Oklahoma!

7:41 am - Monday - April 23rd - Oklahoma City, OK - 50º F, 90% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the north by northwest......cloudy with a forecast high for today of 74º F.

Shortly after awakening Sunday I was checking the weather on my phone and noticed that the winds would be coming out of the north all along our route with the worst of the wind around Elk City, OK at over 20 mph around mid morning.  Elk City was about 130 miles east of us so it was imperative we get back on the Interstate and cover as many miles as possible before the wind got bad.

We were rolling out of the Cracker Barrel parking lot by 8:10 am and up to highway speed on the Interstate within minutes.  Initially there was no wind at all, and it was very overcast......for a while I thought what we saw in the distance was rain.......

.....but it was not......just very low clouds.  As we continued eastward we saw this old, abandoned water tower that was leaning over so much I was surprised it did not fall.  I guess it has been that way for years......

......it soon began to clear, and eventually the winds from the north began to appear.  Most of the day we were going due east on I-40 so the winds were coming from the drivers side of the Newell forcing me to crank the steering wheel hard to the left almost 1/3 turn.....this is the kind of wind I hate, but at least it was steady and not gusting.

 Heading due east on I-40

Ultimately we entered Oklahoma, but there were no signs welcoming us like we saw in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.....just this sign indicating an Oklahoma Information Center and Rest Area 4 miles distant.....

....we finally got our official Oklahoma sign at the rest area.....it was well worth the wait.....it almost seems like the sign is shouting 'OKLAHOMA!'.  As we travel we stop every 60-90 miles depending on what is available, and at least once a day, sometimes more, we get dressed and go for at least 1/2 mile, but mostly for a mile, or more.  This day we walked 1.2 miles....a couple of times around the Rest Area.

The rest of the day's drive saw me fighting the ever stiffening winds continuously.  We took two more rest stops before finally reaching Oklahoma City.  We were here about 9 years ago and stayed at an RV park on the northeast side of town called Twin Fountains RV Resort.  It is right near the junction of I-44 (yes, we have left I-40 after 6 days) and I-35.  It fits our requirements for being 'easy off and easy on', and having very large, long pull through sites.  We hadn't plugged in for a few days, and TLE needed to do a load of wash so we got off the Interstate around 2:30 pm and snagged a site (P-4) which puts us right at the exit for the RV park.....perfect!  Just as 9 years ago we had no reservation at this very popular park, but got a site easily (it is quite full).

Once TLE got the wash going we walked across the street to a local 'health and wellness' school and walked for about 2 miles on their series of walking trails.....

....we walked a combination of their three trails to get our 2 miles of walking.

Around 6 pm we put on our bathing suits and walked over to the Jacuzzi for a good hot soak, and what a hot soak it was!  It was the perfect temperature.  You know how sometimes you in get in the Jacuzzi, or even the bath tub and it feels hot initially, but within a couple of minutes you are wishing it was hotter?  Well, this was was perfect in that I never wished it was hotter.  We soaked for about 30 minutes, which really helped relieve any residual tenseness remaining from our windy drive earlier.

We've now covered almost 1,300 miles on our journey to Maine, leaving roughly 2,000 miles to go.  We're going to slow down a little over the next week, and are planning on spending at least 3 days in St. Louis visiting TLE's brother, Creig (pronounced Craig), and his lovely wife Kay.  

Thanks for stopping by!

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The color is Yellow......

7:18 am - Sunday - April 22nd - Amarillo, TX - 41º F, 91% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the northwest....forecast high for Amarillo today is 64º F.......mostly clear skies after a little rain yesterday.....we only experienced some sprinkles west of here for a few minutes.  Will be on the road in less than an hour.

It was quite cold (34º F) Sunday morning in Edgewood, NM, and it took about an hour using the block heater to warm the big 6V92 up enough to start her.  We were back on eastbound I-40 by 8:30 am heading for, we hoped, Amarillo, TX.......another state and another time zone change......more clock changing ahead.

The skies started out partly cloudy, and by the time we arrived in Amarillo (means yellow in Spanish) around 3 pm Central Time it was totally overcast, however, I get ahead of myself.  The road surface was as smooth as a baby's butt most of the day, and mostly flat.  The engine temps ran in the low 180's most of the day climbing into the 190's on short climbs......perfect!  It was really just a matter of me hanging onto the steering wheel and enjoying the giant views...... 

......by  11 am we were coming into Tucumcari, NM which is about the last large (I use that word advisedly) New Mexico city on I-40 before the Texas border.  We stopped overnight in Tucumcari about 9 years ago, and while it was kind of a sleepy little town on a Sunday afternoon, it seemed there were a lot of active businesses.  We took a walk that day down Route 66 about 6 blocks to visit the local supermarket.  Below you see the local supermarket all boarded up in the background on Saturday, April 21, 2018.  It seemed that about 50% of the local businesses were closed for good.....

