Category: Daily Life

We started the day at a Flying J in Amarillo, Texas, but the lines were long and other places were selling diesel cheaper so we backed out of line and headed back up to Route 66.

Rumor has it people are trying to preserve the Triangle Motel. They aren’t yet doing a good job of it.

The Triangle is doing better than the Natatorium, though. The Nat started as a place to swim then converted to a ballroom. There’s now so much stuff built around it that we couldn’t get a decent picture.

Next we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. I’ve been having trouble sleeping on the jack-knife style sofa bed. On the View/Navion discussion group someone suggested getting a king bed bridge from BB&B. That turns out to be a t-shaped piece of foam that’s designed to go between two twin beds to turn them into a king bed. It was only $15 so it seemed worth trying. It turned out to be worth a lot more than that for me.

Then we went to WalMart to get new caps for my prescriptions and to stock up on groceries again. The pharmacy clerk who originally filled the prescriptions left something to be desired; she never did get our address right even though she copied it off the prescriptions. After watching her struggle with that I forgot to ask for easy off caps.  So, Dave took the caps into this WalMart with him and asked them for some non adult proof caps. That got him a double take but he did come back with caps I can remove without his help.

By the time we got through there all we wanted to do was veg out. So we went next door to Burger King for lunch. We don’t do that often but, for me, BK burgers are comfort food.

That helped enough to let us continue. Next stop: Cadillac Ranch. This place is a hoot! Ten Cadillacs buried nose down in the dirt. The owner, Stanley Marsh, encourages people to walk through the gate in the fence and add their graffiti to the cars. We took pictures instead. I especially got a chuckle out of the sign posted along the fence. The dumpster was on the road side of the fence.

  

We were too tired to head on down the road but not thrilled about going back to the campground we’d stayed at the night before either. So we were pleased when we found another campground right at the corner by Cadillac Ranch. The Amarillo West RV Park only wanted $20 for full hookups so we stayed there. It wasn’t fancy but it offered everything we needed and then some. Dave even used their shower facility before we settled down to sleep.

TTYL,

Linda

Yesterday we drove from the Lucky Star Casino in El Reno, Oklahoma, to the Lucky Star Casino in Clinton, Oklahoma. The first one had full hookups but no shuttle. At the second one the shuttle driver said they had no hookups until we said we wouldn’t stay then he found a 30 amp electrical one for us. Neither charged a fee and neither made us sign up for a player’s card so they don’t even know who we are. This free camping is helping our budget a lot.

When we left camp we went first to WalMart where we mailed our absentee ballots, filled some prescriptions, restocked our groceries, and bought a hanging shoe bag.  

The shoe bag is designed to hang on the back of a door. We cut the bottom off it and hung it on the back of the dinette just inside the door. Now we have a place to keep our shoes handy where they won’t rattle around.

Then we went to a recycling center that didn’t want our pop cans. They were closed for lunch and were frustrated that we couldn’t find the container labeled cans. We were frustrated, too; we are still carrying that bag of cans.

Finally, we headed on down Route 66.  As we neared a place where there were two possible routes, there was a big sign from the Calumet Chamber of Commerce urging us to take their route. The smaller sign said “Paved Route 66”. We chose paved.

The route we chose was “interesting” enough. It was two narrow lanes of the original pink concrete and it followed the contours of the land; they didn’t grade the roads back then like they so now. So it was full of what the turn-by-turn author called “dipsy doodles”. It felt a lot like some kiddy carnival ride. To make matters worse, the angled curbs they used channeled all the water to the bottom of each hill where it froze and broke up the concrete so each of those places had been patched with asphalt which also didn’t hold up well. Like I said, it was an “interesting” ride.

We stopped for lunch at a truck stop at a Cherokee Restaurant. I had a barbecued buffalo sandwich.  I like buffalo; it’s lean but tasty. Dave’s French dip was made with slices of real beef roast. So we both went away happy.

