Galveston TX to Carribean

Woke up to beautiful sunny day, again!  Even though we were up reasonably early we still didn’t get out the door until nearly 11am.  We got a taxi along the beachfront into town and walked from Bubba Gumps along a bit further then up across to Broadway and there were shops! So we helped the economy of Galveston by buying some t shirts and a couple of dresses.

Then off to Fishermans Wharf for lunch, the boys deemed the oysters ho-hum but I thought the shrimp ceviche was pretty dang good!   Boys then explored the Oil Exploration Museum and the girls did a tad more shopping.  This is obviously cruise country, they all ask us if we are here for a a cruise - I guess our accents mark us as tourists too!

We caught a bus back to the coach ($1 each) and had happy hour with our new BFFs, Sandy and Johnny from Dallas.  Dinner was emptying the fridge of all that was not going to last for another 7 days, but it was still a pretty good feed.

One more sleep to our cruise!  No photos for this blog as the camera cables are packed in the suitcase ready to go on holiday with us.

This will probably be the last post for a week while we are on the high seas!  Actually, hope they are not too high, there is still talk of the remnants of a hurricane out there in the wild blue yonder...   Will let you know how that goes once we get back on dry land.  

Galveston TX

We are up early with a cup of tea brought to us in bed, very nice - and it's sunny!  Today we are on a mission, take the rental car back this morning, leave Northlake RV by check out time - 11am, collect our package (diesel sender) from the office on our way out.

Then to Johnson Space Centre which is only about 40 minutes drive away.  This time we took the tram tour which was 90 minutes long and rather interesting.  Those space rockets travel at 6,000 miles per hour!

Boys will be boys, including rocket sound effects!

Wound up Gas Buddy to find a place to top up the diesel (reasonable here - only $1.959/G) then Walmart to top up the necessities : )

Tonight we are booked in at the Bayou Shores RV Resort which is right on the bayou in Galveston.

Sunshine in Galveston, going to search for Glen Campbell

We get on our site, pop the sides etc. and sit outside in the sun/shade around our picnic table watching the boats and enjoying the ambience.

There was no shopping today! 

Houston TX

Yay, woke to sunshine this morning, we have missed you ‘big yella’.  We have a board meeting with the full quorum over our first cups of tea to suss out what our plan is for the day.  Possibly more shopping : )

Girls go shopping at Willowbrook Mall which is only a few miles away and the boys go shopping at Demontrond.  Carrol wins the first parcel of the day AND the most!!  Before we have scratched the surface though we are collected and dropped off at Memorial Mall while the boys go back to Camping World and Holiday World.

Another long day and it’s after 7pm before we get home for a cold drink and some dinner.  It is a beautiful evening and we sit outside until it’s time for bed.  Goodnight!

Houston - Katy TX

Bit of a slow start this morning, while some of us overcome jet lag.  However we are on the road around 11am (including the additional ten minutes waiting for the super long stock train to pass) and drive an hour west, out to Katy.  The girls have a great few hours at the Katy Mills outlets, while the boys start off at Basspro.   I win the ‘first parcel of the day’ competition, which I hardly ever do and Carrol wins the overall shopping count!

After a little break for coffee and something to eat around 2pm we decide to spend a bit more time here, we've only scratched the surface and the boys head off to the motorhome/caravan shops.  About 4pm they come back for us, they want to show us what they have seen. Then we move on the Camping World but they are near closing time so didn’t get to have a good look around or spend our voucher.

So now it’s dinner time so we find an Applebees close by and have a very enjoyable hour or two over a drink and dinner before heading back to the coach for shopping 'show and tell' and the ceremonial cutting off of tickets and labels.

Early night, everyone feels they have had a successful and happy day!  Did I mention that as well as being near the flight path for one of the busiest airports in America we are close to a major rail line, the 3am driver tries to be quiet but the others like to loudly advertise there passing through from many miles away!  

