Elk City, OK

     Today we arrived in Elk City.  It wasn't a long day but we made a brief side trip into Norman, OK where we lived from '66 to '69.  The first two pictures were taken in Denton, TX this morning. I can recommend the Destiny Dallas RV resort.  Baxter likes to sit in the driver's seat when I'm outside hooking up or unhooking.  The other two pictures were taken out the window in front of 1812 Vine Street in Norman.  It's a brick 4 BDR, 2 Bath, Central A/C with a 2 car garage.  In 1966 it cost us $19,600!  The red bud tree in front I planted in '67.  One Sunday morning in Pink, OK I dug up a three foot high sapling on the bank of the Canadian river.  As you can see, it has survived very well.  The house appears to be in good shape.  We didn't knock on the door as I was blocking the road.
     I filled the fuel tank today.  I got a low fuel warning about ten miles before I stopped and was only able to put 92 gallons into a 150 gallon tank.  The next time I'm at Freightliner, we'll have to talk about that.  The price was (only?) $3.689.
     West of El Reno we saw a lot of recent wind damage.  The trunks were truly twisted off.  The temperature is now 89 in the shade, but it is still cooler than Houston or Charleston.  Colorado, here we come!

Houston

     We just spent a couple of wonderful evenings with old friends (55 years!) in Houston.  After four straight driving days, it was nice to stay in the same spot for a couple of nights.  Saturday night we joined Mark and Sally Lowrey at the Palm restaurant.  They have a bone-in veal parmigiana that is truly memorable.  We had a nice Sunday breakfast with Dick and Eleanor Roth who are anxious to climb into the old Monaco and head north out of the heat.  But the highlight of the weekend was a glorious Texas barbecue Sunday at the Lowreys' elegant home.  Also present were their daughters, Elizabeth and Katy, their husbands and children.  It's a strong family, forged by a multitude of adventures, that clearly enjoys each other's company.  The food wasn't bad either...pulled pork, ribs, brisket, chicken, etc.  When we left SC, we were not anxious to endure several more days in the mid-nineties, but the visit to Houston made it all worthwhile.
     Today we got away at our usual "nineish".  We took I-45 north out of Houston to Dallas where we took a a five mile jog to the west on I-20 and picked up I-35 north which will take us to OK City.  We stopped at a nice RV Park in Denton, TX.  They even have a drive-through RV wash!  I've never encountered a park before that had one.  I expect that tomorrow we will make a little excursion through Norman, OK to include a trip down Vine street to check out our old digs from '66 to '69.
     I know pictures are important, and I promise to do better.

Lafayette, we are here!

     Yesterday we drove all day in one state.  Today we were in four states by lunchtime.  Mississippi's and Alabama's encroachments on the Gulf Coast between Florida and Louisiana are not very wide.  I-10 through the Florida panhandle is boring, but today was not.  Traversing Mobile Bay, including a tunnel, was interesting.  There were no real signs of flooding here.  Then we traveled through our old stomping grounds from a half century ago.  Landmarks, or at least signs to them, were familiar.  The signs called us to Biloxi, Gulfport, and Pass Christian.  We even saw an exit for Cowan Road.  Our first house (of seventeen) was a one bedroom furnished house in Cowan Road Homes.  We got fuel in Gulfport at a Flying J for $3.799.  It was our second fill up at that price.  We saw diesel for as high as $4.049.  A two bit difference, when you are buying a hundred gallons is $25.
     Soon we were approaching Baton Rouge (home of John Harrell's alma mater).  Traffic was heavy and there was some construction, but traffic moved OK.  The first shot shows the approach to the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge.  I had given Durelle an impossible task.  I wanted her to capture some pictures of the flooded Mississippi.  What's a blog without pictures?  I washed the windshield at the Flying J, but by the time we got to the river, we still had a good collection smashed bugs.  She tried hard, did well, but I was only able to use a few.  Suffice it to say, the flooding is widespread.  Most of the flooding we saw was in the area 20 to 30 miles east of Lafayette.  I-10 there is supported on concrete pylons for miles across the flood plain.  The water is close to the road for miles.  There must be thousands of square miles with an extra ten feet of water.  
     Tomorrow we stop in Houston for two days.  We look forward to seeing the Lowreys and checking in with some of our Maine camping buddies.

Pensacola

     Well, no pictures today...just a day on the road.  We love stopping at Lakes 'n Pines RV Park in Lake City, FL.  They have full hook ups to include 50A and free WiFi.  They have an enclosed dog run that Baxter loves and they charged us $22!  It's a Passport America park.  We got away at 0910.  The park is a quarter mile from I-10, exit 303  So we got on at 303 and 5 3/4 hours later got off at exit 7 with a 20 minute lunch stop in the middle.  To those of you familiar with I-10 you know how boring that stretch can become.  The only excitement was crossing the big bridge east of Pensacola.  There was a gusty crosswind off the water that prompted me to use the middle lane so as to have plenty of correction room.
     There was one photo-op that I was not able to take advantage of.  On the south side of the road was a large billboard enticing travelers to come visit the "Rest Room Hall of Fame"!  Who knew?

We are on the road!

