No travel today!

Let's see, do we tow the Camry?  No, Camrys or for that matter, no other Toyota with an automatic transmission can be towed with all 4 wheels on the ground.  They are either dollied or trailered.  Otherwise the tranny is toast.

We are towing a two wheel utility trailer, that has my Suzuki Burgman motor scooter in it.  Oh and a lot of other things that we like to take with us during the winter. We have considered a compound tow dolly, that has the rails for the cycle in front of the car, but that adds a lot of weight, that is beyond the capacity of this front engine diesel.  So Loyce drives and follows.

We have two way radios between the coach and the car, so we are in constant contact, and make the decisions to pull over and the like by the radio.  The draw backs to this arrangement are, the cost of the gas for the car, but the coach would burn more diesel pulling the car.  And the fact that we can not spell each other from the driving task as we are both driving all the time.  And it also puts mileage on the Camry's clock.  It does get more than 30 mpg, but then again, I have never calculated exactly how well it does.

So we try not to go over 300 or so miles in a day.  But we have violated this at times, because we drove 500 on our way back from Red Bay, Al last spring.  I think we were both in a toot to get home after spending 10 days at the factory.  Seemed like 10 weeks in a dusty parking lot.

Today we decided to take the day off.  Loyce has picked up a nasty cold from the grandkids, whom she couldn't leave alone as we celebrated Thanksgiving.  Now she is paying the price, so we decided to just stay here in OK City.

Our friend the Jet Stream is really playing havoc again!

Mid afternoon, we drove downtown here in OK City.  We drove past the Federal Building Memorial, and found that the West side of the building is closed to traffic.  They are enhancing the West entrance to the empty chair display and reworking the streets.  We were only able to see the work from about a block away, and parking is still an issue, as it has been.

The East side street is also undergoing renovations, and is down to one lane, with no parking except for the tour bus loading and unloading area.  Again, the buses are not able to park there.  The people in attendance seem to be coming from the Museum area on the Northwest corner.  All of the gifts that were left by people are now gone from the street.  I read somewhere that they were packed up and will become part of the permanent display once it is completed.

We also drove around Bricktown for a while, but did not stop and partake of any of the restaurants.  Loyce is on her diet, and I can't eat rich stuff anymore, so we just looked around.  There was absolutely no one on the river walk or the pontoon boats.

In deciding to stay today, we found that they were predicting snow showers in the afternoon for the Amarillo area, and we both decided that we did not need to experience the snow.  But we do plan to head out that way in the morning.

It is supposed to freeze hard here tonight, at 26 degrees.  I will have to go remove the water hose before we go to bed, as we do not want things to freeze up, and slow us up in the AM.  I am placing a light bulb in the water locker under the rig, to keep the pipes above freezing.

If we do make it to Amarillo tomorrow, it is to be even colder there tomorrow night, possibly in the teens, and the wind continues.  Waiting until Thanksgiving is over to head out is obviously not a good plan.  At least this year anyway.

Retired Rod