Houston TX

Yay, today my sister/shopping buddy arrives with Kim’s shopping buddy.  We will pick up our rental car this morning and head to the airport for their arrival at 12.30pm.  Lucky day, we were upgraded to a Rav 4, brand newish!  Skies are grey again this morning and it was 25C at 7.45am.  Going to be another muggy one I’m picking.

They arrived on time, watched the flight coming over on the Air NZ app and we can see the actual plane coming in to land as we are right next to the airport.  So nice to hear Kiwi voices again!

First stop Walmart, didn’t see any gun toting locals though!  So that’s the first shop under the belt, Carrol won the competition for the most parcels, so my practice didn't pay off..  Big today tomorrow though, I get another chance.

Back to the coach for Happy Hour (s).  

C&C arriving Houston on Air NZ plane!

Houston TX

Good morning you all!

Was hoping to have an hour or so by the pool before we head off this morning, but the weather did not comply.  Worse, the weather gurus are suggesting that if you are expecting to cruise the Caribbean within the next ten days, there may be some adverse conditions to contend with!!  I’m going with my version, it’s still 6 days before we sail so will wait and see how it plays out, we’re going anyway unless they cancel of course.

So we stop at Walmart for some butter, a replacement pair of long nose pliers (the originals are hiding currently) and a haircut for me!  It’s a bit rainy and threatening more.  Kim had a ‘skating experience’ on the slippery floor at the Walmart entrance!

Next is a wee practice shop for tomorrow when C&C get here.  Kim very patiently stays in the coach and watches some TV while I practice shopping.

We make it to NorthLake RV Resort as the sky gets blacker and blacker and just before the heavens open.  We have a nice site, facing the lake complete with a fountain.  There is only one bathroom block here which is over by the pool, games room and outdoor kitchen.  It is a bit of a walk, might have to hire a golf buggy!

Willis, TX

A truck pulls up into Cracker Barrel’s oversize parking, for breakfast, it’s tickles Kim’s fancy!  Perhaps not so efficient after all.

"Efficient Transport" is the logo on the door, carrying two empty drums??

It was a rather noisy night, as kinda expected.  We are  up and at it early so arrive at DeMontrond before 9am.  They take us pretty much straight away and affix the awning, in a cowboy like manner and we don’t get an apology for the inconvenience, or the scratches sustained as it unattached itself twice, or any excuse as to why it wasn’t done correctly in the first place.

Never mind, it's on there now, hopefully for the duration and we are back on the road taking the I45 north heading out of town for the weekend.  Before we get too far we decide to call in at Northlake RV Resort where we are booked from Sunday night, to pick up our mail which they are holding for us – plus we get an advance look at the place, it looks rather posh!  Next is a quick stop off at the Conroe Outlet Mall but disappointingly most of the shops are empty.

So we arrive nice and early at Park on the Lake RV Park, near Willis, TX for the next two days.  Our site is right on the waterfront and we have a little wharf (dock) right beside our picnic table.

Jet Ski on our dock, does that mean we can use it?

Somebody is out enjoying the water today

 

There are ducks and other birdlife, herons, I think.  The park is quite full but a lot of residents seem to be seasonals, or full timers.  It’s hot so it is not too long before we are ensconced at the pool which we have to ourselves for most of the afternoon.

Kim is starfishing at the other end of the pool!

BTW I googled the building with a hole in it:  ‘Chase Tower is a 55-story postmodern skyscraper and is the fourth tallest building in the Dallas CBD.  It is nicknamed the ”Keyhole Building” because of the six story hole right in the centre of the building, from the 40^th floor up.   It has a glass dome on the very top.  Deloittes got a rent holiday and negotiated a lease until 2026, a home for 1,111 employees.

A much better photo than mine which was taken through a bug smeared windscreen!

