and southbound. Saw a few dogs along the way, as usual...
I had forgotten about the ugly 9 miles of chipseal on Hwy 271... my friends were not happy with me...
But, we persevered through it, making our way to Wolfe City, arriving about 1PM. They apparently need a spellchecker in the county sign department...
It was getting a little warm by this time, but not bad, considering it's June!!
The smooth pavement of Hwy 34 and relatively downhill slope was a welcome change for the last 20 miles back to Greenville, and we finished at 2:30 with an even 90 miles over a bit less than 7 hours. Both my friends really enjoyed the route, having never done it before.