The Sandcastle

Have you ever ridden a horse? I have. Twice as far as I can remember. Both times as part of a group ride.

The second time they put me up on a horse and told me to pull the reins right to go right, pull the reins left to go left, pull back on the reins to stop. But you won’t really have to do anything because your horse will follow the group. And it did. Sort of.

My horse, much like me, liked to stop to snack along the way.  Getting further and further behind the group.

Finally, the leader came back, got the horse moving again, and said don’t let it do that. But, didn’t tell me how to keep it from doing that.

I soon learned how. Point its nose toward the barn. And it will stop wandering. And pick up speed. And, once again, get you where IT wants to go.

Have you ever noticed that the type of transportation that keeps its horses under a hood does that? Wanders all over the place, stopping at will as you head out? But, somehow becomes very goal oriented once you point its nose towards the barn?

I started out from the casino in Oklahoma on a two lane US highway. Slowing down for towns. Taking turns passing slower vehicles or being passed by faster ones. Suddenly, my vehicle turned towards the freeway and took off. Going home now.

I would be going through Des Moines, where Mary lives. Mary invited me to stop for lunch or overnight depending on when I would be coming through. So the night before I set my GPS. Once for a lunch stop. Once at a truck wash. And once for where I hoped to stop the next night. As I looked at the timing on that I decided a stop at Mary’s didn’t fit anywhere. Going home now.

Apparently, my GPS still thought I planned too many stops. After lunch (at 4 pm because of road construction) it routed me north on I-35 instead of east on I-80 to the truck wash. And I was in rush hour traffic so there was no way to get out of that exit lane once I realized what was happening. East on I-80 was out of the way and the GPS was headed for home, I guess.

Then it decided to play games. When it came time for Walmart it said get off here and go there. No Walmart. I thought it was west of 35 not east so I doubled back. No Walmart. So I pulled into a parking lot and said, “Where?” It said one more exit then east. So I did that. Sure felt wrong. But I am at Walmart so it must have been right. Do you suppose it wanted me to give up and drive right on home?

But I was too tired to do that. And the sun was going down and driving after dark would make me even more tired. If Dave was driving I’m sure we would have gone right on home. But then what? Would I sleep in my RV in our parking lot? Or try to haul everything inside before going to sleep? Or at least figure out what things I would HAVE to  to haul inside? Way too tired to do any of that.

Tomorrow I get to go home. I know how to find it. Just wonder how fast it will make me go there. Sure hope I get to stop for lunch.

TTYL,

Linda

Wednesday I was driving the Kansas Turnpike when it came time to stop for the night. TheWalmart  in El Dorado is so close to the freeway ramp that I never saw a gas station. No problem, right? There are plenty of service areas along the Turnpike, I’ll just stop at one of them.

So the next morning I pull off at the Mattfield Green service area. I see green pumps ahead so I pull up.  Uh oh. Truck pumps, I think. And no place to pay at the pump. So I pull back around to the car pumps. No diesel. So I park and go into the store.

Pump 16 has a car nozzle. I can leave my credit card and go pump then come back to pay. Or I can guess how much fuel I want then stop the pump at that point. Or I can authorize more than I think I’ll need then pump however much I do need and I’ll only get charged for what I actually pump. All lousy sounding options to me.

But I’m lower on fuel than I like and I have no idea where the next station is off the turnpike. And if I do that I’ll have to pay when I get off then again the next leg of my trip. So I authorize $80 then hurry to get to that pump before someone else uses my authorization. And fill $64.79 worth. Sure hope I don’t get charged the full $80. That would be a high price per gallon.

These service areas may be easy off/easy on but they are not easy fuel.

TTYL,

Linda

When I knew I would be heading to a casino in Shawnee, Oklahoma, I figured I would be meeting up with RV friends from that area who are currently “home” for the summer.

Then I read on the Escapees forum that Steve and Carol will be off for the weekend to a photography convention. Oh, well. I’m getting used to such near misses lately.

I missed meeting Lee when we were headed mostly towards one another but couldn’t get the timing quite right to actually meet. She was on a deadline and we just couldn’t make it work.

Then I missed Rae. I was in Austin when she was in San Antonio. I was in Livingston when she was in Dallas. I was headed towards Oklahoma on Friday and she wasn’t headed there until Tuesday.

But the weather said I should stay in Shawnee until Wednesday.

Then Steve called and said they are back. Can we meet for lunch Tuesday?

Then Carol called and said she’d just snagged a medical appointment so it would have to be supper instead. Probably about 5 or 6. So we agreed they would let me know how the timing was working out.

In the meantime I sent Rae an email about discovering there are two casinos in Shawnee.

So Tuesday comes. Because I stayed up watching the storm so late, I didn’t get to bed until 2 am. My blackout curtains help keep it night inside my RV so my body took it’s normal 9 hour night and I slept until 11 am. Then got up and showered. Only to hear a signal that someone is trying to reach me electronically.

It’s Dave. Wanting to be sure I know Rae sent me an email. The email says she is here, at this wrong casino, but assumes I’m sleeping so she’ll stay a bit but not all day. So I send her a quick email and say come on over.

I’m dressed but that’s about it. I haven’t even combed my hair or brushed my teeth. My bed is half made. So I quickly comb my hair so I look a little less like a witch and Rae comes to visit.

Once again I meet a blogger face to face and we are instant friends. We visit for an hour or two–I don’t really know–and it isn’t until after she leaves that I realize I haven’t yet eaten anything today. Once again I have fed on friendship.