Next we did take an alternate route because we wanted to cross the bridge of 38 spans. Most of it went over flood plain but it did eventually cross a river.

Our next Route 66 stop was Lucille’s in Hydro, Oklahoma. Unfortunately Lucille is no longer with us so there is just the building and a monument telling her story.

In the next town, Weatherford, Oklahoma, there is a Lucille’s Roadhouse in a similar building with an art deco addition. It felt to me like they were trying to take advantage of the original Lucille’s popularity but maybe it belonged to her family. I don’t know.

Also, in Weatherford we found a propane dealer. He was pleased to fill our tank for us so we wouldn’t have to worry about our furnace going out in the night. He had two dogs. The tiny chihuahua marked our tire as if that made him the owner of our motorhome. Oh, if only it were that easy!

It was still early when we reached Clinton, Oklahoma, but not early enough to visit the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum located here. We didn’t have any potential campgrounds on our list here, either. So when we saw the sign for the Lucky Star Casino we felt lucky indeed. Another night’s free camping and another night when we didn’t have to cook. This casino’s restaurant turned out to be just a fast food style deli but their sandwiches were good. And we have a good internet signal. What else could we want?

TTYL,

Linda

We went over to the Firelake Casino this morning to have breakfast and to check out of their campground after six nights of free camping. We are finally leaving–I think.

Fist stop was at the casino’s gas station where we bought 17 gallons of diesel for $56.26. Using our casino player’s card we paid $3.299 per gallon. They had a window washing tool with a trucker length handle so Dave was able to wash our windshield without having to stretch; that was nice.

Then we went East instead of West to go to a highway rest area Steve had told us about to use the dump there. The one at the casino was up on a curb making gravity not our friend. We had used that one the day we arrived here but Dave was reluctant to try it again. He was right to be reluctant. At the rest area he confirmed that things had not completely emptied previously which now resulted in a minor mess. It’s not pleasant to have to clean up those messes.

Then we went to WalMart to restock our groceries. They didn’t have everything we wanted but at least our cupboards are less bare than they were.

Finally we headed north towards Chandler, Oklahoma, where we left route 66 nearly a week ago. The road we took went through Meeker, which is where Steve and Carol just sold their house. It already felt like home to us going by places they had pointed out only a couple of days ago.

The wind gusts today are stronger than I like so I’m glad we don’t plan to go far today. We rounded one curve just as we came to the top of a hill where there was a break in the trees and nearly got blown off the road. Dave reassured me it would be better when we turned west since then it would be a head wind. How reassuring.

The dirt around here is rust red. I’m so glad the water in the RV park didn’t taste as rusty as the ground looks. My Dad’s water tastes like that which is why we didn’t fill our tank at his house. We wouldn’t have been able to stay here so long if we couldn’t fill our fresh water tank here. We are still doing that twice a week. Dave has a plan for installing a sight level that will give us a real reading on our fresh water level but he’s not yet ready to cut into our plumbing line to try it.  In the meantime, we fill more often than we probably need to rather than take the chance of running out while taking a shower. I’ve been there; done that; Dave doesn’t want to do it.

Finally we, once again, headed west on Route 66 stopping to take pictures of the Seaba Station and Arcadia’s round barn.  This barn is not hexagonal or anything–it’s truly round.  The theory is the farmer who built it believed tornadoes would slide by while leaving it standing.  It must have worked.

 

We had a very late lunch at Pops which sells five hundred flavors of soda pop in bottles. I had strawberry which made me feel about ten years old. I also had a grilled cheese sandwich but that didn’t make me feel as young since it had three types of cheese plus tomato slices on it making it a more adult grilled cheese than we had when I was a kid.

 

Now we are camped on the shore of Lake Arcadia at Central State Park. In spite of it’s name this is not a state park; I think it must be located in the center of the state. It is a Core of Engineers park which means my Access America card got us a really good price on a site with an electrical hookup right on the shore of the lake.

We plan to have a peaceful evening.

TTYL,

Linda