June 4 – A Day of Rest

Day 24 – A quiet day spent around the campsite resting and recuperating. 

Just a comment in passing, the Oklahoma State Parks are very nice and very well maintained.  There is a consistency about them throughout the state. 

Resting and Recuperating

Our shady campsite

We did do some additional exploring of the lake and dam.  The lake is formed for the damming of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River.  

Salt Fork of the Arkansas River

A day of rest and relaxation came to an end and tomorrow we start again on the home stretch!

June 3 – Great Salt Plains

Day 23 – The Great Salt Plains are a nearly perfectly flat 11,000 acre barren area with a wafer thin salt crust.  The salt was formed by sea water millions of years ago.  The sea water evaporated and deposited thick layers of salt. 

Many animals would come here for the salt and this made it a favorite hunting grounds for the Indians.  Today it is a major migration rest area for thousands of shorebirds.

American Avocet

Carrie and Jerry arrived at our campsite late that afternoon, very hot and tired.  After some discussion we all decided it would be a good thing for all of us to have a day of rest .  The heat was oppressive.

When we arrived at this park we were virtually alone in the campground.  However, we were surrounded quickly by the “Paxton Family Reunion.”  The Paxtons had been coming to this park for 40 years for an annual reunion.  Two of their young members told us they had attended every reunion.  One of them was 23 (he came to his first reunion when he was 2 weeks old) and the second was 20.  The 20 year old had brought his girlfriend to meet the family.  America will remain a strong country as long as there are families that are bound together with such strength.

June 2 – Destination: Great Salt Plains State Park

Day 22 – We drove into the little town of Beaver, Oklahoma and stocked up on ice and biscuits and gravy and filled the gas tank of the truck.  Gasoline is very much less than what we had been paying further west.

Driving mile and after mile through wheat fields, we finally left the Oklahoma Panhandle.  The panhandle was originally known as “No Man’s Land” simply because the strip of land was not claimed by any of the surrounding territories.  Hence, it was ungoverned by any form of law and was a favorite refuge for those fleeing from justice.  In 1890 by act of Congress it was made part of the Oklahoma Territory and was subject to Oklahoma Territories law.

We left the Panhandle and arrived at the Great Salt Plains State Park hot and tired and happy to find a nice shady spot to spend the next two days.  

We will be here for two days R & R (laundry, clean-up and other assorted duties).  Carrie and Jerry had a short day and are staying in what Carrie describes a beautiful “motel” in Buffalo.  It is actually several store front buildings that have been restored into a beautiful two room apartment-type complex.  She says they even have a little patio to go out in the late evening and have their glass of wine before bed.  Boy, this cycling is sure hard work!  Maybe Jerry will post some pictures on their blog.  I hope so.

Tomorrow we will explore the salt plains and report on them.

June 1 – Beaver Dunes Lake State Park

Day 21 – One of the joys of traveling in the southwest is anticipation.  Just think, around the next bend or over the far hill could lie one of the 7 cities of gold.  They must still be there because Coronado never found them when he was exploring the southwest in 1541.  Instead you find the small towns and rural communities that make this country great.  We did pass a large meat processing plant, Seaboard Hog Processing, as we left Guymon this morning.  Seaboard Hogs are to the Oklahoma Panhandle as Tyson Chicken is to Arkansas.

The countryside is semi-arid yet it produces cattle and wheat in abundance.  The humidity is much higher than the 8% we experienced in Taos.  The winds we experienced coming across the high plains is terrific. We really admire Carrie and Jerry having the courage to ride in this wind.

We arrived at Beaver Dunes Lake State Park and set up camp in a grove of cottonwood trees with a hot, humid high wind blowing, turned the air conditioner on in the trailer and hibernated until time to leave the next morning.

May 31 – Guymon, Oklahoma

Day 20 - Panhandle RV Park and Campground was our destination and we nearly missed it.  We are currently using a State of Oklahoma guide to RV parks in the state and this had a really good write-up in that booklet.  But after driving several miles past the beaten up old sign that said “RV Campground” we decided that that must have been it.  So we turned around and went back.  It indeed was the park  so we set up camp under a beautiful big old shade tree, put our money in the slot of a beat up old building that said “Office” and awaited the arrival of Carrie and Jerry.

That evening we were treated to one of nature’s beauties that we had missed for a number of weeks, a good old-fashioned thunderstorm with wind, rain, hail and rolling thunder.  It was a beautiful but frightening work of art.  The next morning dawned bright and clear so off we were again.

May 30- Clayton, NM destination

Day 19 - Just a comment in passing. I am surprised in the variations in the taste of drinking water in different towns and cities we have camped in.  Most of the time it is not very good and sometimes it is downright undrinkable.  I am sure the water is safe and pure, but we travel with several gallons of bottled water just in case.  Springer and Clayton fit the category of undrinkable water.   We are thankful for Yellville's good drinking water.
Travel on this date was routine and very similar to yesterday.  We arrived at Clayton before lunch, a typical small town that has seen better times.  There were many boarded up businesses and they can't blame Wal-Mart, as there is not a Wal-Mart here or anyplace close by. We spent the night at a KOA campground only because there was no place else to stay.  This KOA lived up to their reputation of promising more than they deliver, very high fees, very run down sites.  KOA's are on the bottom list of all places to stay.  No pictures today.  God bless until next time.

May 29 - Changing landscapes

Day 18 - Taso is in a valley between two mountain ranges.  We headed eastward over the the last mountain range and topped out at 9000 ft. down into eastern New Mexico.  Again we drove through beautiful country, Cimarron Canyon is gorgeous and Lou saw a bear in the bushes.  We had planned on staying in a state park in Cimarron Canyon but, being Memorial Day weekend all campgrounds were full to overflowing.  We met Carrie and Jerry at the campground we had planned on staying in, they were still fresh and full of energy so we just kept traveling.  We found a nice shady pull-off by the side of the road and had a  nice lunch before we said good-bye again.

The high plains occupy 1/3 of eastern New Mexico.  We are talking big time ranch operations, one of which was a game preserve for hunters.  Miles and miles and miles of beautiful grazing land, punctuated with small mesas and high winds.

The Great Plains of New Mexico

We arrived at Springer, NM, spending the night at the Old Santa Fe Trail RV park.  The park must have been established for the covered wagons on their way west.  However, we had a good evening there, showers and a good night's sleep.  Free WI-FI coming in from who knows where, but not the park.  Carrie and Jerry arrived mid-afternoon and we treated them to a soft ice cream cone at Minnie's Dairy Inn.  How good can it get.