We were on the road by 7:08 AM, a record for departure on this eastward trek. We had spent the night at a campground with an Old Route 66 address. It was a clear, crisp night, but above freezing. All the stars shining so brilliantly reminded us of a safari we took once in Africa which departed camp in late afternoon to observe night activities. We stopped for a “sundowner” rite which involved snacks and the beverages we’d signed up for ahead of time. Then the guide got out his “blunderbuster” and said he would “protect” us from predators as he walked us to an area a few meters from the safari vehicle. He then explained the night sky including the Southern Cross, only visible in the southern hemisphere, and many other constellations. At Santa Rosa, NM we didn’t see the southern cross, but the milky way, big dipper and full moon were equally spectacular.
We drove east on I-40 into the rising sun. There was no way David could adjust the visors on our F-150 to shade the glare until we were beyond Tucumcari. It was there we began to see agriculture again. Humongous fields of sorghum, soybeans, already harvested corn and wheat and cotton continued into the Texas panhandle. There were also hundreds of hectares of winter wheat in green rows of seedlings poking their noses out of the ground. Wind turbines twirled for miles and miles, too, proving that Texas is energy diversified!
If any of you have ever read the Jack Reacher novels, you know he is somewhat of a mathematical savant. His internal clock gets him up after however many hours of sleep he permits himself and he comes up with all sorts of trivial mathematical data. Well, David, our resident math-inclined traveler, noted as we got on the road this morning that we would cross milepost 347 in New Mexico at the same time our GPS said we had 347 miles to our turn in Oklahoma City. And he did this as we were getting started!!!
I-40 is a generally straight shot west to east through Texas and Oklahoma. In Texas we noted several types of surface to the road, depending on the county. We drove on smooth concrete, a phenomenon RVers will find unusual. We joked about the ones who laid the concrete in Texas were likely not members of the Concrete Workers of America (Texas is NOT a union state!). Around the Chicago freeway there is a sign proudly announcing the concrete roads were constructed by the Concrete Workers of America, and it is very bouncy which sets up a nauseating harmonic between a tow vehicle and trailer. There were also surfaces on I-40 in Texas which were very black, sparkly and noisy. We wondered if they used old ground up tires to make that surface. There were also sections of standard asphalt.
Winds also became a factor as we entered Oklahoma. They were out of the south, so a crosswind as we traveled east. They were not as bad as the winds we’d experienced in Kansas on our westward trek, but at 16-28 mph, they required a firm grip on the wheel and slower speed. In both Texas and Oklahoma the speed is 75 mph and most truckers were going that speed. There are roads in southern Texas where the speed limit is 85!
We selected a campground in Oklahoma City because of its proximity to a Ford dealer. Tomorrow RBII will get an oil change. We are over 5100 miles on this trek and the internal computer tells us there is 25% oil life left.
We drove east on I-40 into the rising sun. There was no way David could adjust the visors on our F-150 to shade the glare until we were beyond Tucumcari. It was there we began to see agriculture again. Humongous fields of sorghum, soybeans, already harvested corn and wheat and cotton continued into the Texas panhandle. There were also hundreds of hectares of winter wheat in green rows of seedlings poking their noses out of the ground. Wind turbines twirled for miles and miles, too, proving that Texas is energy diversified!
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| Trees along the road were a welcome sight as we entered Texas. |
If any of you have ever read the Jack Reacher novels, you know he is somewhat of a mathematical savant. His internal clock gets him up after however many hours of sleep he permits himself and he comes up with all sorts of trivial mathematical data. Well, David, our resident math-inclined traveler, noted as we got on the road this morning that we would cross milepost 347 in New Mexico at the same time our GPS said we had 347 miles to our turn in Oklahoma City. And he did this as we were getting started!!!
I-40 is a generally straight shot west to east through Texas and Oklahoma. In Texas we noted several types of surface to the road, depending on the county. We drove on smooth concrete, a phenomenon RVers will find unusual. We joked about the ones who laid the concrete in Texas were likely not members of the Concrete Workers of America (Texas is NOT a union state!). Around the Chicago freeway there is a sign proudly announcing the concrete roads were constructed by the Concrete Workers of America, and it is very bouncy which sets up a nauseating harmonic between a tow vehicle and trailer. There were also surfaces on I-40 in Texas which were very black, sparkly and noisy. We wondered if they used old ground up tires to make that surface. There were also sections of standard asphalt.
Winds also became a factor as we entered Oklahoma. They were out of the south, so a crosswind as we traveled east. They were not as bad as the winds we’d experienced in Kansas on our westward trek, but at 16-28 mph, they required a firm grip on the wheel and slower speed. In both Texas and Oklahoma the speed is 75 mph and most truckers were going that speed. There are roads in southern Texas where the speed limit is 85!
We selected a campground in Oklahoma City because of its proximity to a Ford dealer. Tomorrow RBII will get an oil change. We are over 5100 miles on this trek and the internal computer tells us there is 25% oil life left.
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