Week 111 - Oklahoma and Amarillo TX - 09-28-2008

Oklahoma or Dust?

Before traveling through Oklahoma our impression was that the state was a big dust bowl. Two years ago we visited Eastern Oklahoma and it was beautiful, full of mountains, trees and greenery. Three weeks ago we drove the I-40 from West to East, expecting to find the dry areas. But no, it was beautiful and we stayed at gorgeous parks. Finally, we thought, as we came West on the northern highways, we would partake of the arid, dry and dusty state. It didn't happen.

Did you know that, with over 200 lakes, Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state? We visited several on our trip West. We would have stayed much longer but while the lakes and parks were awesome, the Verizon Internet was nowhere to be found. (Our USA wide coverage with Verizon AirCard Internet has been amazing. We estimate was have coverage 95% of the time no matter what back roads we are on. But, alas, in Northern Oklahoma, "you can't hear me now" (09-2008).)

It is hard to not keep showing sunset photos. This one on Washington Cove, Lake Copan, Oklahoma.

Minutes later it looked like this.

Further west is the Great Salt Plains Lake, created by a dam on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River. The lake has 41 miles of shoreline. By comparison, Lake Tahoe, which everyone knows about, has 72 miles. Below the dam overspills are thousands of pelicans all waiting for a good meal to come by.

Not sure, but we believe that this is what these guys were saying.

As there were only three other campers at the Great Salt Plains lake, it was a wonderful place to commune with nature.

Stay off the freeways and you come across gems like these. We were just driving along and wham, here is the Shattuck Windmill Museum with 45 vintage windmills and one wind generator.

We stayed in Amarillo for several days at the Oasis RV Park (highly recommended). We had a chance to spend some quality time with Ellen's Aunt Glo. We shared many dinners and went to a church Saturday night, and Sunday morning to Glo's home church.

The historic Big Texan steakhouse along I-40 offers you a free 72 oz steak. They will even send a limo around town to pick you up.

There is a small catch. Order the 72 oz steak and you must sit up on the stage to eat. And you have 60 minutes to finish it, your roll and your salad. If you are done within the hour, it is free. But, if you can't do it, it will cost you $72.00. Not sure about the limo!

If the Stanley Marsh Buried Cadillac display was on our bucket list, we could check it off now. These 10 Cadillacs are buried nose down out in Stanley's field on the west end of town along the I-40. We drove by a few times and saw people walking out there but could not figure out what we were seeing. So we rode our bicycles to the buried and graffitied cars. The cars have been there for 30 years and only covered with the graffiti recently. We know they won't rust. There are dozens of coats of paint, one over another, with barely legible, poorly painted words. But, we guess it keeps them off of the state property.

1) This car was "parked" right on Aunt Glo's lawn when we arrived on Friday night. 2) On Saturday we saw this four-car accident. The silver car crashed into three others but fortunately did not hit the motorcyclists.

On Saturday night we went to the Church at Quail Creek to see Hank Hough and The Amazing Dog Show. The church was filled to overflow and many had to stand.

Hank's dog was amazing but his message was even better. It was a great message about parent's responsibility and children's love and obedience. At the end of the evening, pastor's altar call brought hundreds forward to make a commitment to Christ.

On Monday, we head off to New Mexico and will end up at the FMCA Rally in Farmington, New Mexico on October 15th.

Thanks for traveling with us. We would love to get your reply after you delete our pictures and text.

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Sep 2008