May 19 to May 21, 2010

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
We headed out this morning east on I-40. Near the campground there is a spot along the road where we noticed that people are parking and walking out to something in the field. We couldn't tell what it was, so Charlie looked it up on Wikipedia, and it is the 'Cadillac Ranch'. There are about 10 cars sticking up, on end, out of the ground. Art. We didn't walk out there, and I forgot my binoculars this trip, so we didn't get a close look. Oh well.... We drove on I-40 all day and into Oklahoma, and there was a steady parade of storm chaser vehicles with all kinds of scientific equipment. It was a very loose convoy from different institutions and universities, including Florida and Texas. There must have been at least a hundred vehicles that passed us. The best part was looking ahead we could see storms and clouds building up in the distance. The biggest cross in the western hemisphere is at exit 112 on I-40 in Oklahoma. I took pictures as we drove by. Charlie took pictures of an old Conoco station as we went through an intersection. People were posing in front of it, so we took a picture too! We will post the pictures soon. We drove about 380 miles today, and ended up in an RV Park by Lake Eufaula, south of Checotah, Oklahoma. When we got near here it started raining, and that was the first significant rain we have encountered on this trip. The rain stopped long enough for us to get set up and settled in the camper, and then it thundered, poured, blew, and lightning hit all around us all night. It was the biggest and longest storm I can ever remember. I was in the pop out so it was very exciting. I love a good storm, but wow! This was really something, and it seemed to keep circling back. There is a long underground storm shelter less than a hundred feet from our camper, and a lady told me that if we hear horns honking in the night we should run to the shelter immediately. Someone told Charlie that the campers had to run for the shelter just a week ago. Luckily we made it through the night in the camper. P.S. Palo Dura Canyon is in Texas, NOT new Mexico (see May 18 notes)!

Thursday, May 20, 2010
We drove all day and covered about 310 miles. We stayed at an RV Park behind the Days Inn in Brinkley, Arkansas. We had absolutely no fun at all! We do enjoy the comfort of our camper, but, Charlie is not liking the amount of wear and tear on the van. Even though the trailer is only 17 feet long and weighs less than 3,000 pounds, it has as much wind resistance as a 30 foot trailer that sits as high as ours does. He has asked quite a few people with full size trucks with big engines and pulling 25 foot or longer trailers what kind of gas mileage they get. Just about everyone has said 9 to 10 miles per gallon, which is pretty close to what we are getting. Charlie thinks it is more wind resistance than the camper's weight that affects the mileage, and the van is just working too hard. It is not made for towing. So he is not satisfied with this combination, and he does not like what it is doing to the van. So, we are heading home. Plus, although my hip does not hurt as much, I still can't walk very far without some pain. So I need to get it looked at, again.

Friday, May 21, 2010
We started out in Brinkley Arkansas this morning and headed south and east over the Mississippi River at a bridge near Clarksdale Mississippi. It rained some, and we stayed off the interstates most of the way. We took route 1 at Forrest City, Arkansas, and then 242 east and route 49 at Helena – West Helena. We took 61 south at Clarksdale and jumped back to 49 by going east on 12 at Hollendale. South of Hattisburg we took 98 towards Mobile and then got on I-10. We stopped for gas five times today, and got pretty low one time. The mileage is averaging about 11 and the van is probably going to need a lot of maintenance when we get back. The air conditioner does not seem to be keeping up now that we are in warmer weather. Plus the Maintenance Required light has been on for almost two weeks, and it won't reset. We drove about 450 miles today and we are in a nice RV park just west of Pensacola tonight. We hope to make it home tomorrow, but it will take about 10 hours.