Hitch-Itch, Time to Move

We woke up on Monday, Mar. 27^th (that is a blessing in itself!) to another windy, cloudy day. That’s okay it is time for us to move on anyway. Bill had the electric fireplace on low through the night so it kept us toasty warm. We aren’t ‘cool’ sleepers, really, so do like a bit of heat when it gets below 50F. I’d rather throw the covers off then have to scramble to keep covered up. We’re all different.

My pictures today are random from our day's drive to Grove, Ok. 

coming into Oklahoma City

So, I was up after 7 again and joined Bill reading blogs and having our first tea/coffee. I do enjoy my tea in the morning and even though I’m using up these little stringed bags of Kroeger’s tea, which I didn’t care for, when I put 2 in the cup it is the perfect steeped strength I like. I remember our friend and former co-worker, Mark, exclaiming “cream in your tea? Gross!” He is an avid steeped tea drinker with milk so we always teased each other.

It is interesting what I feel when I think of/mention a friend from our past employment. I don’t miss the job at all but I miss so many of the people I related to every day. Something about each one of my close friends makes me smile. I hope we are able to pop in at some point while in the London area to say hi and hug those friends.

Air Force Base in OK City

Back to the present, after a shower and an egg for breakfast we were ready to hit the road. I notified security that we were pulling out and by 10 we were back on US-81 towards El Reno. Our gps’s didn’t do well with this getaway plan. Mine froze for some reason showing us still sitting at the casino long down the road and Bill’s truck gps wanted to take us on side streets which made no sense. All we wanted was I-40 E so found our own way.

Even a water tower or two

From there, it was smooth and easy to get through Oklahoma City. Clear markings on the pavement indicating which lane to be in plus our timing at 10:35 seemed to be perfect. We’ve noticed these painted hwy signs a lot down here and think it is a great idea.

These painted street signs on the pavement are awesome
Ontario should take a lesson here

Shortly after 11:45 we both needed a pit stop after our second tea/coffee so made a dash off onto exit 221 to a Love’s Truck stop. No time to wait while opening up the Suite, I walked really fast in to use their washrooms.

Charlotte, your Dad has seen about 8 of these trucks in the last few days

While I was in there, Bill noticed that our cargo carrier with the generator and our bikes was bent to an uncomfortable angle.  We needed to do some adjusting before getting back on the road. We unhooked the straps and offloaded the items. The carrier is built to hold 250 lbs. and we are nowhere near that so, obviously, the bouncing down the road added to the problem.

The sky teased but it didn't stay for long

Bill remove the wheels from the genny and we lifted it up into the back of the truck. The bikes don’t way much so he strapped them back onto the carrier with an extra strap to the hitch. The connection at the hitch isn’t a problem, just too much strain on the iron. Our license plate was on the carrier because it wouldn’t be visible behind the generator so Bill now moved it back onto the Suite.

You can see how the carrier bar is leaning down

License plate back on the Suite

Back on the road at 12:30 after washing our greasy dirty hands. That is our work for today! The sun has made partial appearances and it has warmed up to mid-60’s.  We are zipping along and listening to some great tunes on Classic Vinyl with our Sirius radio. 

For my daughter

Not that anyone I know would be keen to hear Back Door Man or Hotel California. Right, Bridgette?

Eufaula Lake

What a beautiful horse this is

For the first part of our journey today there were so many calves in the fields
that time of year, some were feeding and others romping around their parents

Just crossed Eufaula Lake, large body of water on either side of the interstate. Try saying that name fast five times. Exiting onto US-69N to Muskogee. Muskogee seems to us to be a run down looking town yet it is overloaded with motels. You name it, it is here. Hampton Inn, Motel 6, Comfort Inn, Marriott etc. line the main street/US-69.

A pretty drive today on 69-N

The only tourist attraction I noticed was The Castle of the Muskogees so I had to look it up after driving by it.  Apparently, it is the place in the area for banquets, events and shows. It’s 37,000 sq. foot facility and 60 acre Village is popular at Christmas for their decorations and it is the home of The Oklahoma Renaissance Festival. Now we all know. They just need to spruce up their town.

My gps has reset but wants to take us anywhere but on the US-69. At this point we know where we are going so it baffles us why all the directions to veer off on 62 and OK-28 and so forth. 

So, from I-69 we took the Exit 412 SCE to Locust Grove/Rose. If you get into the left lane as advised you avoid the 412 Turnpike and Toll, instead going on the Alternate 412 all the way to US-59. Strange that they call this the Scenic Route, nothing too scenic about it. It is pretty countryside with cattle, horses, burros and even 1 single hump camel in a fenced in field!

the main street of Locust Grove, love the old street lamps

Other than that, about 15 Baptist Churches on that stretch alone and not one single home I would wish to venture into. Unfortunately, there is not much pride of ownership here, everything is really run down and old cars, buildings, sheds and toys are left in the yards. There I am, judging!

The Alternate 412 road was a nice drive, just not very pleasant homesteads

We got onto US-59 with no problem and through Grove checking out the stores to see what is available for shopping. Harps’ and Walmart for groceries, that is the main thing so we are happy about that.

We arrived at Eagle’s Landing at 4 pm, still cloudy and only 55F. Oh well, we don’t need to be doing anything other than setting up the satellite and settling in for the evening. We are whooped.

Bill is worried because I want to go to this store tomorrow

What a nice couple that runs this place. I teased that he was sitting in the same spot as when we left in October. Nice that when we walked in he called us by our surname which felt welcoming even though we knew we were probably the only ones coming today. Give credit where it is due.

We found our site, not far from where we were in October and pulled through. It is too bad they had a couple of days of heavy rain and the sites were mucky with puddles. The good news is that they are expecting a high of 75F with sunshine tomorrow and that will help dry things up.

Our destination today

Dinner was next on the priority list but after a 6-hour day on the road, we were both pretty tired. I took a few minutes to sit still before I started spaghetti. I needed to use some of my fresh veggies in the fridge so added red and yellow peppers, onion, fresh mushrooms and celery to the hamburger as it cooked. I have a pasta cooker that I found at Value Village last summer and it is quick and easy. My spaghetti was cooked in less than 10 minutes and we were eating by 6:30.

Add pasta, boiling water, lid on for 7 -9 minutes DONE, strain

Once everything was cleaned up, we watched The Voice, one of our favourite programs. We love the banter between Blake and Adam especially and the talent is unbelievable. It would be so hard to say goodbye to any of the performers. I could finish my post while watching it, yes two things at once. Ha ha.

The evening is drawing to a close and with no sunshine today I do not have a sunset picture. I’ll make up for it tomorrow, I hope. I hope you have had a wonderful day in your world. We are happy to be back in a park that we enjoy and full hookups for two nights. We are here under our AOR membership and only paying $9/night for 50-amp. Service. Yay!

Today, we were NOT surprised to see yet another Rest Area closed
good thing we had stopped at Love's Truck Stop earlier

Thank you for reading today. I love to hear from you if you choose to drop a line.