Arkansas and Decision Time

 

We left Delhart Texas and headed South to I-40 at Amarillo, and then east on I-40.  Marcia caught this wonderful picture of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries in Groom Texas with the rays of the sun shinning down on the cross.

 

With so much of the World in turmoil, everything seemingly falling down, we were certainly glad to see the cross before seeing the Leaning Tower of Texas also in Groom.

After seeing so much green, so much beauty over the past week, it is hard to find the enthusiasm to take pictures of dull Texas and Oklahoma...so we drove on and on, about 400 miles, till we got near Seminole Oklahoma where we stopped at the Catfish Round-Up RV Park, hooked into electricity, water and sewer, and stayed inside the motorhome trying to keep cool in the 100 degree, 55% humidity weather.   YUCK double YUCK!!

With just over 150 miles to go on Tuesday, we passed by pretty Eufaula Lake.

And eventually the Arkansas River.

Into Arkansas itself.

And finally parked at the Springhill Campground in Barling, just on the outskirts of Fort Smith.  I drove over to Walmart to drop off the batteries, and almost did not make it back with the car.  After all that work I did on it, it acted up today even worse than when we left Florida.  It was decision time...time to cut our losses and head straight home.  It was a sad call to my good friend and loyal employee for so long whose house we were going to driveway camp on for two nights and visit all the Libraries and my former Rotary Club...our visit in Pine Bluff is not going to happen.  I am afraid that if I unhook the HHR, I might not get it started again to hook it back up.  (It died 7 times just driving it to the dumpster here in the park after I got back from Walmart, where I almost did not get it going at Walmart after I turned the batteries in.) Here at the Springhill Campground I positioned the HHR so that I can back the motorhome up to the HHR to hook up, so we will be good to go in the morning.  From there, we are headed across I-40, then across I-22 to Tupelo where we have reservation with a pull through.  The next day we will make it to northwest Florida for the night, and then home on Friday...IF we don't encounter other problems.  We are not crossing our fingers, but we are holding onto the Giant Cross we passed by in Texas on Monday morning.

Thankfully, Marcia's cousin Jim picked us up in his huge older SUV, we managed to get Marcia up and out of it without any damage, and he took us to a BBQ restaurant nearby.  It was great to visit with him for nearly 3 hours, and Indy did not destroy the place while we were gone, but all the window covers were certainly amiss that she could get her little paws on.  Happy happy happy girl when we got back...now she is on the floor within eye-sight of us both...between us and the door! 

FINALLY done with Texas

We entered Texas on Tuesday around 2 pm….today is Friday and we finally entered Oklahoma around noon today.  That’s a lot of Texas when all you are doing is passing through!   From Van Horn we made it to Sweetwater where we stayed at a park which is only 3 or 4 months old.  It is a Good Sam park, right across from the Love’s.  It had 13 cable channels which came in crystal clear…until our neighbor got in from work.  (Yes, new park and already has a considerable long-term 5th wheel crowd there.)

Tonight we are staying at the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center which is NOT at the location which Google Maps has, nor our GPS.   Highway 270 shoots down from I-40 just east of Oklahoma City.  Turn east on Leo Street and take immediate right into the Expo area and follow the RV signs to the RV Park.

For $20, you get full hookups, and LOTS or area to choose from.  I think around twenty units are in the park right now, and the park holds 360 units.  So it is easy to find  place away from everyone else, that’s for sure.   We parked, unhooked the car and I went and found out where to pay.   Then we went to Cracker Barrel and we were in for the night by 4:30 pm.  Marcia is getting better, I am 95% or more.  Only have a sort, under three hour drive tomorrow, already have gas, I already hooked up the car again, so it should be a nice, smooth easy drive to Fort Smith where we will stay for a few nights.

We typically fill up at Flying J or at Pilot.  This morning, with Love’s right across the street, we did fill up there.  Paid the lowest price for gas today than I have in a LONG LONG LONG time…only $1.729 using our discount card at the Pilot just east of Oklahoma City  Paid $1.779 earlier at Love’s.  Paid around $1.859 yesterday in eastern Texas.  In California we paid in the neighborhood of $2.70, so we have saved a buck per gallon since then.  It is nice when the pumps turn off due to a full tank before the $75 limit using Discover Card stops the pumps for you.  By-the-way, we are getting right around 8.8 miles per gallon since we entered Arizona.