Journal 6-18-07
Fourth day on the road and it was a doozy. Last night at Robber’s Cave State Park in eastern Oklahoma, it came a heavy rain during the night. We had been sleeping with the windows open and the skylight in the bathroom open and the exhaust fan running to pull in some cool air. About 4:00 a.m., when it started to rain hard, I got up shut windows, turn off the fan and close the skylight. To avoid turning on lights, I tried to do it in the dark. That was a mistake! Instead of closing the skylight I must have opened it all the way. Lois got up later and spent some time mopping up the water in the bathroom. Oh well.
By the time we left, the rain had slacked off. The first couple of hours we made good time on fairly good roads. Then we began driving into more and more rain. We heard on the satellite radio that there was a tornado watch in effect for southeastern Oklahoma as well as a flash flood warning. Along about then the bottom fell out. When we got to Ada, OK, it was raining extremely hard and streets were beginning to flood. We got turned around going through town and had to backtrack on flooded streets. One advantage of driving a motor home is the fact that it will go through water that would drown out an average sedan. After detouring around one street that was closed because of high water, we made it out of town, and soon afterward, the weather began to improve. By the time we crossed I 35 most of the rain was gone, and drivingbecame a little easier, except for a persistent cross wind of about 25 – 35 mph. A disadvantage of driving a motor home is driving in a crosswind.
By the time we crossed into the Panhandle of Texas, the skies had cleared and the winds had died down. We decided to try to make Caprock Canyons State Park south of Amarillo for the night, but from looking at the map we were unsure of the best route. There were really no direct routes, and we couldn’t determine the exact location of the park itself. With a bow to satellite technology, I keyed the name of the state park into my GPS and followed its explicit directions. It routed us on some farm-to-market roads where we didn’t see another car for 30 miles, but it got us here, and we saw some beautiful isolated country to boot. We arrived about 7:30, set up camp, cooked some turkey burgers on the grill, ate supper, went to the bathhouse for a shower, and got ready for bed.
Having driven around 400 miles today, none of those miles on interstates, a large portion
in extremely bad weather, and many on winding back roads, one could ask was it worth it? Sure it was. I’ve done something not everyone can say that they have done.
Have you ever been to Turkey? Not as in Istanbul, but as in Turkey, Texas, home of the legendary Bob Wills. For the uninformed, Bob Wills was the leader of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the originators of Texas Swing. I can now say that I have been to Turkey, Texas. When we go back through Turkey in the morning, I’ll snap a picture of the “Welcome to Turkey” sign to verify my claim.
More later.
Fourth day on the road and it was a doozy. Last night at Robber’s Cave State Park in eastern Oklahoma, it came a heavy rain during the night. We had been sleeping with the windows open and the skylight in the bathroom open and the exhaust fan running to pull in some cool air. About 4:00 a.m., when it started to rain hard, I got up shut windows, turn off the fan and close the skylight. To avoid turning on lights, I tried to do it in the dark. That was a mistake! Instead of closing the skylight I must have opened it all the way. Lois got up later and spent some time mopping up the water in the bathroom. Oh well.
By the time we left, the rain had slacked off. The first couple of hours we made good time on fairly good roads. Then we began driving into more and more rain. We heard on the satellite radio that there was a tornado watch in effect for southeastern Oklahoma as well as a flash flood warning. Along about then the bottom fell out. When we got to Ada, OK, it was raining extremely hard and streets were beginning to flood. We got turned around going through town and had to backtrack on flooded streets. One advantage of driving a motor home is the fact that it will go through water that would drown out an average sedan. After detouring around one street that was closed because of high water, we made it out of town, and soon afterward, the weather began to improve. By the time we crossed I 35 most of the rain was gone, and drivingbecame a little easier, except for a persistent cross wind of about 25 – 35 mph. A disadvantage of driving a motor home is driving in a crosswind.
By the time we crossed into the Panhandle of Texas, the skies had cleared and the winds had died down. We decided to try to make Caprock Canyons State Park south of Amarillo for the night, but from looking at the map we were unsure of the best route. There were really no direct routes, and we couldn’t determine the exact location of the park itself. With a bow to satellite technology, I keyed the name of the state park into my GPS and followed its explicit directions. It routed us on some farm-to-market roads where we didn’t see another car for 30 miles, but it got us here, and we saw some beautiful isolated country to boot. We arrived about 7:30, set up camp, cooked some turkey burgers on the grill, ate supper, went to the bathhouse for a shower, and got ready for bed.
Having driven around 400 miles today, none of those miles on interstates, a large portion
in extremely bad weather, and many on winding back roads, one could ask was it worth it? Sure it was. I’ve done something not everyone can say that they have done.
Have you ever been to Turkey? Not as in Istanbul, but as in Turkey, Texas, home of the legendary Bob Wills. For the uninformed, Bob Wills was the leader of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the originators of Texas Swing. I can now say that I have been to Turkey, Texas. When we go back through Turkey in the morning, I’ll snap a picture of the “Welcome to Turkey” sign to verify my claim.
More later.
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