Don’t yell!… I know it is late and you all just thought I forgot to finish up the vacation series. Well SH_T happens and you just don’t get all the stuff done you figure on.
The day started pretty early, I got out and started putting things away, pulling in slides, and generally preparing to get under way. We did at about 8AM or a little after. Not too bad but remember the damn air conditioner was broke and we had 500+ miles of open , sun-baked road to cover today. It was hot and we knew it.
We zipped right on through Pueblo and the valley. I did a little qawking, as I knew a lot of the area from having worked out there. The Ark river appeared to be full all the way to Lamar, an amazing feat on July 2nd. I did get a glimpse of Bents Fort as we passed on the Highway 50. It is hard to see if you don’t know where to look but I spotted it with the flag flying. We remember being in La Junta when it was opened up. We have been back once or twice and it is a real treat or was as I remember.
We got to Garden City, Ks just a little after lunch time and planned on getting fuel and food but missed on both occasions. Our fuel stop was to be Sam’s, but they do not honor the Wal-Mart card? The ones in OK do? I checked and it appeared we had enough to get into Oklahoma where it would be a bit cheaper so we just turned on the road and headed toward Dodge. By then we realized we had not stopped for Lunch in Garden? How did I miss that?
In Dodge we had planned on taking the west bypass but since we needed or desired nourishment we went on down the tourist route. Once in we spotted a parking area on the other side of the tracks big enough for the Bus and Jeep. None of the places we passed had parking large enough for a bus? And they call this a tourist town? Anyway we parked, and walked over the tracks, finding a really strange bright silver rock? No idea what it is but it is not heavy enough for Lead or Silver but sure looks like it. Anyway we got across with out even seeing a train, and the first place was ???? McD… Holy crap strike 3 already and we are not home yet. We could have walked another 1/4 or 1/2 mile to an Arbys or face the 5 lanes of traffic on the main street to get across to Taco Hell but we wimped and took McD.
Back in the Bus we headed south to Oklahoma. The highway that direction is very low on traffic and has some decent sites through the grass lands. When we hit Woodward I pulled into the second station and got Fuel. Strange place – they do not have a dollar limit on the fuel pumps? Most places I get $75 or $100 and have to do it all over again. With a 100 gallon tank and having not bought any fuel since Alamosa about 6 days ago it was down to a quarter tank so the bill was just short of $300 – ouch!!!!!!. But it is the price you pay for all that fun, right? or was it convenience, or maybe something else?
We got home about 7:45pm or so and had a bit of help to get unpacked. A first, as usually I unpack and it takes me several hours. I even had the Bus in the garage by 8:45pm and called my Dad by then. I had to make several trips back over the next days to get stuff we forgot but that is ok.
It was a hot day and we were wore out from the trip. I hate doing it all in one day but I needed to have Sunday to prepare (I thought) for my return to work.
The route detail for this day:
SUNDAY
Sunday, I got up, did a few little things then headed back to Enid to visit with DAD. We had a good visit, went to lunch at Rib Crib – not too bad over there, and I helped him with some book keeping and other stuff. I got home from that about 5pm and by late evening was checking emails that had stacked over the past few days. Checked my work email and found one that “on your return – standby”…. oh boy
Anyway we took off to the fireworks display and caught all of it. A short version of previous years but still nice.
Another long day and I just crashed when we got back.