On the Road

The truck was loaded, pizzas eaten, thanks and good-byes said, and vehicles moving at 2:15. We pulled in 426 long miles later to a very nice 3-queen Super 8 room in Cameron, MO. They are very accommodating to dogs. Orrin is our primary dog walker this trip, being young, of sound knees, and temporarily lacking a drivers license.

Koda has settled into the routine, finally, after spending his first day very nervous over the disruption in routine. First his sanctuary was invaded by all those people, removing "his" stuff, and at the end he was dumped in a room with a bunch of those same people. But he had me there, and that seemed to be all he really needed.  Fred, on the other hand, took it all in stride, calm as always.  Might be specific to these two, or the difference between cockers and bassetts.

Day 2 was more driving driving driving. There was a strong headwind, and there were times the truck didn't get over 50mph. After Oklahoma city, westbound on I-40, 70 was occasionally possible. The toll on the Kansas turnpike was only $6 for each vehicle, since both had only 2 axles. So far there has been only one weigh station the truck had to pull into. All the rest were closed.

Scenery has become increasingly green - and yellow with smatterings of red, as fall is later down here. Last February we were impressed by how green Kansas was - the first we'd seen in months - and now we were impressed - or depressed - by how brown it is. Oklahoma is peppered by oil pumpers, some of which are running. We counted those, being so rare, and got up to 36 over about an hour before giving it up.

Kudos to a playground designer whose inventiveness was displayed next to the freeway. He/she arranged old tires of various sizes imbedded at different levels in the ground, standing vertically and touching the next, so the final effect was an undulating worm/snake/monster for kids to play and climb on.

Dinnertime arrived when we hit I-40's exit 108 on OK, my all-time favorite stop on this route: the Cherokee Trading Post. I have shopped there many a time, finding it a good source for Navaho weavings and various kinds of pottery, including Santa Clara and Acoma. Last night we tried the adjoining restaurant.

Doubt I'll do that again. The buffalo patty was delicious, but my request to hold the hash browns was ignored, the biscuits were very mediocre, and served up with a bowl of gravy that tasted like wet flour, only not as good.  Steve liked his Mexican food, though the salsa served with his appetizer chips was so hot he was literally speechless after he choked on his first bite. Lance found it exactly to his taste, however. The others found their meals OK, or at least were too polite to complain.
Subway there.

We emerged just after the sun set, perfect timing to avoid driving into its glare in the cloudless sky. Our goal was ambitious: Amarillo. We checked in about 11:15, got 2 rooms this time, and crashed. Today's goal will be either Winslow or Flagstaff, AZ. We'll see when we get there.