On to TEXAS!

Boy did it rain in Oklahoma this morning! The way the wind howled and the Camper swayed, we began to think we were in a tornado. But not.We hurried out of there and headed West.
Now we are in a very windy KOA campground in Amarillo, Texas. I took a ton of photos, starting from Oklahoma in the rain. See the raindrops on the window on some photos. We had planned to go to lunch in Jan Rob's hometown of Pampa, but it was still really raining and we decided just to go on. Later when we got closer to Texas, it stopped raining. No traffic. Really windy from there until we got here. It still is howling! Wide open spaces. The Plains. Mesquite trees. Cherokee Indian shops selling wares. Arroyos. Cows. Windmills. Tumbleweed. Grasses. Hay. Rapeseed. Big sky! The owner of the campground collects Tin artwork. It is fun. We are going to the Big Texan for dinner. There is a shuttle from here. Not bad service!

Our Campsite

The Limo took us to theBig Texan

The couple beside our table was from Falmouth MA!

Our young cowboy waiter

Phyllis and John from Topeka, Kansas ate with us. Nice campers.

Finally found a chair for Big Norm!

Heading back to the Campground with another Limo.

New little friend (Phyllis and John's puppy)

Bye Texas!

Oklahoma City campground

Another slow, relaxed day. Got to KOA campground by 2:30. Not too much to see along the way.  But I sure took a lot of photos anyway as you will see. Farms, dry areas, grasses, cattle in trucks, oil drill, red dirt, trash, broken down trucks, no traffic (nice!), dead armadillo on side of road. As we crossed into Oklahoma we had new concrete roads- much smoother.
Tine on our hands, we looked up people from Oklahoma:  Will Rogers, Dr. Phil, James Garner, Gene Autry, Reba McEntire, Ron Howard (Remember Opie?) ,....and of course my friend Barbara Konieczny.

Maria says, "Keep on Truckin!" And so we did. I took photos of a few postcards in the KOA store here. Most I took along the way. Looking at the photos now- it's quite beautiful actually. 65 degrees today and cloudy. We listened to Mozart but mostly Jazz. Peaceful. Nice Dog Playground here.

Rest stop to run dogs, we saw trucks, dogs, religious signs, Gospel Sing Poster, huge Dollar Store with even clothes in it.

Casino- Kickapoo Nation

Indian Blanket Flowers

Postcard

postcard

postcard

OOOOk-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain,
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet, When the wind comes right behind the rain.....

Had our first ot dinner in the camper....chicken caccatori. Different style of cooking. Turned out fine. Now playing Cribbage. Good Night folks.

Arkansas to Oklahoma

I'm ready. When do we go?

After a nice rest yesterday, we got up early and got off by 7:30 to go to the KOA Campground in Oklahoma City.

We're one week into the trip now. Last night Norm figured out that so far we have traveled 1800 miles and averaged 10.5 miles per gallon. That's OK. It's only $2.04 a gallon here.

All of the campgrounds have been terrific. Dog Parks so the dogs can get off leash are greatly appreciated. We have been very lucky that the weather has been lovely. (It will come your way eventually.) Norm has been doing all the driving and not complaining.  Natalie is the navigator and blog writer.

In conversation with fellow campers we hear lots of stories about trailers longer than ours (ours is 23 ft) that are towed on a hitch and really have problems with the big 18 wheeler trucks on the highway. They get sucked into the draft even more than we do. The fifth wheel trailers, instead of ball-hitched trailers, are much more stable in traffic. We love our little camper (named "Scottie"). The layout inside is great. We have to do the dance every once in a while, and step over the dogs, but basically we fit fine. Our garden is growing. We've been happy campers.

      Knock knock. Who's there? Arkansas. Arkansas Who?  Ar can saw any piece of wood you've got!