Everyone Knows It's Windy

Windy is Good...except when driving an RV

Day 35 Amarillo TX to Tulsa OK

363 Miles

The clouds were already gathering early

Today's weather forecast called for severe weather in the area so we decided to try to get ahead of it. The clouds were already looking ominous to the south as we left the Oasis RV Resort on the west side of Amarillo around 9:45 this morning.

Rookie checks out the Oasis in Amarillo

Brandy a.k.a. 'Lil Dummy'

It's amazing how quickly the landscape changed from extremely flat and mostly treeless to hilly and green and treed as we headed east on I40. Soon the wind picked up, but fortunately, most of the time it was a tail wind. We are getting pretty good at knowing where the wind will be more extreme, and Jim can tighten his grip on the steering wheel. The wind generators appear off in the distance and the trees are sculpted by the wind, appearing to trimmed by a giant hedge clipper on one side.

We are still following the RT66 corridor, only we are on the interstate. The historic highway is usually within sight of I40 and now I44. It's hard to imagine traveling from coast to coast on a narrow two-lane road. However, it must have been quite an adventure, the country wasn't as homogenized back then. Every town, had its own motels, diners, general stores perhaps with gas pumps...now, everything is the much the same. I can walk into a WalMart in Albuquerque that is a perfect duplicate of the one back home in Goose Creek, South Carolina. In the food section, I can walk through the aisles and know exactly what is around the corner. Across the parking lot is a Home Depot, Target, MacDonald's, Taco Bell, Petsmart, JC Penney, Olive Garden...etc. Except for the landscape changing, one would hardly know if they'd left home.

Well, here we are tonight in Tulsa Oklahoma. We had a nice grilled salmon dinner although we've lost the lighter (which is a nice way of saying Jim must have left it in Gallup) and with neither of us a smoker, Jim had to walk up to the office for some matches. Got to put a lighter on the shopping list! Road weary, we are in for the night, didn't even unhook the car!

Today's ride was long, but not boring and we are in a GREEN world again! The desert has its own type of beauty, but we are too east coast to be comfortable in the desert landscape for too long. Yeah, also missing our ocean big time!

Tomorrow...not sure. Perhaps heading toward Branson Mo. Or not. Hah!

I'll Take Cities Beginning with the Letter 'A', Alex!

Day 34 Albuquerque NM to Amarillo TX
287 Miles

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Packed up and left the campground by 7:30 to be down the road for an oil change when the place opened. Jim was fretting that he was late. I guess in his opinion he was...we were only 10 minutes early. The place wouldn't be open for ten minutes...he thinks 10 minutes early is late. Sheesh.

That done, we hit the road. The weather was beautiful again and we got a good view of the Sandia mountains as we passed through Albuquerque from west to east, the mountains are on the east side of town.

Again, we were in fairly unpopulated areas, but at least there's things to see. Even if it's just a truck stop, herd of cattle, farms, rivers...something! That ride from Las Vegas to Gallup was just brutal. I will never travel that road again. I forget many things, but I remember boring highways and good restaurants!

Today's drive was easy. Until the wind started kicking up. At least we're learning where the wind will be. I pointed out to Jim that we were approaching as huge area of wind generators, and let's face it, they ain't gonna be where it's calm! And while I'm on the subject of wind generators...those things are HUGE. We have seen trucks on the highways carrying the blades and also the center part (whatever it's called) and they are much, much bigger than they seem when you see them off in the distance by the highways. About time we harnessed the wind, it's FREE.

Jim was wrestling with the steering wheel when it got gusty and decided he'd driven enough. That, plus we lost another hour to the Central Time Zone. Sure is nicer when you gain hours on the way west. I checked the map and we were nearing the last big city for a few hundred miles, Amarillo. We'd planned to go farther, but it was almost 4:00pm and we were ready to stop. Tried to get into the place that we stayed on the way out, but it was full, that was a surprise. Not one of the places I've called on the entire trip has been full yet. Fortunately, we stopped at a place on the western edge of Amarillo, (exit 60 off I40) The Oasis RV Resort. Holy cow, we should have stayed here on the way out! It's new, free WIFI, cable, Free Laundry, RV washing, pool...all the bells and whistles for $17. Yay!

Not long after we pulled in we noticed several thunder storm cells around us. Jim was just stepping out of the RV when he notices what he thought was a dust devil at the edge of the park. Only he calls them "Dirt Devil"...I keep reminding him that is a vacuum cleaner. Suddenly the dust storm came across the park toward us. Jim jumped back in the RV, quickly slamming the door. Good thing! The wind hit the RV with such force we were violently rocked back and forth. I even asked if we were going to tip over! The wind even pick up the gravel in the lot and drove it into the sides of the RV. Just a freaky straight line wind, but probably over 60mph. Thankfully, it only lasted for a few seconds.

Later we ran out to a barbeque restaurant. Hey, if you can't get good barbeque in Texas, where can you get it? And then to a movie theater located directly behind the restaurant. We saw 'Night at the Museum", it was cute.

A real half Cadillac at the bar in the restaurant

Even though we didn't travel as far as we planned , it was a nice day. Amarillo is a nice little city and the people we've met here are friendly.

Tomorrow, crossing Oklahoma toward Tulsa to pick up a highway to head northeast.