Rae moves over to the right casino since the ground she would have to park on at this one is now soggy from the rain and we make plans to have supper with Steve and Carol since Steve reads Rae’s blog, too, and wants to meet her.

Five o’clock comes and goes with no word. Six o’clock comes and still no word. So I call Carol. The appointment, of course, took longer than they expected but they are on their way. Carol says they should be here by 7:30. Steve says 8:00.

So I talk to Rae and we decide not to wait at home. She will come get me and we will go to the grill at the right casino where Steve and Carol will join us when they get there. Then Steve and Carol will bring me home and see my newest RV which is now at least somewhat cleaner–I washed the dishes and finished making the bed into a couch.

So we do that. And it works out just fine. And more of my RVing friends have now met others of my RVing friends. And our world just keeps getting smaller and smaller. Or bigger and bigger depending on your point of view.

TTYL,

Linda

 

You all know I went to the wrong casino, right? And that this is the wrong time of year to be driving up Tornado Alley, right? I got off lucky.

Monday evening, about 11:30 pm I was thinking it might be time to wind up what I was doing and head for bed. Then my iPad said incoming chat message. So I checked and it was Dave. Who is not usually up at this time of night. So I responded. Seems he was checking the weather and there’s a storm pointed right at me including 60 mph winds and quarter-size hail.

Do I want to get dressed, pack up, unhook my electric cable, and drive some where?

Where? I might be able to get on the downwind side of a building. But if a tornado develops will it just blow the building on me?  I’m pointed pretty much right into the direction of the wind which helps. And there’s a band of trees behind me which will help break the wind. And nothing in front of me likely to attack me except a rubber trash can. And they are not predicting tornadoes with this particular storm.

So we decide to sit and watch the radar awhile. We see the storm go southeast into Oklahoma City then turn east and follow along I-40. Right over the casino where I am supposed to be. But, north of this wrong one. I can hear thunder in the distance. And I get a little rain. But that’s all. Not even enough wind to rock the rig. Which means this wrong casino just became the right one.

TTYL,

Linda

Remember last fall when I was at Rainbow’s End in Livingston, Texas, and I needed to unhook to go to the grocery store. Instead of going back to the park I headed west–all the way to Arizona?

Friday I was at Rainbow’s End, in Livingston, Texas, and I needed to unhook to go to the grocery store. Perfect weather was headed to Livingston so I should have gone back to the park.

But the urge to head home was too strong.

The grocery store I went to was a Walmart in Ennis, Texas. Nearly 4 hours northwest of Livingston.

So I began my northward Spring migration.

The next day I drove on north. As I crossed the border from Texas to Oklahoma, right there at the welcome sign, I was hit by a blast of that famous Oklahoma wind. “Seriously?” I thought, “The wind literally starts right at the border?”

Next I saw a farm tractor. It said to me that I had left ranching country and was now entering farming country. That reminded me of the bumper sticker I love that said, “Farming is everybody’s bread and butter.” Right on. But ranching is where meat comes from and I’m a carnivore. So I’m glad this country is big enough to provide plenty of food of all kinds for all of us to eat.

Then on to Norman, Oklahoma, where I met Tammy, owner of the blog Peanut on the Table, http://peanutonthetable.com. We instantly felt like old friends even though we’d never met face to face before. That’s the result of reading and commenting on each others blogs–we really do know a lot about one another–how could we possibly be strangers?

We had supper together at Cracker Barrel. I was supposed to pay since I invited her. She thought she should pay since she lived there and I was visiting. The server sided with her and I never even saw the check arrive. Thanks Tammy for being a good guest/hostess.

I had called the Cracker Barrel to see if it was OK for me to stay there overnight. It is Cracker Barrel’s company policy to allow this but I was a little concerned about this one. Their RV length spots were near the door instead of around back. And they weren’t marked, “Bus/RV” like most Cracker Barrels do. There were cars in most of them. I usually wait until I’m done eating supper to ask about staying but I needed to know before Tammy and I started talking if I was going to have to move on for the night. So I called them from their parking lot. They said, “Yes, but you HAVE to come in for breakfast.” OK, then. So, I stayed. But I felt like I’d already paid by going in for supper. (Ignore the fact that Tammy paid, she wouldn’t have been there without my invitation.) And their attitude made me feel just a bit rebellious. So I went to Waffle House for breakfast. 🙂

Now the winds are picking up and another front is about to pass through Oklahoma and Kansas bringing storms with it. So I need a place to hole up a couple of days.

Not a problem. I’m only about an hour away from FireLake Casino. I’ve stayed at this casino before and liked it. So I put its address into my GPS and headed out. Down a route that was not familiar to me. But, I wasn’t driving when we went there before. And the GPS doesn’t always take the route I would take. And I was approaching from a different direction.

Guess what? There were two FireLake Casinos. FireLake Grand Casino and FireLake Casino. Before we went to the Grand one. My GPS brought me to the other one. Seems the Grand one has dropped FireLake from its name because it caused too much confusion so my Google search found the other one. And they are only a few miles apart. So I’m at the wrong one. But it has a campground that’s bigger than the other one. And it has sewer hookups instead of a dump that’s uphill. And I’m still backed up to a creek with a picnic table. So it looks like I’ll sit right here until Wednesday when the storm front will have passed and driving is safe once again.

So, I’m headed home. Once I get done waiting for the weather again, that is. It better stop snowing up there now. Although, I guess it’s supposed to do it again tomorrow. But then it better melt by the time I get home. Dave says the drifts are blocking the parking lot right now so I couldn’t even park at home. It just better melt fast because I’m coming anyway. Good thing I only drive four hours a day so it will take me a few more days to get there.

TTYL,

Linda