Day 3 - Destination: El Reno, Oklahoma

What a difference a day makes! After the last two days, today was a Godsend! We slept in a bit after Monday and got on the road at 8:20a. I-40E again. That is one looong road!

Texas is FLAT. There was the occasional hill but mostly flat, yellow land. I'm assuming most of the yellow was wheat as there were many grain silos and watering systems which were huge (as in long).  Aside from yellow there was cattle, some areas of lots of cattle and some with a few spread out over acres and acres. It would have been hard for me to imagine Texas and even now Oklahoma with all the empty land as far as the eye can see.

There are homes scattered, few and far between and I wonder what it would be like to live in that situation. It does seem peaceful. I can imagine getting up in the morning and going outside with a cup of coffee and just looking around at your land and cattle with no one around. Then I wonder how you get your mail and how many freezers you need to store your food between grocery runs. How do you get a Dunkin Donuts coffee? Does the mailman's route consist of just 10 houses? Then of course, there was the occasional South Fork style home. Too far out for a good pic taken from a moving truck.

BTW temp at 9:45 was 46 degrees. We were thinking about getting some shorts out of the trailer and celebrating.

So along the road were two cows, head to head and walking (backwards for one). Don't know what they were facing off about but it was kind of funny.

There are signs for different roads labeled FM and the number. New fact: FM means farm to market. These are roads that connect rural or agricultural areas to market towns. Usually for the farmer to be able to sell his goods.

10:20 and we're in

What a beautiful rest stop at the Visitor's Center. It puts AZ rest stops to shame. I'm not sure if AZ has a beautiful Visitor's Center but this was nice. Tile walls and floors, granite and stainless. :-)

Lots of casino signs again. None in Texas though. Red dirt here too besides the farmland and cattle. We passed a sod farm (maybe Bobsod came from here). Near some towns we passed some houses being built. They are all out of red brick. Very nice looking.

We passed a huge indoor water park in Clinton, OK and then windmills. Not sure if that's what these are called, they are the huge three armed fan-like things. There were lots of them. Kodak plant in Weatherford but mostly cows and oil here. All along I-40 through Texas and OK cows and oil. Lots of businesses pertaining to those things.

We arrived at the KOA at 12:35. An early day, well deserved after the last two. Sister needed it also. We felt bad for her with the past weather and long days in the truck although she does LOVE to sleep but this was a bit much. So, it got to about 60 degrees here which was heaven! I was outside with no jacket, believe it or not! Sister got to walk around quite a bit which was good for her. We even walked to the gas station nearby for coffee after a delicious home cooked spaghetti and meatball dinner. I would never have pictured that yesterday.

We met a neighbor here at the KOA. He's living here temporarily. He is in gas and oil exploration. Seismograph. He basically takes 3D pictures of land which tell where the oil and gas is as he explains, oil and gas always head up out of the ground. He says there is basically no more drilling holes here and there looking for the stuff. Interesting.

That's today's story. A MUCH better day! Thank you God! It looks like we should have good weather tomorrow. Next stop, Springfield, Missouri.

Here's a contest (not open to Ellen and family as I heard her and Don chatting about this on the phone).. What could the movie title Planes, Trains and Automobiles have to do with our trip so far? Think... Anyone with the correct answer wins a prize upon our arrival home.

Here are a couple of pictures. I hope I did not bore you. Love from us!

 



 

Good Night!!!