Change of Plans and Travel to Amarillo, TX

So, Karin is good at math, said NO ONE. EVER.  Y'all who know me well, know just how true that is.  I can't do math, I don't LIKE math, and trying to do any kind of math causes me great anxiety.  So, it should come as no surprise that I can't count a week of 7 days and I would get mixed up between Sunday the 5th (which doesn't exist, by the way) and Monday, which really is the 5th.  Dick kept asking me when we were leaving OKC, and I kept telling him Sunday, the 5th.  That only worked up until Saturday, the 3rd.  On Friday, Donna & I had made plans to meet up at 10 am, in Tulsa, at The Gathering Place.  Well, they say if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.  Obviously, He was in need of a bellybuster, 'cuz He sent us a storm the likes of which we hadn't seen in years.  Where is all this going, you ask?  I know, I hear you....just bear with me a moment.  So the storm is actually BETWEEN Oklahoma City and Tulsa, so neither Donna nor we are impacted by the high winds, torrential rains, flash flooding and hail the size of quarters.  BUT...and it's a BIG but....in order to REACH Donna, we would have to travel THROUGH said storm.  And then, once our brunch and visit were complete, we would have to travel BACK through said storm.  Dick and I talked about this at 7 am, Saturday, and about 7:15 or so, decided that to attempt travel like that was not necessarily the smartest of ideas.  Especially when we had to leave bright and early the next morning (Sunday, the 5th).  So I texted Donna, and she was already up too, and she also had been eyeing the storm.  She agreed, it would not be prudent to brave the storm to visit.  So, we had Saturday to hang out at the campground, do laundry, do some cleaning and prepare to leave Sunday morning.  Bright and early.  The 5th.  Now you see where this is going?  There is no Sunday, the 5th!  Saturday afternoon, Dick mentioned that we had arrived on a Monday, purchased one week (7 days, for those of you that can count), and we should be leaving on a Monday, 7 nights after arrival.  Whaaa?  Maybe we should look at the calendar again......OH.MY.GOSH.  All of a sudden, it appears that we are NOT leaving on Sunday, we are leaving on MONDAY.  The 5th!  Well isn't that a kicker.  OK, so what do we do with the extra day?  Well, we kicked around the idea of going up to Donna's in Tulsa, but in truth, we had slept in waaaay too late to do that, and when we DID get up Sunday, we started thinking about our upcoming Harvest Host slots in September.  Coincidentally, again on the 4th and 5th.  

For those of you that might not know, Harvest Host is a free-camping program, where you stay at a Host member, free of charge, and usually with no hookups (electric, water and sewer).  You are pretty much on your own, there may be one to three other campers, or you may be all by yourself.  You are invited to tour the facility - it's usually a farm, orchard, winery or some other agricultural installation.  If you wish, you are encouraged to make at least a small purchase, in return for them allowing you to stay on their property free of charge.  So, being that we had back-to-back Host stops scheduled, and it's been running anywhere from 90 to 100 degrees, we thought we might ought to check and see if either spot was offering at least electricity, so we could plug in and run our air conditioner.  

We called our first reserved stop, an Alpaca farm in Santa Fe.  Good thing we did!  As it turns out, Santa Fe commissioners have changed the zoning regulations, and overnight camping is now prohibited on the farm property.  Whaaaa???  So, we had a reservation, but apparently, it cannot be honored.  Good to know now!!  The next night's spot was yet to be reserved; it was going to be an Air & Space museum in Pueblo, CO.  We checked their website and their reviews, and looked at the photos previous campers had uploaded.  It appears they park you out at the very edge of the parking lot, and there is absolutely no way to plug in.  Well, no need to stay there, either.  So, finding a place to park, for two days, in a holiday week, consumed most of what was left of the Sunday.  After a good and filling dinner of home made spaghetti and salad, we watched some TV and called it a night, safe and secure in the knowledge that we had found a suitable campground to tide us over those 2 days in September.  And we would be leaving our current campsite bright and early in the morning.  Sorry, Donna, it would have been great to see you and give you another big hug, but not to be, at least not this trip.