Houston TX

Hot again this morning so we didn’t waste too much time getting organised and on the road.  We plan to drive through to Houston, about 140 miles, we need to pick up some stuff we ordered at a Walmart so that is the destination we put into the Garmin.  Pick up a few groceries while we are there and spend a bit of time when we get back to the coach (we left the generator and AC on – it’s pretty hot again, 30 C+) sorting out where to next.  There is a huge shopping mall, Willowbrook about 5 miles further along this ring road so that is where we head.  Only spend an hour or so there, not long enough!  Kim was looking for a movie theatre to while away a couple of hours watching the new movie about Pilot Sully landing the passenger jet in the Hudson River, not one here so that will keep for another day.

We have an appointment at Demontrond in the morning so want to stay close to there so we can be there first thing.  One of the options is to stay overnight at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant just a couple of blocks away and we can also have dinner there.  So that’s what we do.  I don’t think we will have a very restful night, we are adjacent to the I45 and the traffic is non stop.  Need the windows open ‘cos it’s so hot!  Oh well, we will head away from the city for a couple of days tomorrow night and there is supposed to be a cooler front coming through.  Today is the first day of Fall.

Lake Murray OK

Another sunny, very hot morning and we have to leave today.  We are organised early but on starting the bus see we have a 'check engine' warning light on the dash.  Kim played with the diesel gauge the other day, trying to fix it and it looks like a fuse shorted.  That was all and it was all sorted about 20 minutes later and we are on the road.

One of the many car junkyards we see and this was a biggie!

We head south on the I45 which dissects Dallas and Fort Worth, crossing the state line from OK to TX on the way.  Right at the OK border there is an enormous Casino, the Winstar, apparently the world’s biggest and it looks pretty large!  There's is obviously money in gambling!!

Heading into Dallas, we are plagued with many miles of road works and the available lanes are narrow and bendy. The road surface is also very rough and uneven which throws us around.  It takes over 40 minutes to get through the built up city areas, it’s all a bit nerve wracking for me, looking out my side window into the cab of an 18 wheeler right next to me and one on the other side!  Kim is pretty relaxed though.

Traffic coming into Dallas TX

The Dallas skyline is dotted with high rises, one building seems to have a see-through hole right in the middle of it, must google that when we get internet again!  We keep an eye out for JR but didn’t see him, he would probably be doing his prunes at all the roadworks.  The truckers were - lots of blaspheming was heard today.

The distant building on far left has a hole in it - you can just make it out!!

We have picked another State Park for tonight, the Fairfield State Park on Fairfield Lake. We have a lovely lake front site but it is almost too hot out to sit out and enjoy the view, maybe later!

Cooks Ferry Campsite at Fairfield Lake, TX

View of the lake from our campsite.  The shade is very welcome!

And once again we were spoilt with an amazingly beautiful, technicolour sunset.  I love the colours of sunsets, in case you hadn’t noticed!!

Beautiful sunset over Lake Murray

Lake Murray OK - day 2

Another hot, sunny day!  Kim used our special new polish and put a layer on the coach, it's looking pretty fine!  

It’s really nice here on the lake, think we will stay tomorrow too!  Just need to work backwards so we leave ourselves enough time to get to Demontrond in Houston on Friday morning to have them repair the rear slide awning which they didn’t install correctly.  Will mean a couple of big mileage days but it works OK.

Sunset in our backyard on  Lake Murray OK

Lake Murray OK

We left the State Fair RV Park by 9.30am, wanted to leave before it got too congested.  

There must be money in Casinos, this is the Riverwind Casino just out of OK City

We stopped for diesel and while there thought that we should check our lottery ticket.  Came out $1 better off, which technically makes it an investment rather than a donation!  We only had two numbers and the power ball, here that equals a payout!  Checked the ticket we bought in South Dakota and that too is a winner on this basis so I posted the ticket away and they should send us back our $12 win : )

Nice ride through Oklahoma City then south on the I35 to Lake Murray State Park, near Ardmore.  Found a gorgeous spot at Cedar Cove, right on the peninsula and we have power and water and cell coverage so all good.  It is hot however and we needed to have a swim to cool down, first swim we’ve had for ages.  

