Thursday, 1 December 2022
It was so cold during the night that by morning, either my water tank or my water lines or the water pump had frozen. So we didn't have any water. The expected low last night was 17°. Good thing we leave today for warmer weather.
When I got back from walking Dext, I found the kitties had knocked stuff off the table. One was playing with the cord attached to my camera, I almost stepped on my glasses on the floor, their earpieces were chewed, and I couldn't really clean them because there wasn't any water. Aaughh!
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| today's route - it's the yellow line/pink line |
A sign told me "Missouri Welcomes You." And I saw a Bald Eagle soaring on our left side.
On NPR, I heard about a book called Saved By Schindler: The Life of Celina Karp Biniaz. She and her parents survived being Jewish in Nazi Germany by having the good fortune to be placed on Oskar Schindler's list - the list that eventually saved 1,100 Jews by the end of the war. She said she didn't talk about those experiences for many years because she didn't think anyone could understand them without the context. What changed things for her was Steven Spielberg's 1993 movie Schindler's List, which helped educate Americans about the circumstances of the Holocaust which she'd survived. She says a 2020 survey showed 10% of adults under age 40 hadn't even heard of the the Holocaust, and with antisemitism on the rise, it's especially important that the dwindling number of survivors make their voice heard.
A sign told me Missouri has had 926 road deaths this year, with 59% of them unbuckled.
The farther south I drove, the less I worried about finding ice on the bridges, but I was still having to deal with a very strong wind.
I managed to navigate around Kansas City, MO, and finally we crossed the Missouri River and a sign said "Kansas Welcomes You! Home State of Dwight D. Eisenhower."
We switched to another interstate, then onto a series of US highways that eventually got us to Lawrence.
I'd planned to get propane at this KOA, but then learned they charge for a minimum of 7 gallons of propane, whether you actually buy that much or not. It's a complete rip-off because my tank holds 7 gallons only if it's completely empty - same for a 30-lb propane tank. The 20-lb tanks that people use for bbq pits only hold 4.7 gallons. So it's a rip-off. And I decided I could hold out until I got to my next campground. But that fact colored my attitude about this campground.
Stage 2: Lawrence, KS, to Wellington KOA, KS
Friday, 2 December 2022
The kitties have learned the phrase "What do you think you're doing?" Which gives you an idea of the mayhem around here.
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| today's route - the pink line running down to include the blue line |
I thought it would be easy to find a gas station in a populated area traveling on a US highway. But I was wrong. I had to drive for miles and was getting worried when I finally saw a Love's truck stop that offered unleaded for $2.94.
Twice I saw an electronic highway sigh that said: "Tune to Local Media - High Winds Expected." I didn't bother because I'd already found out for myself that the winds were really strong.
I saw a license plate that said SH33SH.
We got off the road at Emporia because I'd found a park that was close to the exit. It was a nice park but a little odd because of being mostly on the side of a steep hill. But Dext and I had a chance to stretch our legs, so that was good. The wind was so strong I'd been thinking we wouldn't see anybody on the disk golf course in the park - when we ran into 2 people playing disk golf. So I said something to them about being surprised they could play in that wind and they said they'd come all the way from Iowa to play there. Each to his own, I guess.
Emporia has a National Memorial to Fallen Educators. It's part of the National Teacher Hall of Fame. These things weren't where I was - I saw a sign about them - but some time I'd like to go back and visit.
Back on the road, I passed two signs that warned of a Range Burning Area and told me Do Not Drive Into Dense Smoke but instead Park on Right Shoulder. Of course, with today's wind it wasn't something to worry about.
That wind likely caused me to scare other drivers, because when they passed me I couldn't always stay strictly in my lane. It was really something and I was glad to get to tonight's campground. Where we got propane no problem. This is the KOA I came to a couple of weeks ago when my graywater tank froze and I needed to thaw out.
Stage 3: Wellington, KS, to Oklahoma City East KOA, OK
Saturday, 3 December 2022
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| today's route - the orange line in Kansas and the pink line in Oklahoma |
Before I left Wellington, I stopped for gas ($2.75/gallon - and if Biden was responsible for the earlier high gas prices then I'm grateful to him for lowering them so much) and for groceries. Google said today's drive would only take 2 hours, so I didn't hurry out of town and it was 10:45 when we got on the road.
The sign said: "Leaving Kansas - Come Again."
And the next sign said: "Welcome to Oklahoma!"
I thought it was nice of Kansas to invite me back - and I liked the exclamation mark for Oklahoma.
When I passed through Missouri a couple of days ago, almost all I could find were religious radio stations; in Oklahoma it's almost all country/western.
We stopped at a rest area that had nice dog parks, which they aren't usually in the various rest areas we've seen.
A license plate said "9TNGALE."
At one point I had to brake to give a hawk extra time to get high enough to not hit me.
I think Oklahoma may be the only state that has highway signs that say "State Law: Do Not Impede Left Lane." They also have the usual "Slower Traffic Keep Right" that everybody has, but I don't remember that other one elsewhere.