     Here's the bus sitting in front of the house on the 24th.  We did get away on the 25th at 1000.  It was amazing the number of "glitches" that we had to absorb on the last few days.  We had planned to leave on the 23rd, but the prior medical appointments generated some follow ups.  The dermatologist said to come back on Monday, and the GP scheduled Durelle for an appointment with a cardiologist on Tuesday.  It turns out that the appointment was justified but unnecessary.  Plus it knocked a three hour hole in our preparation schedule.  I picked up the bus on Monday from Wayne McCoy and his crew at ProTech.  They did a great job with a couple of issues and washed it up for our trip.  As we started getting things done at home, the big transfer switch that selects between "shore" power and the generator failed to recognize that the bus was plugged in.  I turned off the AC and waited for Tuesday.  Then when I called to reactivate the DirecTV in the bus, my cell phone said, "mobile service not available".  I called Verizon on Durelle's phone and reset mine by removing the battery and rebooting.  The transfer switch fixed itself overnight.  Of course when I removed the supply of quarters from the Corvette to supplement our jar for newspapers, I left the door open which discharged the battery.  I recharged it for Walter McCants to use while we were gone.  Cindy was a MAJOR help in carrying laundry baskets of stuff out to the bus.  Even neighbors chipped in.  Just when I thought everything was under control, I tried to post a blog.  Apparently there was a reluctant Internet Explorer/Google connection, and I could not get access to the blog.  A quick (no cost) trip to the Geek Squad at Best Buy gave me a work around.
     So, we finally got on the road.  While we were loading, I dropped a glass jar of bouillon cubes which shattered on the tile floor.  We cleaned it up, but the driver's side slide was not out.  Today, when I put the slide out, there was a scary, crunchy noise.  We inspected inside and out, and gradually eased the slide out.  It turns out that there were a couple of pieces of broken glass that the slide had to crunch on the way out.  Now we are back in business.  Life is not boring.  
     Today was a hot one.  Midday outside temperatures were 95 degrees.  The dash Air Conditioner worked just fine, but it was at its limit.  We pulled into Lake City, FL just after 1600, plugged in and turned on both ACs.  The inside temperature was soon down into the 70's.  The final glitch was that all of the route-planning that I had done on Delorme was nowhere to be found, so I had to do it all over tonight.  Things will settle down!
     

Gettin' ready to roll

Well, we are getting ready to get on the road for the summer.  The bus is primed and washed, and we are clearing up odds and ends of medical duties in order to roll out of here Wednesday.  The pictures show our great grand daughter, Brielle, who was here a few weeks ago.  And there are some backyard pictures including the blossoming magnolia.
     Below is our itinerary as it stands right now.  We will be loading up in 90 degree heat.  We should have left sooner.  We look forward to seeing some of you along the way

Date	Location	Contact	Address	Phone	Email	# of nights	Miles	Resvrd?
24 May	Hanahan
25 May	Lake City, FL	Oaks ‘n Pines RV Park		3867520830	info@oaksnpines.com	1	303
26 May	Pensacola, FL	Oak Grove RV Park	Bldg 4137	8504522535	N/A	1	306
27 May	Lafayette, LA	KOA	537 Apollo Rd, Scott	8005620809	www.koa.com	1	321
28 May	Houston, TX	28 May	10650 SW Plaza Ct	8003859074	www.allstar-rv.com	2	224	Yes
30 May	Brady, TX	Walmart	2207 S. Bridge St			1	309
31 May	Amarillo, TX	Wonderland RV Resort	2001 Dumas Drive	8063831700	tsisemore@clearwire.net	1	394
1 June	C’Springs, CO	Cheyenne Mtn. St. Park	410 JL Ranch Heights	8006782267	parks.state.co.us	5	370
6 June	USAFA, CO	Peregrine Pines	Box 249 USAFA	7193334980	usafaservices.com/orc/famcamp	40	25
17 July	F. E. Warren AFB	D.A. Russell FamCamp	F. E. Warren AFB, WY 82005-2266	3077732988/ 3874	peter.somontes@warren.af.mil	2	162
19 July	North Platte, NE	Holiday RV Park	601 Halligan Dr.	8004244531	holidayparkne@charterinternet.com	1	225
20 July	Omaha, NE	Offutt FamCamp	109 Grant Circle Suite 101	4022942108	N/A	1	276
21July	Davenport, IA	Interstate RV Park	8448 Fairmont St	8883876573	iarvpark@aol.com	1	303
22July	Riverside, MI	Coloma KOA	3527 Coloma Rd	8005625341	colomastjoekoa@sbcglobal.net	1	268
23 July	Empire, MI	Indigo Bluffs		2313265050	Indigobluffs.com	5	210
28 July	St Ignace, MI	Tiki RV Park	200 S. Airport Rd.	8888594258	tikicamp@yahoo.com	2	130
30 July	Callander, ONT	Bayview Camp		8777522095		1	335
31 July	Hudson, QUE	Camping Choisy		4504584900		1	316
1 Aug	Belfast, ME	Moorings RV Resort	191 Searsport Ave.	2073386850	mooringscamp@yahoo.com	46	324
16 Sept	Brookline, NH	F & S RV Park	7 Dupaw Gould Rd.	6036734677	info@fieldnstreamrvpark.com	?	224