Beautiful spot at Cedar Cove, on Lake Murray OK

Had to blow up the Lilo for a float!  Water is luke warm!!

OK State Fair

Woke up to sunshine and it’s hot again.  The Zoppe’ Italian Family Circus is first on our show agenda for today, starting at noon.  It is pretty good for a small family circus, probably about a dozen or more entertainers.  The dogs were great and the horse and the acrobats were very good, even the clown show was well done!  The show is much busier today, being a weekend, although the carpark isn't full.

Next is the Swifty Swines Pig Races, those little piglets are sooo cute when they are galloping!  The ‘carrot’ is an Oreo cookie!  The teeny weeny 8 week old swimming piglet was a star!

Pig Races!!

Swifty the Swimming Swine, so cute!

Kim bailed then and I went over to the Animal Surgical Squite to watch the dog speying operation.  This is the real deal, photos come with a ‘contents may make you swoon’ warning!!

No blood shown, just in case!  Awesome experience though, for me, not the dog!

Didn’t put me off my food at all.  So next I need to find the Salty Cow Icecream Sundae!  I have to ask at the Info Centre, I have seen the place to get them but can’t remember exactly which building it is in.   Can’t get between me and icecream, here you go…..

Bacon Sensation Sundae!

So would I have it again, not with the bacon, it didn’t really add much except in texture and the texture was not crispy bacon, more like bacon bits!  Everything else was pretty dang good though!

Then the usual mid afternoon thunder clouds gather so time to head back to the coach. It is a biggie and caused much flooding in OK City.  There is a big NFL game here in OK City and they have postponed kick off for 90 minutes due to the bad  weather.  These storms come and go so quickly, here are photos before and after, there is only 20 minutes between them.

Big thunder storm and rain downpour!

20 minutes later the sun is out again, drying up the puddles!

Our Oakridge Boys Show should carry on as scheduled, as it’s already back to sunshine and the show doesn't start until 8pm.  By the way, their best known hit is Elvira!!  They performed this fave at the end of the show to a standing ovation and lots of singing along!!  A good show with a great turnout, compared to the other two nights. 

Reflection of sunset after the storm, walking over to the Show

The Oakridge Boys

Oklahoma State Fair

Aww, it’s wet this morning and a couple of claps of thunder so we stooge around for a bit in the morning and get over to the show just after noon.  By then the sun has come out and it is hot again.  We watch the Wild West Show which was pretty awesome, trick riders, clever horses, charro rope artists (lasso), cattle herding and a good chunk of humour!

Then we made our way to the Extreme Raptor Show, also an hour long and this was really interesting. The show featured the famous American Bald Eagle, hawks, falcons and owls, even a Peregrine which was way smaller than I thought.

Peregrine, not so big and scary - unless you are prey!

Black Hawk, now that's big and scary!

These guys rescue hurt birds and nurse them back to health, some have permanent handicaps and some have been donated to his project by crowded wildlife centres around the country, they were unable to be re-introduced to the wild.

American Bald Eagles are pretty amazing raptors, their wing span can be up to 7.5 feet,  they can fly up to 99 mph when diving and can live 20 years in the wild.

American Bald Eagle, this one has a broken wing and a blind eye from a traffic accident

It’s really hot now so Kim decides to head back to the bus and I stay a bit longer, I have a mission – one is to try on of the yummy looking “elephant ears” which I do but it takes so long to eat I miss most of the Swifty Swine Races.  I’ll have to come back to those tomorrow.

'Elephant Ear' with apple and cinnamon sugar - yum!  Best food of the show so far!

Then I wander through the birthing centre and see the day old chickens, baby lambs, goats and calves.  The two pregnant sows are still 'very' much pregnant – maybe tomorrow the little piglets will arrive.  I saw the video of the Vet speying a dog but would quite like to see it in action and hear the commentary (the video had no sound). That's on again tomorrow, count me in!

