Another Adventure Was Just Waiting For Us

Starting a travel day in beautiful weather is just what most of us campers dream about, and today was such a day. Pure joy riding down the highway. 

We were now following I-44 towards Tulsa and Oklahoma City. 

We have been through Tulsa years ago, and it is not recognizable. I mean traffic is just a killer.

Arkansas River 

The plan was to join I-40 at Oklahoma City and follow it through the city, but something was about to happen which made us change plans. Right in front of us a super black cloud system had appeared. We could see lightning in the clouds. Knowing about violent outbursts of weather in this area, I quickly took an exit onto I-335 south, Most of the clouds were moving across the north, while it looked more promising to the south. That held true for a while until we were about to rejoin the I-40. Suddenly all hell broke lose. Lightning, storm casts and torrential rain surrounded us and we slowed down. It was hard to see anything through the windshield and we turned into a truck stop to wait out the worst of it. 

We used the opportunity to fill up gas at $3.37/gal which is a whole lot better than what we have seen so far.

And speaking of filling gas, I would like to mention a special chain of gas/shopping places. 

120 gas pumps at Buc-ees Springfield ,MO

Buc-ees is the  name and the company owns the largest gas stations in the world. One is located along I-40 in Tennessee, the other right here at Springfield,MO and both have 120 fuel pumps each.

Now that the weather had calmed a bit, we went back onto the highway. Our immediate goal was the Walmart at El Reno. Bea had found out that there would be space to park. But the second we turned off I-40 the torrential rain came back with a vengeance. After parking, all we could do is sit in the van and wait again for a small lull to make a dash for the trailer.

Oklahoma sure lived up to its reputation for violent storms today, and we have already decided that we won't take this route home again in the spring. 

So after a nice dinner we are relaxing after another eventful day.

Good News Bad News

          CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!

Be assured that CANADA is a very Happy Camper today and so are we. I don't turn on our TV very often, but yesterday I did to follow with the happenings in the midterm elections.

Then this morning the full-on results were showing and I couldn't wait to tell Bea as she was still in the bedroom.

After breakfast we got busy with routine preparations for another start on our journey.

That's when I took a look from down below up to our roof. At first it seemed unbelievable. I saw a piece of alluminum sticking up, clearly from the solar panel I had mounted there. 

After removing our Blueboy from the rear ladder I went up on the roof. The solar panel lay flipped backwards hanging on with a part of the mounting rail.

I got some wrenches and removed the totally broken panel, and threw it to the ground.

So what had happened? The two front bolts had losened, probably because of road vibrations before the wind had gotten underneath and flipped the panel backwards upside down. Both front bolts, as all the others had been secured with NYLOC NUTS. It is therefore a riddle to me how this came about. 

Anyway, we have to be happy that the panel did not come lose entirely while on the highway.

Due to the solar panel incident, our departure got delayed for a while, and as we finally moved down the highway, it started to rain. It rained on and off most of the day. First as we went deeper into Missouri, it cleared up and the sun broke through.

We crossed the Mississippi south of Saint Louis.

Spending the night at Walmart in Missouri. 

Tomorrow we aim for Oklahoma.

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We Almost Ended Our Trip Today

 After a sumptious dinner provided by our friends (they brought it to the Park) we headed out under sunny skies again. A short drive got us back to the Interstate 70 where we joined a busy traffic, with lots of trucks. If you've ever pulled some big high-profile vehicle, trailer or truck, down the road, you know that any semi passing you is producing a terrible airbubble ahead and to the side which will destabilize your vehicle. That was going on with us all the time, once we were moseying down the highway.

When approaching Indianapolis, Bea found out that the Interstate was closed through the city as excessive rain had damaged the road. Traffic was supposed to be led through single file via a side track. 

Bea found a better solution. We left the I-70 and went down I-465 which bypasses the city before it rejoins the I-70 west of Indianapolis. Soo good to have a copilot with internet connection.

But now the winds perked up. We got it from the front left. and it shook our rig badly.

After getting into Illinois we were hit by a powerful wind cast which catapulted the rig onto the shoulder and towards the ditch. It took only a fraction of a second but I brought it back into our lane. We got really scared and started thinking about stopping somewhere until tomorrow.

Bea found Fox Ridge State Park about 11 miles north of I-70. 

It turned out to be a lucky choice. The park is old but gold and offers electric sites for $20/night. What a bargain! Smal hiking trails lead throughout the park, and even an idyllic little pond is part of it. Hardly any other campers are around. We love the place and will have another quiet night to recover from the recent scare on the I-70.

From State Park to State Park

This morning we took our sweet time in getting road ready. Only about 250miles shouldn't take all day. Our destination for this rather cloudy day was another Ohio State Park - the Buck Creek State Park near Springfield.

Our choice for this park has a very special reason. You may want to read about it in a posting from April 10-2024 and April 12-2024

Today, we met the ladies who were of great help when we were broken down with our transmission.

And today they came out to the State Park with a full-on chicken dinner. Boy, there was so much to talk about we had a great time with each other.

The weather did turn rainy, but it's not a big deal now that we are safe in the park.

Tomorrows adventure will take us down the I-70 via Indianapolis towards Saint Louis. I have written about that highway before because of the really bad condition of the pavement. We have heard about improvements being made so we'll try it again. 

So we will get back to it tomorrow.