Oklahoma!!! February 28, 2011 ... 29,896 miles on the Dodge. The reason for this trip, is to pick up our new puppy Robbie the Bruce from our friend Bonnie Parker in Tulsa. Our beloved Shiloh passed away last October from bone cancer. :'-(
We left home Monday to avoid heavy weather that was predicted for Florida the next day. We had to turn around as we had forgotten our GPS!!! Duh. At 1:49 PM, we pulled into a rest area to fix the table cloth covering the spare tire. As Mark was driving, I read our old travel log.
At 1:59 PM we were back on the road, I 75. We are getting 11.4 miles per gallon so far. Fuel is nearly 3 dollars a gallon at this time because of Libyan conflict. Traffic is heavy but we hope to reach Atlanta tonight. The scenery has been very nice, with pretty purple trees in Florida, and now dogwoods in bloom in Georgia. We stopped at a Pilot, exit 60 for $50 in fuel and a sandwich. It was a grubby stop with bums all over the place. At 5:28 PM we stopped at Cordele KOA. We had a night of heavy rain and slept great. We were up and on the road at 8:29 AM. It is 50° this morning.
At 9:30 AM we were going around Macon, and I was on the computer playing Farmville. At 10:10 we stopped at a flying J, exit 201 for fuel. It was a nice stop with the travel store. We hope to put $75 in this stop. The electronic pumps often stop long before the tank is full. It's very annoying.
There was the usual Atlanta debacle. Two cars beside us slowed down ... a trucker was honking at them, so they pulled in front of us and the trucker blocked the exit sign. Long story short, he took the exit and we missed it. Rat bastard. Anyway, we took another I 20 hookup through town.
At 11:16 AM we were going through Birmingham. By 12:05 PM we had crossed into Alabama with a speed limit of 55 and choppy roads. There were no easy fuel stops between Atlanta and Birmingham. Use the pilot at exit 165 that has a travel center.
12:50 PM we passed Talledega super speedway. Wow! The flowering dogwood trees at their entrance road are beautiful.
Exit 158 is Walmart and Cracker Barrel. At 1:38 PM we were onto I 78 west. We fueled up at a Chevron and got lunch, marble cake ... it had nuts in it. Sorry Mark. He ate the slim Jim's and Carmello bar. There wasn't much choice! We still have 196 miles to our Memphis destination!!!
At 2:45 PM we blew a tire on the RV, front passenger side. We wondered if it was overinflated? Mark is checking the other tires. We're on to Plan B, change opthe darn tire and drive till 5 PM. Wa wa waa.
The entire tread portion is gone! It tore off the light by the stairs, and ripped a screw from the fender. There are terrible black marks on our white fender. Shit Chinese tires.
193 miles to Tom Sawyers and it's now 3:20 PM, oh sorry, 2:20 PM local time.
At 7:04 PM, we were jogging around Tennessee looking for Tom Sawyer. We found it, in Arkansas.
There's a great story here. We drove down a narrow, tree-lined lane a long way. Mark said "God, this looks like a scene from Deliverance !!!". We continued driving, and pulled up in front of a shack, the office. Mark said let's get the hell out of here ... but I mentioned that there was nowhere else to go, and it was now pitch black. Mark reluctantly got out of the truck to look for our envelope and instructions. Just then, a red golf cart appeared from the dark, Kathy Bates at the wheel! LOL. well, it sure looked like her. She said to follow her and disappeared down a dark gravel lane towards the Mississippi River. We got a lovely spot, right beside the Mississippi River. It was a little disconcerning as she said, "How Long Ya stayin? 'Cause ya gotta be out of here by Sunday, we're gonna flood!!".
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 ... It was a sleepless night for me with tugboat noise all night long. Mark slept just fine. The captains sounded their horns during the night and the constant drone of their engines was very loud. But we decided to stay another night to replenish our supplies. It was chilly in the morning, so I got a cute picture of Maggie wearing her blue quilt coat and sitting in front of the RV fireplace. We found Walmart and stocked up and relaxed the rest of the day. We determined our current tires are China bombs!!! They are so bad, they have a reputation.
Thursday, March 3, 2011 a chilly morning, Left Tom Sawyer at 6:56 AM. They are prepping for a 'short flood.' On route to I 40, on the west side, 2 miles east of Hughes we saw two horses standing in a muddy corral beside a rundown mobile home with junk piled everywhere. The poor horses were so very thin. I reported it to the ASPCA of Arkansas.
At 10:15 AM we went through Pres. Bill Clinton's hometown of Little Rock Arkansas which reminded us of entering Asheville North Carolina. It's now 126 miles to Fort Smith and the Oklahoma border.
We saw Toad Suck Harley in Conwary, Arkansas. At 10:30 AM we fueled up at the Flying J, exit 84.
The Ozarks, a very pretty area, had recent earthquakes. We were listening to the radio and there was discussion on fracking. At 11:58 AM, we crossed into Oklahoma!!!
We stayed at Mingo RV park ... a little noisy because the airport is close.
We drove over to Bonnie's and met the puppies, gorgeous. We picked Robbie, played for a while and then went to an Irish pub for dinner. We picked up Maggie and went back to Bonnie's for some wine. Maggie got beaten up by Rosie!!!
We stayed in Tulsa for several days and had a great time with Bonnie. She had been off work from knee surgery so had time to spend with us. One night we went to Red Lobster to meet with Vicky and Dick who have three scotties. Another day, we went to Los Cabos on the Arkansas River in Jenks for lunch. There was lots of puppy playtime and visiting.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 6:15 AM we are leaving Tulsa for Oklahoma City!!! It's a long story, but Mark has landed a job with Schindler on the new Devon tower. The drive to Oklahoma City was pretty, nice hilly area dotted with farms and lots of horses.
At 9:33 AM, we checked into Twin Fountains RV park in Oklahoma City. Mark is filling out paperwork at the union office. It's overcast and drizzly but from what we've seen this is a beautiful city.
(This Oklahoma City job was expected to be a few months, but lasted until July 2012 when Mark retired!!! You never know your luck.)
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