Then I too bail, come back to the coach for a wee rest before heading back tonight for the other events on the list and to see tonight’s music act – Michael Ray of ‘Kiss You in the Morning’ fame, it’s quiet a recent hit.  He’s only 27 and very easy on the eye, might have to go early and get a close up front seat : )  Check the temp once back in the coach, it says 39 C outside - but that is on the sunny side to be fair.

Some time later...

So we get to the Entertainment Plaza early and get a good seat with a good view of the stage, as you do when someone super-hot is playing.  We only lasted there about 20 minutes and that was a good effort, the bass drum was so loud and distorted you couldn’t even hear the four string players and Michael’s voice was only just loud enough above it.  So I guess I have feasted my eyes enough by now so happy to move towards the back which is a much better sound but still not great.  I am sure the rest of the concert was great……

We trundle along to the side shows and the food alleys for the rest of the night.  Look at these:

We need another day here to try some of this food!

Oklahoma State Fair

Yay - today is show day.  The sun is shining although thunder and some rain is forecast for later and it’s hot.  We get organised and head over to the show around 10 am.  The rides don’t start until 11am so that area is quiet but it gives us a good chance to look them over.  Yesterday they had specialists checking that all the rides are safe for public ‘consumption’.

We look through a couple of the pavilions and buy some special wax and cleaner for the coach, called Royal Blue.  Don’t think we have been sucked in, the demo was pretty spectacular!  We did a deal anyway and they kept the stuff for us to pick up later.  When we eventually got back to collect it we ended up buying the Wash & Shine stuff too.  Kim will be busy -  wax on - wipe off….

We also bought some back rests which support the small of your back and hold you out from the back of the seat, these will be perfect for the motorhome, especially when it’s hot.

They had a lolly shop, we were like big kids with our faces pressed against the window!  Right in front of we see Banana Bikes, except they call them Banana Splits.  Remember them?  Well we had to go in and get some.  You are given a large basket to fill and are funneled through a chicane, all manner of sweeties lining both sides.  They cost $9.00/lb, the people in front of us were spending upwards of $50 for their stash, no wonder the people in this country have such health issues.

Banana Bikes, they still try and suck your fillings out!

We looked at the trucks and cars, the barns and saw some brand new baby lambs and goats and some heavily pregnant sheep and pigs, ready to do their thing in front of the world's eyes. Watched the dressage practice for a while and cruised through Clydesdale Alley, watching them being groomed and petting some in the stalls.

Lunch was deep fried bacon cheese curd – interesting taste and texture, very very salty.  Would I have them again – probably not!  Just as we were leaving the loudspeaker came on suggesting everyone take shelter in one of the buildings as there is lightning in the area.  Got home with just a couple of rain splotches, which was quite refreshing, as it is hot.

We’ll go back over tonight for the live music, but first an hour or two with our feet up.  Not used to being on them for such a big chunk of the day. There’s a good range of musicians over the ten days of the show, pity we won’t be here to see them all.

Entertainment line up for the show

We wander back over, grab some food before the music starts.  So I have now tried the deep fried cheesecake, would I have it again, probably not!  It really needed ice cream to go with : )

Deep Fried Cheesecake!!

Kim's Beef Wellington, aka 'minced beef in pastry' a sausage roll really!

Bacon Explosion, J might have to try that tomorrow!!

Roast Beef Sundae, K might have to try that tomorrow!

The Kentucky Headhunters are an old American Country rock and Southern rock band. They were founded in 1968 as Itchy Brother, but changed their name in 1982 when some band members changed.  They were really good and there were a lot of people grooving to the music. 

After the show we looked around the sideshows and the scary rides.  It’s cooled down a tad but it’s still warm enough to be out in the open with no extra layers of clothes, nice!

