I left my campsite as early as I could after a good night's sleep away from people. I rolled into Newkirk with no water and little food. Found a nice park that had a faucet and covered tables so I cooked a meal for breakfast to kill time till the DG opened. Not to mention I was ravenous. Afterward I ran over to the library for wifi(podcasts). Ran into a local sitting outside using the wifi too. He was quite the talker. Interesting fellow. But he wouldn't let me leave, had to keep showing me stuff. Eventually I got away and went yet a different way back through town to the DG. Grabbed my stuff, quickly packed and headed down to the trail for the day finally. First dirt road of the day was called Earth road. Appropriate. Because that's all it was, dirt, no gravel. And the kind of dirt that makes sticky mud. I had been warned about these dirt roads by a different local. I endured it for a section till I could head north and choose an alternate westbound road. That one was bad. Went south to Dry road, which sounded good. It was a good choice. It was concrete then gravel. Then back to pavement near a highway. Went through Braman where a local again warned me about the impassable Grant county dirt roads. I decided to head westbound on the road that crossed I-35 till it got nasty and then try something else. This road was a great gravel road to another highway and Renfrow. After that it was bad pavement, but the pavement curved south. Westbound it turned to clay and still I persisted with it. This was a mistake. It was really messy. Bad ruts if a vehicle had been there. Super soft at the best parts. I vowed to get back on some pavement. I decided I needed to head towards the highway. Which was south of me. Unfortunately this would take me into an oncoming storm that was gathering strength. As it happens a town was close by and it the map showed a state road from it to the highway I needed. Perfect. I'd find some shelter in town if I could make it in time. It was close but I rolled into the little downtown and found some covered tables and a little store right across. So I got a soda and chips. Heard some really loud thunder and close lightning but it only rained a little. Just missed the town. As it happens across from where I sat was a storefront that said it was the Twister movie museum. Looked it up and this was a location for the film Twister. I watched it a few times but not lately and I don't remember much apparently. And only the weird sort of circumstances of my attempt to escape mud brought me there. I pushed on and got onto OK 11, resigned myself to just riding highways into Alva, my destination. Cheating, it felt like cheating. But you can't say I didn't try to stick with the route.. I still had 50 miles to go so I was glad that at least they should pass quickly on pavement. Only I still had a headwind like the rest of the day so I crept along. Terrain flat and hardly any windbreaks anywhere. Once I turned onto US 64(there it is again, my old friend!), I had a huge shoulder and not much traffic. I stopped for a bit at a boardwalk overlook for marshland at the Salt Flats National Wildlife Refuge to dry my feet again. Hard to keep them dry. This gave a couple storms near me time to gather together and get pretty massive. I pulled off again for a little monument celebrating the first time white folks saw the Salt Plains, and the storms against the level plains as a backdrop was stunning, impossible to resist taking a few photos. I got back on the road and it was suddenly CLOSE. Wind buffeted me and I knew I was definitely getting dumped on soon. But i knew it wouldn't last long. So I braced for it and it was, frankly, pretty freaking great. Somehow at once I felt super small and insignificant compared to the power of mother nature, but simultaneously proud that I wasn't afraid of it. A lady in an F150 slowed beside me right as the rain began and asked if I wanted a ride. I politely declined and she couldn't believe it. Internally I was like do you really think I've come all this way only to disqualify my entire trip across the country with a silly gap in the middle of Oklahoma because of 15 minutes of rain? Really? The only thing taking me off the road would have been a tornado. Thankfully the storm I rode through barely even had much lightning. After the storm the sun came out again and my headwind resumed. I went by a perfect secluded cemetery so I stopped there and dried out in the sun and wind. Pitched my tent a good distance from the highway by a line of cedars someone planted as a windbreak.