Amarillo, Tx

Tonight we are in the Overnight RV Park East of Amarillo, Tx. This interchange is famous for the Big Texan restaurant. This has been featured on the Travel channel show of famous truck stops.

When you stop at one of the truck stops along the frontage roads or at several of the camp grounds, within the five mile area, they send out a limousine to pick up folks. They had an old Caddy and now have a newer Lincoln, with Texas Long Horns on the hood. They came thru the campground right after we got here, but we were not set up yet.

But once we had the rig leveled and the hookups connected, we went over for a steak. Now if you can eat the 72 Oz steak and the three big battered shrimp and a baked potato within an hour, your meal is free. And you win a T Shirt that proclaims your feat.

But should you falter in your eating prowess, it will cost you a buck an ounce for your dinner. Thats right $72. But you get a doggie bag, LOL. We ordered the sissy size steaks! I think mine was 10 oz and Loyce had the 6 Oz fillet. I'm still sitting here overstuffed. They offer two sides, and I had the baked potato, and corn. So that is what has me so full.

I forgot to take the camera, but with daylight saving time over, it was dark outside by the time we arrived anyway. The place will seat hundreds, but was fairly empty on a Monday night. The waiter said that they had a good crowd for Halloween, but it had been slow since.

I started the day this morning by going to the Goodyear dealer that is two blocks South of the Murrah memorial in downtown OK City. I was there shortly after they opened at 7AM. The really short version of the story is that there is no warranty on the tire, as it is hard to get Goodyear to stand behind the tires since they are parked in one place for long periods of time.

They claim that you ran the tire under inflated, or that you hit an imaginary object on the road, or any other thing they can think of to say they are not responsible. You are flat out of luck. Period. So $125 later and after waiting until 10 AM for them to go get one from some warehouse, I was back on the road.

When I got back to the campground, I had to jack up the trailer and replace the spare with the new tire, and then remount the spare in the tongue carrier. I suppose I could have taken the trailer to the tire shop, but it was right downtown in the middle of the big buildings, and their lot was quite small for a 50 foot rig so, I took the tire in the back of the truck.

We were on the road before noon and arrived here in Amarillo by 5 PM.

We are going on toward Roswell, New Mexico tomorrow. That is only 220 miles, and should be a more comfortable trip. We'll blog some more from there. Keep your eyes peeled for aliens!

Retired Rod

Road Runner RV, Oklahoma City OK

This is what is left of our tire from yesterday's misadventure. As you can see the belts separated and a big chunk is missing. Loyce is still ducking from the flying rubber pieces. I am hoping to take this to the Goodyear store Monday morning for an adjustment. Perhaps my billfold will be adjusted as well. Time will tell on that.


We are situated in the Road Runner RV Park here in Oklahoma City. This is mostly a concrete and grass park near downtown. The most notable problems we have experienced was the position of the sewer hook up. It was completely at the back of the lot and about as far away from the connection on our trailer as possible.


We used 30 feet of hose to connect up but got the job done. This picture looks back at the shower building and the office. We are connected and probably a part of the storage business that is attached on our South lot line.


The place was quite full for Saturday night, but during the morning many folks packed up an left. We had a number of Iowa folks here that must have been here for the game yesterday.


We have the place to ourselves with the long term folks, that live here more permanently. We must leave tomorrow or renew for more nights, if our tire becomes a problem.

We went to the memorial at the Murrah Federal Building today, to see the empty chairs that are on the footprint of the old building. It is a somber experience. We were amazed at the number of people that were at the site thirteen years later. This was a defining event for this area. 186 deaths and over 600 injured.

Part of the original wire fence, that was put up to keep folks out of the damaged site still stands today, and is the collection piont for flowers and personal memorials that are left on the site. They say that there are over 60,000 items that have been collected.

I did not take any pictures of this area as it was quite somber. We were not able to walk around much, due to the problems that I have with Neuropathy.

This web site is the official memorial information and has good 360 views of the area.

We used today as a reorganize day, to put things away in the trailer. Seems as though most things were stacked in the dinette and couch area and needed to be filed in their proper drawers and cabinets. As well, Loyce gave the floor and tables a proper cleaning since we now have water back in the pipes.

Looking at the weather forcast tells us that it will again freeze here later in the week, so we need to move along to the Southwest. We have a heated underbelly so that our pipes do not freeze when we are running the propane heater, but with single pane glass windows, this is not a good rig to stay in during freezing weather.