Oklahoma City OK

So, we are watching the news/weather on TV over breakfast, there is a nasty cold and wet front heading our way but it seems to be dissipating (hoping).  Then we see the ad for the Oklahoma State Fair.  Googled it and it is just 20 miles up the road, in Oklahoma City and they have RV parking so phone to make sure that means for us and yes, we are  very welcome.  So we drive up there, thunder clouds to the left and to the right of us but not over us on the I 40/Route 66.  We arrive at the State Fair Park, it’s not far off the interstate and find a spot to park, there are many to choose from.  We have 30 amp power and water and it is only $20/night. Oh, and we have really good free WIFI too.  It has been raining, the ground is wet and the sky is grey but the sun comes out in the afternoon and it gets hot.

Then Kim notices that our nice new shiny exhaust pipe extension is no longer attached.  Have no idea when or how that got lost but we email North Western RV and order another one which is on it’s way to us as I write.  The boy is not impressed!  Meantime we wander across the road to a truck repair place and scavenge a piece of aluminium so he can fashion a cover to protect the coach body from the exhaust heat until new extension arrives.  It was a bit hard to bend into the curved shape required, but he did it with the help of a hammer, so we should be good to go when we leave on Sunday.

We check out on the web to see what happens at a State Fair and see that The Oakridge Boys are performing on Saturday night, for free, so we will stay here for three nights so we can see them and we’ll leave Sunday. There is live music every night and also shows during the day.  They have all sorts of animal judging, barrel races, barnyard birthing - if you’re not lucky enough to see the actual birth you will see the new baby animals, a raptor show, swifty swine races (that’s right up there on my agenda, they are so cute), even a  veterinarian doing live female dog speying operations - the dogs are then up for adoption, aww!

There’s lots of magic, hypnotism, martial arts and wild west shows.  Also competitions for the biggest bubble, lego, best dressed pumpkin (?). There are Clydesdales which perform in teams pulling wagons, gypsy horses, Indian ponies and miniature donkeys, dressage horses, barrel racing horses etc.  Lots of animals : )

The Miss Oklahoma State Fair Pageant and Teen Pageant also takes place during the Fair and the Disney on Ice Show is on every day. 

There are all manner of crazy, scary rides, fast, upside down, downside up, 27 thrills rides, another 35 family rides and 20 kids rides.  It’s a pretty big deal!

And there is food, lots of food.  The show website splits it into three categories - Bacon, Deep Fried and On a Stick, and even a lot of that is deep fried.  Some of the more weird deep fries food is, cheesecake, coffee, cinnamon rolls, watermelon, Oreos, peaches and cream, strawberry shortcake, pickles, coolaid (?) gummy bears…..  these American’s are crazy! How do you deep fry coffee or coolaid?  I’ll check it out for you though.

The winning show favourite food for 2016 is The Salted Cow - ice cream with bacon and caramel sauce.  Might give that a try when we go tomorrow??

El Reno OK

The geese were flying in their V formations and honking loudly well after dark last night.  But there are here still this morning so can’t have gone far.

Geese at Elk City Lake

The sun is out but rain and thunderstorms are predicted here today so we are moving on.  First stop the local Walmart to see if we can find the special perma-focus binoculars.  Not here, so we try the next Walmart, nope not here either.  We will buy them on line and have them delivered to a Walmart in Houston and pick them up there.

So we are on the I 40 East and can see the thunder clouds building.  It’s hot, over 30C and muggy.  At least on the interstate you see advertising hoardings the high spots on the otherwise flat landscape.  The soil here in Oklahoma is red, bright red.

Red soil

We have a bit of a navigation malfunction trying to find our RV park for tonight, the GPS was right and Allstays was wrong, but we believed Allstays first, sorry GPS but you cry wolf too often.  Anyway we are here now at Hensleys RV Park, El Reno which is attached to the Best Western motel.  We chose it because it has full hook up, a pool and a laundry.  When we book in we also find that the complimentary cooked breakfast is included.  Plus there is a Dennys on the premises so that is dinner sorted. It was pretty tight getting into our site, only an inch at the back and an inch in the front, literally, to get into position.

