(You'll see I had some formatting problems with this post, though I really don't know why. But it's legible.)
El Reno KOA, Geary
Saturday, 15 through Tuesday, 18 August 2020
This campground had some drawbacks but overall was comfortable enough that I decided to stay until I was caught up. I didn't actually get that far, but I made a big dent in the list of things I needed to do.
My big surprise is that Anna and David drove up to visit while I was here. My new phone had FINALLY arrived (the phone saga is a whole separate story), and they brought me that and the rest of my mail. Anna said they had a big rain storm the day before which made working in the yard impossible until things dry up a little. Plus, she said, they remembered they're retired and can do what they want, so why not take a little Road Trip. I'm not sure I'd have chosen west-of-El-Reno-OK for my destination, but with mail delivery becoming uncertain these days, why not.
They didn't stay here in the campground, because the KOA Kabins, while perfectly adequate, don't have bathrooms. So often people our age find having a bathroom handy in the middle of the night is a plus, and we don't want to get dressed first. So they stayed down the road a piece at the hotel attached to a casino.
Dexter was overjoyed to see his favorite person in the world (Anna, not me), and we all went out for walks several times while they were here. Before they left, Anna had to stop to pick out the gazillion stickers that were wedged in the soles of her sandals. Those stickers were the main drawback to this campground. They seemed to be everywhere, and it was rare for us to leave the RV without at least one of us (me and the dogs) getting stuck. I too had had a session of cleaning stickers out of my sandals, and I'd had plenty of experience picking them out of the feet of the poor puppies.
It was hot and humid for our entire stay, so I had to run the AC for most of the day each day. I'd prefer to turn it off when the mornings are cool - I get sick of the noise, for one thing - but once the heat gets going, I knuckle under. I brought 3 fans with me this time, but I know they'll only delay the need for the AC a few extra hours, so I haven't bothered to reassemble them. When the days get a bit cooler, I'll probably be glad I brought them.
I'd thought we could walk up the hill to the travel center for exercise until I realized those buffalo were a road block. The first time Dexter caught sight of one of them, he was transfixed and I turned us around quickly in case they made him as crazy as horses do. And since the dog park is right next to the buffalo pen, the park was out too as a destination. We were limited to walking in the campground. Fortunately, there were a lot of little roadways, most of them shaded, so we could find someplace to go even when lots of campers had dogs.
On the minus side, Dexter lost his name tag somewhere in the campground - probably from a wrestling match with Gracie - so I stayed nervous after that about him getting loose from me when we were walking. I'll never forget that time in West Virginia when he got excited chasing a deer and ran too far away to find his way back to me. It was just sheer luck that he finally ran himself to a standstill in a parking lot, where I found him. I want to be sure if that happens again, someone will eventually find him and call me. So a name tag went on my list of things to get when we get back on the road.
The radio in the RV stopped working. Actually I can hear static but there's no display on the screen so I can't tune the radio stations. And when I put a CD in instead, it didn't start playing automatically and, with no display, I couldn't do it manually. The owner's manual is useless about stuff like this, so this is something I'll have to figure out another way. Meanwhile I'll be driving with only my own thoughts for company, the critters not being much for conversation.
I spent the best part of a day figuring out a route for the rest of my month here in OK - what I still wanted to see, where I could stay, and how I could get there. Then I made reservations everywhere, now that I've figured out how to navigate the online reservation program for OK's state parks.
I also found a place in Colorado where I could spend the Labor Day weekend. I found 5 KOAs in Colorado that were already full for those days (except for a few wildly expensive campsites), so I felt lucky when I stumbled on this one. It's not in a particularly popular area, though, which probably accounts for them not being packed already. I don't care. I just want a place to stay while the vacationers vacation. I made a reservation from Friday the 4th until Tuesday the 8th, to cover the Labor Day rush, and since I was making plans for Colorado I reserved a spot at a state campground for the 1st 2 nights.
Colorado campgrounds charge a daily admission fee, even for overnight stays, that ranges from $9 to $11. Tack that onto the charge for a campsite and you're talking real money. In the alternative, I could buy an annual pass for $80, but that would mean I'd have to stay at least 10 nights in the state campgrounds during September. Well, I still have a while to think about it.
I got 3 more blog posts finished and made some progress on the remaining one, so that felt good.
Taken all together, it was a good stay, with the highlight of course being the visit from the only people I feel comfortable enough to allow into my RV. Stupid virus.
No comments:
Post a Comment