We didn't get up too early, but like usual I was awake from the middle of the night until early morning when I fell back to sleep... Seems like I wake up and can't get back to sleep many nights....
But when we finally did wake up again, we were up and at it rather quickly.. A quicky breakfast and we were folding in the slides... The campground was right at the convergence of three interstates I 35 and I 135 and I 235 and we were connected to the highway without much in town driving...
But the US 54 highway to the West of Wichita seems slow... The traffic is bad and the road has a bunch of stoplights... Eventually we reached Pratt, and I stopped to top off the diesel tank with about 25 gallons... Also a pit stop break as well...
By then it was afternoon and we drove on thru Greensburg and almost to Meade, but just before you get there, Kansas has a rest stop out on a corner where the road turns mostly Southwest... We usually stop at this little stop, and today it was lunch time... The sun was shining brightly but the wind was fairly strong.. But warm in the low 70s... The sandwich was good, but the flies were overwhelming...
We pressed on thru Liberal and past the campground that we sometimes stay at just North of town.... It was only 3PM so we felt we had to move along...
Usually we put our head down and buzz right across the pan handle of Oklahoma, and this afternoon we were trying to make it into Texas before we quit.. So we never stopped in Oklahoma at all....
Once into Texas, we usually stop at Stratford, so not to change tradition I stopped at the usual truck stop where I know the motorhome fits into the fuel stations... This particular station does not charge extra for credit card diesel and it was $3.89... That has been about average since we left KC...
So tonight we pulled into the Coral RV Park in Dalhart, Texas.. This place is largely a gravel parking lot with telephone poles to mark out the camping spots.. The wires are overhead for the electric and cable tv....
There is nothing fancy here but they have sealed the blacktop during the day today, so we had to stay off of it when we parked... Tonight the price is $20, so averaging that out with last nights bigger price we come in about average for the two days..
It was getting dark as I was hooking up the services so we were off of the road about the right time..
We have been listening to the trains as they blow their horns every few minutes here as this is a major crossing of tracks in two directions.. And for those that remember Dalhart for its large numbers of stock yards and associated smells, we were pleasantly rewarded with winds from the North tonight, which makes the normal smells blow away from town........!
This is the 500 mile mark of the 1,175 miles to our goal of East Mesa... Still it seemed slow today because we have driven it too many times...
Retired Rod
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Man it gets dark so early! But I've griped about that before.
ReplyDeleteI've never asked, but how do you find the "front engine diesel" for engine noise? We've had three different diesels (all cars) over the last few years and found them to be well insulated against noise. All German made btw.
Not like the old days when GM had an Oldsmobile diesel. They produced them from '78-'85. Remember them?
Those suckers were noisy.
The front engine diesel is just that an ISB cummins truck engine that is below the floor between the seats... It sounds like a diesel and if that bothers you, your gonna be bothered......
DeleteI'm very used to it after 28K miles... so when it becomes overly noisy for me is when the fan clutch kicks in solid on 95 degree days and above... Then the engine cooling fan sounds rather deafening...
You & I have very similar sleeping & driving habits. I remember the cattle smell coming though Dalhart a couple years ago & I seem to remember a lot of trucks on the road. Like you, when moving from point A to point B I just like to get out there & get the job done. I prefer to put in my 8 hours in the driver's seat rather than spend half that time just sitting stopped for the day doing nothing but watching TV & looking out the window. Different srokes I guess.
ReplyDeleteTime to shake up the rut. There has to be a different route that you could take that wouldn't add too many miles to the trip. You're getting closer.
ReplyDeleteYou're making good time Rod and will be in Mesa by the weekend for sure unless you decide to stay and listen to the trains and maybe the smells of the stockyard?
ReplyDeleteI put my studded snow tires on yesterday....Fired up the snowblower, and one snowmobile....Just wanted you to remember what you're missing...
ReplyDeleteDavid