Wynnewood To Ranger

With the change to our itinerary we had to make a few new stops to replace those that were planned for Northern Oklahoma and New Mexico.  As I explained yesterday we decided to round the corner at Oklahoma City and travel about 90 minutes down I35 to what became the Chickasaw Welcome Center.  This was a nice stop and set us up for today’s trip.

Two legs of about 90 to 120 minutes each.  First stop was just north of Fort Worth on the NW corner of the metropolis that is Dallas/Fort Worth.  This was a quick fuel stop and chance to stretch our legs.  This was also at the end of a long run of construction where they are replacing the asphalt with concrete.  There sure is a lot of that going on in the U.S.  It makes for a lot smoother and pleasurable experience so I think that is great.

Just as we were approaching the start of this construction we saw what looked to be an abandoned or partially destroyed building or something.  As we got closer it was clear there were cranes and machines clearing it up and also clear that something had torn the place apart.  Turns out is was a Dollar General warehouse that got ripped apart by a tornado earlier this year.  News story is here: Dollar General Tornado.   Thankfully no-one was killed but the destruction was still evident six months later.

Traffic was not bad at all given where we were, but as I reported earlier the differences in the two navigation systems meant we had to be on our toes for lane placement.  The one Pat is using is on my iPad and is a GPS driven system that comes out of the planner I use to decide where to stay.  My iPad has a GPS sensor in it so knows where it is and has been very accurate with no concerns.  The software knows the height, weight, and other pertinent parameters about the RV so will only route you on roads that can handle it.  However, other than subtle lane placement options when there has been recent construction, we also noticed if there are any express lanes on any of the routes it wants to route you onto those to match the ‘fastest’ parameter that is typical for most systems.

This works out well until you are on a metropolitan version of an Interstate and there are express lanes that are toll lanes.  When we got just north of Fort Worth her system kept trying to take me left into the left most lane to pick up the toll lane.  We didnt take them and stayed on the lanes the coach system recommended.
We got west of that area and it opened back up into two lanes of traffic all moving along pretty well.  Speed limits are generally 70 or 75 with posted minimums of 40 generally.  Most every speed sign says No Tolerance right underneath and I would say the message has got through as I have not seen any of the ridiculous speeding you see on Ontario roads.  Trucks generally run at 60 or 65 which is where I like to sit.  Some trucks do 70 but I think those are probably private guys and not company rigs.  To be in a rest area or truck stop and watch the comings and goings of the multitude of different trucks and their cargo really makes you understand and appreciate the truck drivers role in driving the economy.

We arrived mid afternoon at a Love’s Truck Stop that also has a dedicated RV Park.  This is a relatively new venture for them and is a way to attract RVers passing through a safe and economical way to stay overnight somewhere.  There are currently 79 across the country and this particular one has six spots with sewer, water and electricity at the spot.  Parking is on a concrete pad and you book and check in online.  Once you have checked in the system automatically turns on the power at the pedestal.  Other than the fact you are at a gas station that is 24/7 the RV park side of things is not near the noisy side.  We will see how the night goes for noise but so far it is not that bad.

Tomorrow we start the long climb up and over the Southern US end of the mountain range running down the West coast.  We have an RV park at the end of the first day and a Harvest Host winery at the end of the second.