A letter found and a trailer lost
Hi moma I miss you and love you. I hope you like your pictcher and I hope you injoy the word search I left you and the magazine and also the close I picked out from the dresser. Just picked the stuff that I thought would feel comfortibul. I will bring you another Pare or PJ bottoms on tue. Me and Daddy are good I'm keeping him busy and he is keeping me busy, and the house is not a mess. Wangster is being good and is behaveing well. Me and daddy are having fun and Im not afraid to tell him if I need help or if Im worried about any thing. I hope you are Okay. Joey, Carly, Me and daddy and becca all love you very very very much and hope you are okay too.


Especially Joey, because
daddy says he is a moma titty boy
hahaha!

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Yes folks, I found that letter in a rest area on the ground. It was folded up, but I saw the handwriting on it and picked it up. What can we make of it? A child with separated or even divorced parents, or just a dad who came home when the mother was not there?   I will leave that to you to figure out.
That, and how that letter got onto the ground at the Cherokee Rest and Truck Stop along I-40.

We were back on the road, when Bea shouted "Oh no, look!"
She grabbed the camera and what we both saw was a real shocker. A mid-size cargo trailer about 300yrds ahead of us had begun swerving violently. A car was right behind it - braking. Then the trailer broke completely free and careened to the right disappearing down a slope ending up jammed between bushes and trees. We had time to stop on the shoulder. The trailer was a complete wreck. It appeared that the cargo trailer had been hitched to a horse trailer which was pulled by a pickup.
We called 911, and talked to the owners, an older couple. When the wife got out of the pickup she even fell and Bea was there to help her up.

...........................................................................................

We made it alright from that huge truckstop, but waited until daylight. We drove down highway 69 and went through Muskogee, the town which got famous with Merle Haggard singing about being an Okie from Muskogee. Good to finally see the town.

We hit the I-40 south of Muskogee and went along with it for the entire day. As it was Sunday, crossing Oklahoma City went like a charme. We enjoyed a wide blue western sky and I must admit it was getting mighty hot behind the big windshield. 
And yes, we reached our set destination as we are only 60 miles east of Amarillo,TX.

Found this one on a rest stop... Public humour!

Oh, before I forget: We didn't feel anything of the Oklahoma earth quake. Guess we were too far away from the city, and besies, we were tired and were sound asleep!


To next Travel log

Our Travel Route today

An exciting Day

Here we go again.... another day on the long trail to sun and warmth. Honestly, we got to a lousy start. We got off that Vandalia Walmart at around 7.30 and it was pitch dark. 20 minutes later we had fog so dense we could not see 150ft ahead! I slowed to 45mph and less, but some truckers were just blowing ahead like they had X-Ray-eyes. One or the other word kept revolving in my head, you know.

Morning Fog

The fog was surly connected to approaching the Mississippi-Valley at Saint Louis and of course the cold air masses moving in during the night. It was good that we were early out, cause the highway interchanges from I-70 to I-44 was nothing I would like to do in a rush hour. And with the fog still so dense we could hardly see the highway signs, it was just good that we had Hanne, our Norwegian Gal, who miraculously knows her way through town.

Fog just lifting off a wee bit

Then, as we were getting down the I-44 the fog slowly lifted, and gave way to a mainly grey sky. We knew that wind was in the coming, but hoped it would linger somewhere else, before starting to blow sideways.

Six Flags Saint Louis in the morning fog

It was after a short break around 10am, that Bea noticed Molly was constantly licking herself on her right hind foot. A closer look revealed that her foot was swollen up with an inflammation. See, Molly did hurt herself a week ago, when racing around one of the furnace floor valves in the rig, thereby pulling loose a claw.

The MARSHFIELD Animal  Hospital

I went onto the internet and found a vet-clinic being open today which was only a few miles down the road and right beside I-44. It was the Marshfield Animal Hospital, and when I called they were friendly and invited us to stop by with Molly.

Molly has discovered...

...the friendly cat

To our delight the clinic was in rural surroundings with a huge front yard to park our Motor Home. We didn't have to wait long and Molly was called in.

She got antibiotics and an overall professional treatment, even a tick was discovered and removed from under her collar. We paid only $50.00 for the whole consultation and were on our way again before 1.30pm.

