Road Trip Part 2: Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico

I remember road trippin when I was younger and at the Rest Areas there were people selling their handmade jewelry, leather items, knives, etc. I always loved these things and rarely had any money to purchase anything. When we started out on this trip I told Richard that I would really like to buy some handmade beaded jewelry this time. He liked the idea since my birthday was coming up.

However, since most of the Rest Areas on our route were closed, there weren't any people selling anything at them.

What there are now are places like this...

So we stopped.

It was not at all what I was expecting...

I guess my nostalgic memories were what I was hoping for and this was very different from what I was thinking a Trading Post would be. It is a store, a very full store, and a lot of the items are Made in China. Now I don't know if this is good for the local people or not so I'm not going to criticize, it did make me a little sad. But there was some authentic locally handmade beaded and turquoise jewelry and I did get a few things.

We drove through Midwest City and Oklahoma City...

And continued on I-40 W through Oklahoma...

 There is a huge "mansion" or Estate on the hill out there... I wonder who lives there???

 The I-40 has replaced the Old Route 66 in many parts of the country and runs parallel to it in others. I was looking for the old classic businesses, gas stations, cars, along the way. There really were hardly any. I got really lucky when I caught this one.

  I love this shot...

the overpass (we love the overpasses and walls that are decorated like this), the camper, the windmills... all in one photo.

 Then the windmills take over...

 It's pretty amazing how huge they are.

 This is one of those scenes that just grabs me and I have to take a picture.

Why is this cloud hovering over the tower?

We started to see red dirt..

 And then longhorn cattle...

And then we were in Texas...

This is a Rest Stop.

But we didn't see the sign so we didn't know what it was.

On the way back we stopped on the Eastbound side and it was very nice.

Thank you Texas!

 The hugeness of the modern windmills make the cows seem so small.

 It seems so weird to see horses and cattle and giant modern windmills together.

This does not seem right...

New modern windmills and this tower is dilapidated and falling over...

 And just across the highway is this...

I believe this is also a Rest Area.

We stopped for gas in Amarillo...

I almost missed this... I don't know what it is...but love the trucks!

The land between Amarillo and New Mexico...

A Pronghorn Antelope with the horses.

New Mexico... and Mountain Time Zone

I can't say I know why it is "The Land of Enchantment"

This is what we saw...

 We pulled into the KOA campground in Tucumcari, NM just as the storm was hitting.

Tomorrow...

New Mexico and Arizona.

First Road Trip With "The Palace"

We now have a Dodge Truck and a 5th Wheel Trailer that we named "Sweet P's Palace". Our first road trip was a long one... 24 days. Round trip to the West Coast. Wondering how a disabled person does with an RV? I'm going to tell you.

First of all - with your own RV you can make the adjustments you need to make it work for you. I made sure to buy the one that would be the best for me. It has a full bathtub, I really need that. It has a wrap-around kitchen which works beautifully for me. It has 2 swivel rocker recliners so I can put my feet up. There are handrails for the stairs. There are just enough stairs for me to go up and down.

It is spacious enough for me to get around in comfortably while also having everything conveniently located for me to be able to reach. We did our research and took our time finding the one that is just right.

I planned the trip months in advance making reservations ahead. I used the Good Sam's Club Trip Planner to locate the big gas stations along the way and the Rest Areas. We bought an Atlas at Walmart which has a Store Directory listing every Walmart in the country. I also have a book listing all the Camping World Stores. We are Members of KOA and Good Sam's Club.

Of course, all the planning ahead doesn't mean nothing will go wrong and everything will go as planned. The first thing we found out was that most of the Rest Areas on Hwy 40 are closed. Some had signs saying Closed For Repairs, but there was no repairing going on. They were all just closed and abandoned. There were a few Rest Areas open and well taken care of and I will tell you about them.

We drove through Arkansas right after all the rain and flooding.

When we got to the KOA they were overwhelmed because the other Campgrounds in the area had been flooded and campers were redirected to the Memphis/Marion KOA.

They did their best to get us into the campsite I had reserved with 50 Amps. We learned that you absolutely must get the hook ups that are right for your RV. People have blown out their electrical systems by hooking up to 30 Amps when their RV requires 50 Amps, and vice versa. So, always make sure you have the right hook ups.

It took some shuffling but they made sure we did.

 We only stayed there for the night and were back on the road in the morning.

Onto Hwy 40 across Arkansas.

The first Rest Area we planned to stop at was open.

But it was packed with truckers! We had to squeeze through towing our 37-foot 5th wheel...

 I've never seen anything like that in my life. The Rest Area was nice, well taken care of, handicap accessible, but there was no parking for the trucks and RVs.

As we continued on I-40 we understood why this Rest Area was so packed. It was the only one open.

Heading West on I-40 was beautiful, green and flooded.

We arrived at the Oklahoma City KOA, which is in Choctaw OK, right on schedule.

It is a beautiful campground and we loved it.

 We had a nice lantern-light dinner on the picnic table and it was a beautiful night.

Miss Awbri a.k.a. Princess Monkeybutt.

They have a nice Pet Area and the campground is very well taken care of. We would like to go back there. We only stayed the night and were back on the road in the morning.

The end of the first 2 days on this epic road trip.