So, this morning, Monday, both of us got busy doing our (self) assigned tasks and got the camper ready to roll.  Didn't take us long, so apparently we are finally getting the hang of all the systems and processes in this new camper.  We were rolling out of the park before 9 am!  We knew there was a Pilot Travel Plaza just 4 miles down the road, and that's where we planned to fill up, on our way by.  We like to travel on a full tank, 'cuz, you just never know.  We pulled in to the Travel Plaza, right at 9 am, thinking at that time of day, it would be a quick, in and out stop.  HAHAHA, must have told our plans again.....There was an empty pump, and we pulled right into it.  That should have been our frist clue - we NEVER get to  pull straight into an empty pump!  Dick's credit card had been compromised a few days ago, and he spent an afternoon with USAA trying to get a new card issued and sent to us at the current campground.  Too late, 'cuz they had already issued a new one, and sent it to our mailbox in Florida.  Well, crap.  Eventually, he talked someone into overnighting a temporary card to us at the campground, and it was received.  However, it was severely restricted in its permitted usage, so we decided we would just use mine until we could call for our mail, which would include Dick's new card.  HAHAHA, there we go again, planning!  Apparently, even though that new card has not yet reached Florida, it, too, has been compromised!  Already!!  As a result, they locked our account!  So, when we tried to access it, using MY card, to pay for our fuel, bright and early this morning, the transaction was denied!  We spent a half hour trying to get $60 worth of fuel!  (which did NOT fill us up, by the way)  Took a phone call, a trip inside to clear the pump, and a text authorization, all for 20 gallons.  End result, we were now at 9:30, half an hour behind, and still just starting out on the day's journey.  But, hey, we were safe, and the weather was clear.  

So now we are headed to Amarillo, TX, a day and 30 minutes later than originally expected.  Our planned route is I-40, all the way, and most of I-40 covers the old Route 66, so we hoped we could see some of the historic sights along the way. 

First up was this old bridge.  Here's the synopsis of the writeup on it, in case you don't want to follow that link:

Here is another bridge on the famed Mother Road, Route 66.  This structure consists of 4 160' modified Parker Truss spans plus two 100' ponies at each end. The bridge is of the old standard width, and has two 10' wide driving lanes (as opposed to today's 12' lanes). If you saw the picture of the old US 169 bridge crossing the Caney River, you'd realize that the 160' span on that bridge is the same as the 160' spans on this one. This bridge still has its corner brackets and a very heavy-duty type of lattice guard, similar to the kind installed on a bridge in Blackwell, OK built in 1924. This bridge was also built in 1924.

Just a few miles down the road, we came upon Yukon's Best Flour Mill.  Again, if you don't want to follow the link, here's what they have to say about the mill:

The mill and storage silos were built in 1900-02 by John F. Kroutil and operated by him and the Dobry family until the 1930's, when the Dobry's moved across E. Main St. and started their own milling enterprise. The earlier association had come about as a result of a Dobry marrying John Kroutil's sister. The advertisement on the mill champions Yukon's Best Flour. A fire early on in its operation destroyed a lot of the original mill structure; but, the mill was rebuilt and continued to operate, the fire being a chance to upscale and incorporate new methods and to correct original engineering glitches. The framework on the roof of the mill is comprised of individual bulbs that light to spell out Yukon's Best Flour at night.

And and example of the omnipresent oil wells:

As we traveled west, the countryside got flatter and flatter.  Good thing, as we were battling a strong headwind.  And we didn't have a full tank.  (see above!)

Eventually, we came across some wind mills....and more wind mills, and MORE wind mills. 

This dust cloud was simply a farmer tilling his field, but it was visible for miles!

We were still in Oklahoma, but I'm pretty sure I can see Texas from here!!!

Yup, there it is!

More flat land, with some really deep washes.  This photo doesn't really show how deep this little valley is, but, trust me, it's not somewhere you'd want to be during a rainstorm!

And MORE wind mills.  LOTS more.

More flat land.  Pretty sure I can see Amarillo, and I know it's still 100 miles away!

OK, I know this one is terribly blurry, but remember, we travel at 61 to 62 mph, so it's really hard to get a good shot.  I thought I'd be able to read the name on the side of this water tower, and Google it, to find its story, but, ummmmm....if YOU can read it, or you know where it is, let me know, k?  But, yeah, it's listing pretty badly.  I would love to know the back story.....