When we get to Arizona, the nights should remain in the 50's with the days in the early 80's. That will be hard to take, but I think I am up to the task.

Retired Rod

Bang/ Flop Flop Flop aw Sheeeeeet!

The day went just as planned, we were on the road by 11:00 AM and traveled thru the day. We went 335 miles and ended up in Oklahoma City. We planned to stay here one night, but have had a little difficulty that will require us to stay here until Monday.

Lets just say that the tread came right off the Goodyear tire like it was jello. Loyce was following me in the little Corolla, and quickly passed me get away from the flying debris.

By the time I got stopped, the tire was shredded. I heard it go and slowed down instantly, but allowed the rig to roll out its speed rather than slam on the brakes and loose control. The bad tire was on the passenger side of the trailer, so no laying out on the interstate to get it changed.

I had the rig up on a jack and the tire loosened right away, but the thing that became the problem was the spare. It had plenty of air, as I had checked that before we left home. I couldn't get the hold down bolt out of the bracket the tire is mounted to.

It was corroded from the road salt and grime. Wouldn't budge. It is shaped as a big wing nut that is made to do by hand. If it had had a bolt head on it I could have used a socket and a breaker bar. But a hand tightened wing nut has no wrench that fits it.

I only had spray silicone as a penetrant, and it did little good. I managed to move it slowly with a big crescent wrench. Grabbing one of the wings , and adding the length of the wrench as lever.

It took an hour and a half to get the tire changed. During that time the Oklahoma State Game got over, and we had a traffic jam on the interstate as the people poured back to the OK City area. I thought that the trailer would fall from the jack several times as large trucks passed within inches of the side.

I learned later that they had beaten Iowa State and were quite euphoric about it. I just thought that, heck everyone has beat them this year, so whats the big deal.

We are in the road runner RV park in South OKC. We are not far from downtown, and have learned that all tire dealers are closed on Sunday in these parts. Except for Wal Mart, but they do not carry RV tires.

Since we will be here for at least two days, I'll tell you about the park on the next post.

Retired Rod

On the lookout for the cops/Halloween

I was kind of disappointed with the outcome of yesterday's encounter with the police. And it showed in the blog entry. I was up several times during the night, looking out the front windows of the house, to see if the cops were here with the tow truck.

The garbage folks came at about 7 AM and it is still dark at that time, and they made quite a commotion with their big diesel truck and its back up bell. Beep Beep Beep, and I was sure they were here to get the flat bed trailer with the 8N Ford tractor down in the end of the culdesak.

It was only the garbage folks loading their packer truck, but I was up in a flash to see if the tow truck was hauling the trailer away.

Mid morning, the neighbor who's relative owned the trailer with the tractor stopped by to explain, that they have a death in the family and her cousin stopped by with the trailer and his pickup on his way from somewhere else. He was on his way to Texas with the 8N when he found out and detoured here.

She apologized for getting us into trouble, since she felt that her neighbor across the street from them wouldn't have called the cops, if the tractor wasn't there. We were just caught up in the mix of things, since we were also in violation of the no trailers rule. That was nice of her. She was a really nice lady and was anything but cold hearted. The tractor and its trailer was hauled out by her cousin mid morning.

Even so, our trailer is still up in the driveway, and will only move when we leave tomorrow. And we will have to leave with it, because our 48 hours are up. Oh the joy of living in the suburbs of a town that is overly impressed with itself.

We had a Halloween party here tonight during the beggars hours. The grand kids did their own neighborhoods first, and then they came here for beef burgers and french fries. They ate rapidly, to get back out and trick or treat some more in our neighborhood. They filled their candy bags again. So they got to double dip the neighborhoods so to speak.

They were rushed off home by about 9PM, as they were eating candy with both hands. I think the dads were raiding the haul as well. I have a couple of pieces of dark chocolate, that no one likes or wanted but me. I can't eat more than a half a piece at a time, because it upsets the blood sugar. Only the tiniest piece seems sooooo sweet, that I can't eat it anyway.

We are mostly packed and ready to go in the morning, but I'm sure we will have a lot of last moment stuff.

The next blog should be from a campground South of here.

Retired Rod

Update: 11:00AM We're outa here!!!!!