Friday, October 23rd, 2026

Yesterday in our drive from Medicine Park to McAlester, Oklahoma was the first day that we had nice rolling hills and some turns on our route. Along with several gravel roads. Some of the gravel road riding was due to a twenty-plus-mile detour for a back road that was closed due to construction. But even with the unplanned detour, it was a much more relaxing and interesting day of riding. The weather has been great, high 70s, and sunny days.

Although we are enjoying our days of riding and experiencing parts of the country we have never driven through, our minds are mostly back at home. Our property is currently being flooded, and we don’t yet know the extent of the damage. Of course there isn’t much we can do from here. And not much we could do if we were there. Not yet at least. Given this is the early part of our trip, and we won’t be back till mid-December, it will be interesting to try to figure out what can be done while we are away.

When things happen back at home while you are traveling it is difficult to stay focused on the trip you are on. On previous trips, there has been flooding, and a close call with a forest fire, but nothing that actually impacted our property. During the events the split mind of worrying about home and trying to be focused on your current location. And with the availability for those back at home to send information it is difficult not to worry. Although I think we better get used to not being there when things happen given our travel plans. It is good that we have people we trust back at our home to address issues as needed, but it is still concerning. But, I guess it is the reality of keeping a home base while trying to travel the world. Unless we sold everything, we would always be partially thinking about our home base.