Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

The above lyrics don't do justice to the wind. We have been crossing Texas and Oklahoma on I-40, mostly going west to east. The trees are permanently deformed in a northerly direction as the relentless winds scream in from the south. We have been buffeted for two days and our mileage has suffered greatly as we have endured these fierce winds. We look forward to a respite and a nice tail wind would be nice! We have tried to monitor the weather as thunder storms and flooding have already ravaged some of the areas we will pass through. We surely do not wish to be part of a tornado relocation scheme.

This land is flat! From the horizon on the left to the horizon on the right, there hardly seems to be any deviation in elevation. I wonder what sort of hole was left to get the dirt used to provide elevation at major road interchanges.

We are just east of Oklahoma City in the town of Shawnee. Anne went online and found a nice inexpensive place for us to stay this evening, The Firelake Grand Casino. We often stay at casinos in our traveling because they usually offer large parking areas where we can dry camp overnight for free, security since they are patrolled, food since most have good restaurants and a chance for us to play the slots (no, we do not gamble, we know we are going to lose our $20!) for inexpensive entertainment. Heck, some of the casinos even give us a few dollars to play with but we always give it back! The nice thing about The Firelake is that they have a free RV park for their guests that have a players card (also free). Did I say for free? The RV park is located along the edge of their property on a stream and is paved and each site is provided with running water and electrical hookups which include up to 50 amps! If you don't RV you probably don't appreciate what 50 amps means. It means you can run BOTH air conditioners and your microwave at the same time with out popping the circuit breaker and actually cool down your coach in triple digit temperatures. After a hot day on the road you have a cool place to sleep! There are picnic tables and barbecues situated down near the stream and each site is provided with a trash can. A shuttle bus regularly comes through the area to take you to the casino. You are allowed to stay in the RV park for up to 3 days and can request an extension. What a deal!

We have travelled hard for four days, trying to go approximately 300 miles each day. We would prefer to do no more than 200 and then not travel every day. We hope to find a place to rest soon and explore some area where we have never been before. The motor home has performed well and we hope that it continues to do so. We expect to make it to Geezerville and Don's reunion as scheduled.

The pictures are some flowers at a rest area in the high desert of New Mexico. Spring is popping out all over!