When we left Saint Louis we also left Eastern Daylight Saving Time and had to set the clocks an hour back. Tomorrow or even tonight we have to do that again as North America switches back to Standard Time for the winter.

Truck Parking at Big Cabin, OK

Since we were now approaching Tulsa, we had planned to leave the Oklahoma Turnpike at Exit 283 to go down Highway 69 towards Muskogee (Remember: I'm an Oki from Muskogee?) We kinda thought to find a Walmart along Hwy69 to stay overnight, but it turned out that there was a huge truck parking at exit 283 and that's where we ended up today. The area is guarded by a huge (Cherokee?) Indian.  I say DREAM-CATCHER...!

Good night, sleep well and we'll see you here tomorrow.


Next Travel log

July 18

Turning north...
Memories from 2006
 
March 29
Leaving Brownsville behind, we are heading north through the Rio Grande Valley. This route is called the "Tropical Trail". 

And indeed the heat is intense. We are driving through an agricultural area, where the Rio Grande water is crucial for getting a harvest. About 130miles north of Brownsville we come to the 36miles long Falcon Reservoir where the Rio Grande is dammed up to a huge lake, half of it belonging to Mexico. The travel is slow as we have to pass through many small towns and villages. At Zapata we decide to stay on a campground.


The campground lies west of town on a terrace partially overlooking the lake. However it proves to be impossible to access the lake on public land. The campground offers no shade and as I am connecting the trailer to the supply lines I am getting really dizzy and feel weak. Shortly afterwards I realize I must have gotten a stomach bug. I lie down for the rest of the day. With the help of some Immodium I get through the night and the next morning I am feeling a lot better. But we stay on for the day and a second night.

March 31
Leaving Zapata we reach the City of Laredo.

Across the border and the river lies the Mexican counterpart Nuevo Laredo. It is a center of crime and drug gangs.
Crossing the border as a tourist, might become the last thing you ever do. The number of abductions and murders in Nuevo Laredo is horrifying. As of today more than 60 persons have been shot in the Mexican town. Nuevo Laredo still lives in the days of the lawless Wild West.
We are heading for San Antonio. We reach the city in the afternoon and establish ourselves on the Stone Creek Campground at Schertz, east of the City.

April 02
After we did some sightseeing we are leaving San Antonio toward Dallas. We follow the Interstate 35 and are passing Austin, the Texas Capitol with it's high rises and the State Capitol building visible from the Highway. At mid-afternoon we reach the small center of Trinidad. At "Tools", another little village we find a nice campground at the Cedar Creek Reservoir.

April 05We have been visiting with relatives but have to say  thanks and farewells today. We are heading out of town following the main stream to Dallas.  The I-35 leads in a westerly kurve around the City Center. This is the city of the famous TV-Series "DALLAS" but we haven't even seen "J.R. 

Dallas Traffic

For a while we get into a "Stop and Go" but the traffic knot is loosening up as we get farther away from the center.Now we are driving straight north and at about  2pm we are passing into the State of Oklahoma.

The wide open plains of Oklahoma

Rolling north into Oklahoma, means that the landscape changes. Rolling hills are accompanying us and we are getting a very hot and dry wind. From the highway we see the area where the bush fires raged throughout last fall. For miles after miles we see fresh green gras where the fire torched the old gras. 

We drive through an area with ancient mountains - now eroded away to be some gentle hills only. 285Mill years ago these hills were "high-rises" in a desolate landscape.When we stop for lunch we again notice the hot wind driving up from the south. It sucks the last humidity out of the red soil of Oklahoma.
At 4pm we reach Oklahoma City, the State Capitol. We drive on for another hour until we set up at the Pioneer RV Park, near Guthrie. 

April 06
At about 9am we hit the road again. The sky is dark and thunder rumbles as we drive out on I-35. 170 miles to drive to the border line of Kansas. 

Kansas - The Sun Flower State

After an hour of driving the sun breaks through. The yellow rolling prairie grasslands are lightening up and stand out in a sharp contrast against the dark sky. 

Cattle on open range

Black and dark brown cattle is grazing in groups along the highway.
We are making it to Kansas City where more relatives are expecting us.