Walmart, Elk City, Oklahoma
On
Tuesday, Mar. 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, I was wide awake at 4:30 am.
Dagnammit! I did a complete rotation of the crocodile roll ending up where I
started and told myself to pretend that it was 9:30. That worked. Next thing I knew,
I woke up with Bill bending over me with a hand on my shoulder. He was worried,
it was 7:15! I was okay, and happy for the extra few hours of rest.
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| This is a pretty trail, rocky in places so watch where you're going! |
Bill had
a lot on his mind and last night we went to bed with our heads bursting. We’d
talked on the phone yesterday to 3 people from home about the situation and this
time were encouraged to jump on the band wagon and head for home. This morning,
our Premier for Ontario announced that Ontario is in a State of Emergency.
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| This picture is of the office from the main road but the trail brought me down behind the building very left of the photo |
There are
many concerns for our health insurance coverage. Many providers could possibly cut consumers off on Mar.
23rd. This prompted us to check with Manulife, our provider, and they
will honour their commitment for all existing policies. However, Bill and I
have unitedly agreed to make the push for home, now. No panic but just move as
far as we can in a day with one-night stopovers.
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| Bill was dumping tanks etc.when I returned |
Because
we are not travelling back alone, we needed to talk to Ken and Kim, knowing
that this is the exact opposite of what we said we were going to do. We wanted
them to feel free to make their own choices and that we weren’t expecting them
to ‘jump ship’ unless they were ‘on board’ to do so. After a chit chat, they are coming along with us. We packed up,
dumped tanks and added some fresh water for travel.
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| This little tree is laden with blue berries |
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| I'm not sure of the significance of the owl rocks but I loved them |
We were only ‘out’ $6 by leaving a night
early. We believe whole heartedly that we are making the right choice for us,
our health and safety. We pulled out at 9:45 with the Wilson’s bringing up the rear end of our now shorter convoy.
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| This campground, Hidden Valley, is well hidden but it is definitely not a valley We are up quite high here |
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| Our travel mates making the turn back onto I-40E |
By 10:45,
we were driving through some heavy foggy areas. The terrain on either side was
that of hundreds of staghorn cholla cacti. The temperature was a mild 47F/8C
and I-40E still left a lot to be desired in spots. We chugged along, making pretty
good time even with pretty steady traffic.
At 11:15 we had to pass a Rest Area
(which I could have used!) because it was closed. Next R.A. 50 miles, I was
desperate for that one. Grrr, it was closed too but I told Bill we had no
choice so he pulled into the turning lane and parked along the curb. Thankfully, the Journey was with us
so we were able to use their facilities w/o opening any slides.
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| Frustrating as all get out |
Back on the
road at 12 noon. What good are the R.A.’s to travelers when they are closed? Very
inconvenient, I'll say. All refreshed, we crossed into Texas at 1:00 and within minutes,
lost another hour.
Home is only an hour ahead of us now. We journeyed to
Amarillo, TX and took Exit 60 to fuel up and just down the road stopped at Cadillac
Ranch. It was dry and fairly warm, mid 50’s, but very mucky so after some
painting and pictures, we had a muddy mess to clean off our shoes. It was worth the stop.
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| Not sure of the significance of tossing the boots either but at least these were painted for the theme! |
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| 10 Cadillacs buried nose down in 1974 In the ground longer than they were on the road |
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| If you look at the bottom of the caddy, you should be able to see our names in bright green for St. Patty's day! |
Before
pulling onto the interstate again, we opened up the Suite on one side and had
some cheese, meat and Keebler’s Flip Side crackers. Yum, they are nice with one
side cracker and the flip side pretzel. Thanks
Dave and Cheryl for the tip!
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| Drove through a fair bit of this today |
We were back on the road at 4 pm. The sky was a
mass of clouds but you got the sense that the sun wasn’t far behind them. Other
than some thick fog patches crossing Texas, it was a good drive day.
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| The price of diesel is incredible in Texas! |
A familiar Texas Rest Area for a lot of us snowbirders
Around 6
pm, the rain started and we forged on until 7 when we reached Walmart in Elk
City, OK. We managed 416 miles today and feel really good about the distance we
covered. I missed the sign to Oklahoma so took one from the Info Centre that we passed.
We found lots of room in the parking lot for big rigs so got situated
easily. It was still raining lightly but nipped across the lot to see what was
in the store that we may need over the next week. A lot of empty shelves but we
picked up some milk, bread, Zero Coke and sausage. No ground beef, pork or
turkey to be had. I'll check at 7 am again.
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| Still pretty landscapes as we drive along |
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| Something about these roads on each side of the Interstate makes for a nice picture |
Since we
had lunch around 3 pm CST, we didn’t feel too hungry. We snacked on chips and dip. This was a good day, steady driving with a bit
of fun at Cadillac Ranch in the middle.
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| funny thing I forgot to pull all of these items in the sink, like I always do The only thing that moved during the 6+ hours today was our Oral B brush popped out of the holder LOL |
We aren’t regretting our decision,
instead feeling it is the right thing to do and we’ll worry about the next step when we cross the border. The only thing I forgot to do today, was to wear my green shirt! LOL
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVERYONE!
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| Here is where we are tonight (see Ken in between our rigs?) Good night all! |
Thank you
for popping in and have a great evening!