Very tight fit!

There have been recent earthquakes here, which is unusual, the biggest 5.7.  At first they thought it to be caused by fracking, but now they are saying they have discovered a new fault line??

Things we learned about Oklahoma:

It is home to about 400 miles of Route 66, therefore the most drivable miles than any other state.

Famous people: Garth Brooks (singer), Ron Howard (Happy Days), Chuck Norris and Sam Walton of Walmart fame.

We figured out (brain flash) that the 'Okie' from Muskogee is a resident of Oklahoma, cos that's where Muskogee is.

The 445 miles of waterways over on the east side are navigable shipping lanes, providing shipping for 12 million tons per year.  There are 7 reservoirs and 18 locks and dams, (9 feet deep) and end up joining the Mississippi, north of New Orleans.

TX to OK

Sunrise was at 7.30 am (even though it was 6.30 am for us) so got to see the beautiful colours in the sky.  It’s still windy and there are still those damn flies so we are out of here.

On the road by 10am and heading south to join the I 40 East.  A lot of this road is actually Route 66 and we see a few signs alluding to that.

Then we pass the road sign to Amarillo, so of course that starts us singing....

Is this the way to Amarillo?  Neil Sedaka maybe?

This land is flat, we can’t see any hills in any direction and it is windy, I guess that is why we see numerous wind farms dotted in between the crops and the odd oil rocking horse, some in action and some not.

Short stop at Shamrock for Maccas - again, still in Texas but only it’s another 15 miles further until we cross the state line into Oklahoma.  No ‘welcome to’ sign, what’s with that Oklahoma?

We stop at the Visitors Centre a couple of miles in and pick some info on what to do and where to do it in Oklahoma.

We have sussed a place to stay tonight - Elk City Lake Park which has five RV parks complete with power and its free, or you can offer a donation but I don’t know where you pay!  However it is still very windy, but warm, 30C and no flies!

The new awning over the curb side back slide has come off again so Kim is up the ladder trying to sort it out.  There is nothing holding it on, no screws, nothing.  He takes the whole thing off and phones Demontrond to find out by what method should it be affixed.  Sent photos and have a promise that they will get back to us with answers by 10am tomorrow.

The wind dies after dinner so might go for a wander and see what else is here, apart from the lake which we can see directly out of our front windscreen.  There are picnic shelters, concrete picnic tables and grills too. Then we are treated to another fabulous sunset.

Lake Meredith, Sanford, TX

It's 9/11 today!

Another brilliantly sunshiney morning and warm outside. 

On the road before 10am and pretty soon we cross the State Line into TX but we are just passing through.  This is the skinny pan handle area, in the north east and probably tomorrow we will cross into Oklahoma. We have also crossed from Mountain Time Zone back into Central, so we lose an hour today.

Scenery, cattle ranches, crops and grain silos, rocking horse oil dredges.  The road is pretty much flat and you can see right into the distance, then for some unknown reason the road will do a dog leg around a grain silo and then go back on it’s original track, why?  Which was there first, the road or the grain silo?

Long straight road!

Dog leg in road to miss grain silo??

 

There's oil in these here flatlands!  Diesel was cheap here in TX!

We stop for diesel in a place called Dumas - he he!  There, we get the buy of the day and maybe they know something we don’t, because we have used them unstintingly since we arrived – two fly swats ($0.69 each and they are pink). 

Walmart next and there is a Dollar Tree right next door, so I have a quick visit there while Kim packs the groceries away.

Back on the road again, heading towards Lake Meredith near Sanford.  The lake is surrounded by high cliffs and it is windy.  There are a dozen trees and a multitude of flies.  Don’t know how the little beggars get inside, but they do.  Our brand new trusty flyswats make short work of them and our aim is improving!

No power or water here, but we do have cellphone coverage, hence catching up with my blogs!  No TV which is a pity, would have liked to see what the rest of America is doing to commemorate 9/11.