Over 400 miles away!

Isn't it interesting, that we drove 217 miles yesterday, and decided to quit.  Well today, we drove 219 miles and right on que, we quit again. 

This time we are at a KOA that is literally right on the intersection of the Highway.  That would be I 40 and a county road at Elk City.   The CG owner said the frontage road in front of the CG is old Route 66.  He also elaborated that most of the old buildings have been removed.  They were literally falling to pieces, and had to come down.

We stopped about 4 PM, but didn't travel all of the time during the day.  We left sometime around 10 AM but I didn't actually make note of the time as we departed.  Traveling to Oklahoma City was typical interstate stuff with all the big trucks passing by, pushing you hard with their wind vortex.

Isn't it surprising how a truck will suck you back towards it once the front of the vehicle is beyond you?  Perhaps it is that you have to hold into the truck as it approaches so as not to be pushed off the road, and then suddenly the force is gone and you steer yourself against the side of the truck.

I only go about 65, and most of the semis do 70 to 75, so they love to shove me all over the place.  But we don't have to please a dispatcher, like they do, so keeping up with a schedule is not necessary.

As we entered the Northern suburbs of OK City, we passed a really nice Wal-Mart in Edmond.  Some discussion about hanging a Uey and going back ensued on the two way radio.  But then as we approached I 44, I saw the Flying J.  So I headed in for Fuel.

They have an RVer's card, which gets you the cash price with a credit card, and I have had one for several years.  6 cents off today.  We filled up both the car and the coach.  Jumping back on the Interstate, going NORTH!  back to Wal Mart. LOL.

We messed around in the store for about an hour,  picking out assorted goodies.  And a burger from the MickeyD's at the front of the store.

Once back on the road, we headed West toward Amarillo on I 40.  We had a lot of wind from the South and the Interstate was in terrible shape and jarred the coach and everything in it.  It didn't take me long to tire of that experience, so we are here along the Highway at a KOA.

Ya, I know, too expensive and too commercial.  But we are in the trees out back of the main building, and have FHU with 50 amps.  But it is in the 50's so far tonight, and we only have one heater running, and it is thermostatically controlled, so it has been off more than on.

We do have a ton of Highway noise, as we are right along the frontage road.  The satellite TV picked up some of the signal, but again was spotty due to the trees, and there is very little signal with the antenna.  Its over 100 miles back to OK City and 160 to Amarillo.  The park does have cable at the post with about 7 channels, but I never hooked up.

An interesting side note, the Interstate does not have rest stops along Western Oklahoma.  So folks stop at the CG looking for a bathroom.  The owner said they make such a mess of his facilities, that he put a Kybo out along the frontage road.  If your not a guest, the Kybo is all yours! A fellow was at the door as we arrived, and was shown the Kybo, but left in a huff!  No Kybo for him. We were amused.

The wifi is quite strong and requires a code to get thru security, so it is fast too.  So we cooked up some of our Wal Mart groceries for supper and are bundled in for the night. Ah life on the road!

Retired Rod

First Night Out.

It seems like it is way late at night, but perhaps it is just my internal clock which is still on daylight saving time. It should be midnight, but the watch says 10:45.

We are in a RV park called Oasis RV, and it is just inside the the Kansas boarder on I35 North of the Oklahoma state line.  This is a park that we found and stayed at when we were coming back this spring.  It is a grassy field with hookups and gravel roads.
 
But the hookups work nicely and we have 50 Amps.  But the TV is a little spotty, and I couldn’t get the satellite to lock on due to the heavy overcast .  With the new digital TV, the antenna was not able to keep a signal constantly.  So we lost the World Series game anytime that something important happened.

But we will be long gone before anything really important happens, so its only a minor inconvenience.  At least the wifi works well.  So what else can a fellow ask for.

The Highway is a quarter of a mile away, but is still quite noisy if you concentrate on it.  But perhaps if we ignore it sleeping could be good.

As far as park amenities, it won’t take long to explain, cause they don’t have any.  Except a laundry list of different prices depending on which discount club you belong to.  I used Escapees, for a $25 price.  Good Sam was $30 but Passport America was half price for $17.

On our first night out, we put most everything away, and go thru stuff to see what we have forgotten.  I somehow left the battery to this laptop at home, which is perplexing, but not a disaster, since we should be back before Christmas.  Not like being gone until March.

The rig does have a big inverter, so if I need to run it, I will be using the power brick exclusively.
 
That’s it from here. All is well, and no disasters today.  Last year we blew a tire on the travel trailer about 25 miles South of here.  Read the story Here.

Retired Rod

Packing up the laptop!

I have waited until the last minute, but tonight will pack up the laptop.  This means that most of my computer life will be on hold until we reach a campsite somewhere and are set back up as RVer's.

I'm not sure how long it will take Loyce to get her stuff down here and into the Rig.  So perhaps we will leave on Monday and perhaps not.  She is taking some of her quilting stuff, so that will take her longer to decide what goes.

So we may be incognito for a while, but I still have the desktop to stay up to date on blogs when I get a minute.  And I do sometimes blog from it as well, but it is Linux, so I can't use Live Writer.

I'll try to stay on line some, but if not overly creative with blog ideas, please understand.

Retired Rod

Halloween party and beggars.

I have to admit, that I gave the Hawkeyes up for dead today.  Three fourths thru the game, it was 24 to 7 or some such score, against the Hawks, and I went outside to get more of our packup work completed.

Loyce turned off the TV while I was in the garage, so when I came back wanting to know what the score was now she didn't know.  But since it was so dismal, I went back outside.  Little did I know that during the fourth quarter, they caught fire and routed Indiana, 42 to 24.  They are now 9-0.

We decided to go get the Motorhome out of storage, since our contract is up tonight.  There was some question in the fellows mind if we could leave it there tonight since we didn't pay for November.  Well the way I see it, you pay for the night based on the day before, and leave the next day, but they were having problems understanding that.  So its out front in the street.

My neighbor directly across the street told me that the lady that called the cops on us last year has moved away, so not to be so worried. 

We did have beggars night tonight, and I went to Wal Mart's parking lot with the motorhome for the evening.  All the grandkids were here to go begging in our neighborhood, since they think they get better loot here.  They were soo tired when we tried to have a birthday party for Delaney, that she just began to cry when she was told to blow out the candles.  She is now three.  Seems like she was born yesterday.

I did get to rock the 5 month old  for about an hour during the party, as everyone else was busy with the beggars at the door.  She went right to sleep, and grandpa proved he still had some baby touch.

So the big Halloween party is over, and the motorhome is back in front of the house, and tomorrow we will start up the fridge and move our belongings to the closets.

By Monday, we should be gone.  I hope!

Retired Rod

Remember Clocks fell back an hour during the night!