We made it through Oklahoma City traffic, and we found tonight's campground another 10 miles along the road.
I hadn't stayed at this KOA before and found the layout very confusing. So did other campers and several times I saw people driving v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y trying to figure out where their space was supposed to be. In fact, one camper passed our site 3 times while they tried to figure this place out. Lots of trees, lots of winding roads, serious lack of directional signs - a pleasant place to walk Dexter but not so much for orienting yourself.
Stage 4: Oklahoma City, OK, to Durant KOA, OK
Sunday, 4 December 2022
I'm still putting the kitties into their crate/carrying case each night and leave it on my bed during the daytime. No point in folding it up each day, and anyway they like to play in it. This morning they turned it on its side while they were playing with it, and then one fell asleep inside it while the other went to sleep on the side that was now the top. So I had a kitty condo. I couldn't get a photo though, because every time I turn my camera on, they hear the little beep and start moving around. I've missed a lot of good pictures because of that.
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| today's route - the pink line (that shades into the blue line) |
We passed a house that had a huge (like 10' tall) sculpture of a hand in the front yard. The index finger of the hand was pointing straight up - and it had a hawk sitting on the tip of the finger. I had to look hard but I'm sure the hawk was part of the sculpture and not a real bird that decided to touch down on that finger. Very odd-looking.
I passed a field with dozens of white calves grazing with a herd of black cows. Another odd-looking sight.
In the town of Madik I saw a billboard for a dentist. The headline was: "Best Time To Get Braces" and the photo showed a young woman wearing a standard covid face mask. I thought that was really clever.
In the town of Kingston I passed a business called "Liquorty Split."
I crossed Lake Texoma, one of the largest reservoirs in the country, that extends quite a way south into Texas, which is where I know it from. So I found it a little disorienting to come across it so far from the state boundary. Actually, I didn't just come across it - I crossed it - on the Roosevelt Bridge. That bridge was nearly a mile long and it's just as well I didn't know about it in advance, or know that it's eligible for the National Historic Register. As it was, I just gritted my teeth and got across.
The lake wasn't very far from US-75, which I'll be taking down to Dallas tomorrow and which tonight's campground is on. I stayed at this KOA - part of a casino - a couple of years ago and thought I remembered where it was. But Google's directions were really wrong and confused me, and I ended up driving around quite a bit and finally asking at the casino for directions. Actually, his directions weren't much better than Google's, but I finally found the place.
What I remembered clearly about this campground was a large resident population of Canada geese, and those geese were still there. It was almost impossible for me to let Dexter out of the RV because goose poop was everywhere. Too bad because otherwise it's a nice place.
Stage 5: Durant, OK, to the Dallas, TX, area
Monday, 6 December 2022
I've been continuing to feel the effects of whatever digestive problem I acquired in Iowa, with symptoms that seem similar to morning sickness. Just as well that's not an option for me to worry about. But I've started giving myself a chance to rest a bit after a bout with it, instead of trying to power through it, and that seems to help.
Several times early this morning I heard rain passing over, but fortunately we didn't get rained on during our first walk. But the radio was giving frequent alerts of a "dense fog advisory" which I didn't really need, because dense fog was about all I could see. Our campsite was in the middle of the campground and I couldn't even see to any of the edges.
So instead of an early departure, I decided to wait for the fog to lift. Oklahoma drivers aren't any better than Texas drivers and parts of today's route are heavily traveled. If I went slowly enough for the low visibility level, I'd be going dangerously slowly for the typical traffic. So we stayed and didn't hit the road until 10:00.
I'd intended to run some errands before going to David and Anna's house. I wanted to stop at the storage unit and spent time yesterday rearranging the contents of the basement so I could easily take out what I wouldn't be wanting for the next 6 months. I had also planned to stop at a PetsMart, the bank and the grocery store.
But not knowing what the road would be like once I got on it, I decided to skip the errands and called David to let him know I'd be arriving earlier than I'd planned. He warned me that I'd come to a large section of road construction around Sherman. And he was right. It's good to be forewarned.
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| today's route - the orange line |
At the Red River, signs told me "Welcome to Texas" and "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way." (Hah!)
And what I found when I hit Texas was that the road surface was in terrible shape. I had to slow down because it was so rough. And I was really glad David had warned me about the road construction, though after that section the road surface was vastly improved.
A very large and very dirty dump truck type vehicle passed me at one point, and I noticed a large doll attached to the rear panel. The doll was about 15" tall, a Cabbage Patch type doll with blond hair, gingham shirt, blue jeans. And it was so dirty I could barely distinguish it from its dirty background. Very strange, I thought.
Later today, David went with me over to the storage unit and that turned out to be a very good thing. The boxes I'd wanted to take from the storage unit weren't at the front, as I'd expected, but instead had been stuck all the way in the back. And they were really heavy which would have made it almost impossible for me to have gotten them on my own.
I parked for the next 2 nights in their driveway, which is against the homeowners association rules, but since I was there for a medical appointment and leaving soon, David and Anna figured there wouldn't be any trouble over it. If there was any, they didn't mention it to me.
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