About an hour down the road, we hit the next Pilot, just before the exit to The Big Texan RV Ranch, and what do ya know?  Easy in, empty pump (uh-oh, should we be worried???), fully fueled, and easy out.  Really!  And turns out, it was a darned good thing we exited when we did, as the NEXT exit, which we were supposed to take, was CLOSED!  We figured that out, when the ramp to get back ON was also closed!  We just stayed on the access road, and voila!  There was the street leading right into the park.  We checked in, no problem, and there was even an escort to our site, and 2 milkbones for Bailey.  Nice and welcoming.  But when we pulled into our assigned site, I asked if we could get some help to lop the overhanging branches.  The escort was absolutely adamant that the branches would pose NO problem for us, and they wouldn't come anywhere near our slideout.  Ummm.....Let me just say, I might not can do math, but I'm pretty sure I know how wide my slide is, and I know for a fact that those branches ARE going to hit our slide out and our topper.  These photos were taken with the slide partially extended.  Pretty sure the branches are already hitting us.  Hence, the ladder.  And the loppers.  Yup, we took care of the problem, under the withering glances of the escort, every time he rode by.  He didn't offer to help, but he didn't stop us either.

After we got set up, we washed the front cap (bug, lots of smashed bugs), installed all the MagneShades and tire screens, washed the sliders (protection for the tile floor) and took showers.  Yup, it's still pretty hot here, and we were pretty sweaty by now.  This campground is owned by the corporation that runs The Big Texan Steak House, so they run shuttles limo service between the Ranch (campground) and the Steak House.  We had just enough time to make our reservation for the 5 pm run.  

Here's Dick, all cleaned up and ready to go eat steak!  The dude in the back, on the phone, is the driver.  That van was not what I had expected, that's for sure.  It was also bare bones, and HARD SEATS.  I'm pretty sure it needed new shocks, too. Lolly asked if dinner was fun, and it was, oh, it was.  I have lots of pictures, but you've been so sweet to read this far, so I'll save them for the next post.  That's our version of a cliff hanger...

'Till next time!

Moving on again...to Sanger, TX and Oklahoma City, OK

Sunday came, and it was time to pack up again and move on down the road.  This time, we didn't have far to go.  Only about 15 miles, to the little town of Sanger, TX.  We picked Sanger because there was a campground there with alpacas!  Oh nooo, I could NOT resist that booking.  We only booked one night there, and I was wondering if I should have taken more?  When we drove up, there he/she was!  Sad to say, though, that's about all the friendly he/she ever got.  And surprisingly enough, we also found the office closed and locked up tighter than a drum.  And not a soul in sight.  What the heck?  OK, no big deal, right, they'll have a packet by the door, I'm sure.  EVERY well-run campground leaves packets for their guests that arrive outside business hours....well, maybe not EVERY one...'cuz there was sure no packet for the Callanders!

Luckily, I remembered that they had sent me a confirmation notice via email just a couple days ago.  I knew where we were going, so I pretty much deleted it without reading it.  Well, I went looking for it in the Trash folder, and there it was, our site assignment!  We were to go to site 66.  Somehow, Dick had found a park map (I think in the little metal box I told him to check...) and we found site 66 on it.  We also found a warning that site assignments could be changed without notice, so we still weren't really sure that's where we should be heading.  We gambled and headed that way.  We had to wait a dude pulling a trailer (the wrong way, no less) to decide where he wanted to go, then we headed up into the hillside.  Site 66 was in the turn, of course, so we had some finagling to do to get into the site.   Remember, we still don't bend in the middle!  We only had one night to spend there, so we didn't even hook anything up except for power.  We always want the power on; we have gotten quite soft in our old age, and we need that A/C.  We'll tell you it's for the dog, but we all know better, don't we!?  😊  There was WiFi there in the camp, but, no packet, so no password.  There were bathrooms, but they were locked, so we didn't get in.  Not that we would have, anyway, but it would have been nice to know that we could, if we wanted.  There was also a notice that alpaca feedings occurred every night, and guests were invited to join in.  Well, we didn't see anyone approach the alpacas, nor did we see any feeding going on.  What a big disappointment this whole stay turned into.  Good thing we only had the one night booked!  We packed up early in the morning and hit the road.  Wasn't too long when we ran into the leading edge of the cold front.  With clouds like this, we knew we would be getting wet soon.  We were right!  At least the road was good.  And flat.  Good and flat.

 We didn't realize that casinos were a big thing in Oklahoma, but here was our first view of one.  The parking lot was huuuuge, and there were a few campers in it already.  Or maybe still.  I dunno, we didn't stop to chat!

Not too much longer, and we started getting into rolling hills again.  We much prefer flat, but what's one to do?  We go where the road takes us!

Shortly, we saw a wind farm.  I don't know if that's what they're called or not, but that's what WE call 'em.  There were probably a hundred of these monster modern windmills, and they were all going around, going SWOOSH, SWOOSH, SWOOSH!

Then we were back to flat again.  

Aaaand, just a few more miles, and the road cut through a rock outcropping.  Apparently, OK has some hills after all.