.....it was a little sad to see the stark decline in just 9 years.  We took our second break of the day in Tucumcari at the abandoned supermarket and then continued our quest to cross another state line.  Within an hour we were saying goodbye to New Mexico and being welcomed into Texas.......

.....the terrain did not immediately change, but within 20 miles we came to the flat Texas landscape with which we are well acquainted.........

........with 100's of windmills covering the landscape in every direction......we were passed by a couple of  'Tiny Homes' along the way.......

.....at last we were on the outskirts of Amarillo and our destination for Saturday......the Cracker Barrel just off the Interstate on the north side.  We exited the Interstate and made our way over to the RV parking area in the Cracker Barrel parking lot.....

.....found a spot that suited us and parked.  This is only the second time the RV parking has been long enough for our 62'.  The only other time we have found long RV spots was at the Cracker Barrel in Missoula, MT a few years ago.  The time was about 3 pm Central Time, and the skies looked quite threatening, although we did not get any rain.

We went into the Cracker Barrel about 5:45 pm to have breakfast for dinner.....I had their Oltimer Breakfast (2 eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits and gravy).  Service is always quite fast, and true to form within about 8, or 9 minutes we had our food and were sipping coffee.  We talked about how idyllic the day had been, and our Jello plans for Sunday.....hopefully we will enter another state (Oklahoma), but no new time zones.

After returning to the coach I decided to spend the evening setting up our ROKU TV channels.  Many of the channels we watch are already included in the 'Home' menu, but we had to add about 6, or 7 more which takes a while.  By the end of the evening we were set, and as I write this latest missive I am watching British Premier Soccer on ROKU TV......no turning on the DirecTV DVR, or cranking up the satellite dish.....just turn on my Samsung hotspot, and turn on the TV and we are in business.....perfect for traveling.....quick and easy!

We watched Masterchef Junior before retiring the for evening at 10 pm, which is really 8 pm Pacific Time......my body is still adjusting.

Thanks for stopping by!

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2nd to None.......

7:02 am - Saturday - April 21st - Edgewood, NM - 34º F, 76% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the west.....clear blue skies with a forecast high for today of 63º F, but we will not experience that as we will be far down the road by then.

Our Jello plan had been to remain in Grants, NM until Saturday morning, but as things would have it the wind was almost nonexistent when we got up Friday morning.  We debated about whether to move on eastward, or not.  When the winds came back they were much more moderate than the day before, and they were coming directly from the west, which meant we would have a following wind.  In addition to that my coolant temperatures had been running about 5-10 degrees higher than normal and I was convinced that my rear facing radiator needed cleaning.  I got on the phone and checked for some truck places in Albuquerque that offered radiator cleaning services and found one called '2nd to None Fleet Services'.  Yelp gives them 4 stars on 5 reviews, and we would have to agree. I made an appointment and within a few minutes we were back on the road being pushed eastward by the light winds.  

It was only 77 miles to Albuquerque and we were there a little after 11 am, and in their wash bay a few minutes later......

......while I supervised the cleaning of the radiator TLE spent time on her phone looking for a place to spend the night, and found a Walmart about 26 miles further down the road in a little town called Edgewood at about 6,700' elevation (the reason for the cold temps this morning).  John finished cleaning the radiator around 12:45, and we were back on the road to Edgewood shortly thereafter.

When you  are traveling east on I-40 out of Albuquerque you must climb from 5,400' elevation to over 7,100' before you slip down the grade into Edgewood.  This would be a good test to see how clean the radiator got, and she passed with flying colors.  Before the radiator cleaning the temps on climbs were hitting 208-210º.  After the cleaning they settled in at 198º, which is where they have traditionally been.

We arrived at the Walmart around 1:30 pm having covered just 108 miles for the day, found a spot to park out on the edge of the parking lot, and then went inside.  As we walked across the parking lot we would feel the winds picking up again, and were quite glad we were finished driving for the day.  We were both hungry and decided to get some food from their Deli.  We bought a pound of Orange Chicken for $5.50.  TLE noted they had a nail salon, and told me she wanted to get her toenails done so after escorting me back to the Newell where we ate lunch she headed back inside for a pedicure.  The Orange Chicken was delicious.....only $5.50 and it fed two easily.....great deal!

Once we get into the dry camping mode as we travel day after day I really almost prefer it to staying in RV parks.  When we stop in an RV park I have to go outside to plug in, and almost always connect the water.  That is just more stuff to put away in the morning, and folding up a cold water hose is no fun.   We like overnighting at Walmarts primarily because when we travel every day we tend to shop daily buying more fresh food to eat that day.

Time get get ready to roll our wheels once again ever eastward.  Today, Saturday, we should pass 1,000 miles traveled on our trip to Maine, and we should be in Texas by this afternoon.....thanks for stopping by!

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