Our first glimpse of Oklahoma City, OK.  It's a big city!  With skyscrapers and everything!

Our dear friend Donna, from our first Workamping gig in Branson, had contacted us when she found out we were headed to Oklahoma.  She's been living in Tulsa for a few years now, and we decided we would meet up in downtown OKC (that's Oklahoma City, for you out-of-towners) and tour the memorial.

At 9:01 a.m. on April 19th, 1995 the unthinkable happened.  A deranged anti-governmentalist terrorist drove a Ryder rental truck up to the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building and at 9:02 am detonated all the explosives he and a friend had packed inside.  He was targeting the government, through the offices inside the building, but he either didn't know or didn't care that hundreds of innocent people were there, transacting their normal city and town business (think water permits, building permits, etc), and the 2nd floor housed a daycare for little children.  The bombing was in retaliation for for Ruby Ridge in 1992 and Waco in 1993.  It remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism today, and there are services at the memorial every year to commemorate and honor the victims. 

According to Wikipedia:

The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building^[1] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing happened at 9:02 am and killed at least 168 people,^[2] injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third of the building.^[3] The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars,^[4][5] causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage.^[6] Extensive rescue efforts were undertaken by local, state, federal, and worldwide agencies in the wake of the bombing, and substantial donations were received from across the country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated 11 of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, consisting of 665 rescue workers who assisted in rescue and recovery operations.^[7][8] Until the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States, and remains the deadliest incident of domestic terrorism in the country's history.

Within 90 minutes of the explosion, McVeigh was stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrolman Charlie Hanger for driving without a license plate and arrested for illegal weapons possession.^[9][10] Forensic evidence quickly linked McVeigh and Nichols to the attack; Nichols was arrested,^[11] and within days, both were charged. Michael and Lori Fortier were later identified as accomplices. McVeigh, a veteran of the Gulf War and a U.S. militia movement sympathizer, had detonated a Ryder rental truck full of explosives parked in front of the building. His co-conspirator, Nichols, had assisted with the bomb's preparation. Motivated by his dislike for the U.S. federal government and unhappy about its handling of the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992 and the Waco siege in 1993, McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.^[12][13]

There is a gate at each end of the Reflecting Pond.  One gate is etched with 9:01, the other with 9:03. The pool itself represents the moment of the blast.  It is also the footprint of the original building.  The empty chairs (one for each of the 168 individuals who lost their life) are arranged in 9 rows, representing the floor upon which the bodies were at the time of the bombing.  The chairs themselves represent the empty chairs at the dinner tables of the victims' families. 

There remains a lone tree, an American Elm, estimated to be more than 90 years old.  It was the only tree prior to the bombing, and provided shade for some of the cars parked in the lot on a daily basis.  After the bombing, the tree stood tall and strong, but all the leaves were blown off it.  Pieces of evidence were embedded in its trunk and limbs, but people rallied around the tree and worked to save its life.  It has become known as the Survivor Tree, and it's been incorporated into the design of the memorial.  You couldn't help but have your emotions stirred when you stood under it.  I'm not crying, you're crying.  Maybe we just have some dust in our eyes.  Nooo, we're probably crying.

 

They really tried to make this whole area a place of rebirth and calm.  Flowers are everywhere and the beds are well tended.  We didn't find a weed one.  But we never saw anyone working in the beds, either, so they must have a whole cadre of gnomes that work only at night, when it's cool and no one is around to witness them.

After viewing the memorial and walking all through the museum, we went to lunch at a salad bar unlike any other we'd ever seen or heard of.  All their salads started with a mix of spring greens or Cobb lettuce in a bowl.  Then they put in whatever add-in options you selected.  Dick & Donna both had the Southwest, with corn, beans & avocado, while I had the Harvest, with dried figs, grapes, diced cucumbers and walnuts.  Yum, they were all yummy!  Coolgreens' Food Ethos states:

FOOD ETHOS

Coolgreens is a healthy lifestyle eatery committed to providing ‘more than’—more than just a high quality, fresh dining experience. We offer menus that cater to all lifestyles. More than a fast casual restaurant; we are dedicated to making the markets that we serve better places to live. More than a chain; we align ourselves with partners who are passionate about serving and educating their communities on the benefits of healthy living.

That was pretty cool, and the food was super fresh, reasonably priced and yummy to boot.  Definitely a refresher after the solemnity of the memorial.  If you ever find yourself near a Coolgreens, we highly recommend stopping in for a quick bite.  We bid Donna farewell and went our separate ways after all that.