It’s cold this morning 28 or -2 degrees, we have been plugged into 50 amp service over night and had our space heater running, we have maintained a coach temperature of 62 or 16 degrees, not bad, the furnace has kicked on for the wet bay a few times overnight, and is on as I am writing this morning. It is about 5:30, the clocks have been adjusted, me not so much…and the radiators in the front of the coach have just turned on. We let’s talk about the drive yesterday 411 miles (661 kms), on the road at 9am and off at 5pm, much longer day than normal but we did stop for a half hour lunch break, we are at Oak Glen RV Park in Chandler OK, with full hookups for $28 US per night for 50 amp.

Thunder developed a cough or stutter yesterday as we were leaving Arkansas, I think it is a fuel issue and suspect fuel filters, so today will be locating filters and changing them out, so we extender our stay an extra night, to give me some time to repair Thunder, it’s still going to be cold here today 52 or 10 degrees and back near freezing tonight, then Saturday and Sunday look warmer before really cold hits over night on Sunday so we need to be back on the road tomorrow and into Texas then New Mexico on Sunday. I suspect fuel because it has developed quickly about half way through yesterday and has gotten worse as we progressed, almost to a limping condition by the time we made our destination, I suspect we picked up some dirty fuel on this trip so I will probably pick up extra fuel filters as it may reoccur as we travel, but I will report as we progress.

Well it’s noon and the fuel filter on Thunder has been changed, I have an air filter coming in today so I can change it as well, the air filter will be in by 2 pm so I will install the new air filter and then try out our repairs to see if we are ready to head to Texas in the morning and on to Albuquerque New Mexico on Sunday. That should get us west of that Siberian express that is rolling through the first of next week with highs of 30 or 0 degrees. Well the air filter was the wrong one so will be in Saturday morning, I took Thunder for a little drive and while not perfect is running better, so the issue is fuel. I will pick the correct air filter up in the morning and we will head down the road

Day 767

Well we are going to make up some mileage today, plan be on the road by 9 am, going to make a run up I-40 to Oklahoma City area, it’s about 400 miles (600 kms), should be a six hour drive and with any kind of luck should be settling in by 4 pm.

Yesterday was a reasonably sunny day, solar produced 102 amp / hours, this morning the outside temp is 58 or 12 degrees, coach temperature 65 or 17, it is going to be a cold wet day as we are at or near the forecast high now, the batteries are in good condition as the furnace did not come on last night at all, just the boiler to keep the water hot. We have decided to make a push to Oklahoma today, Miss Laurie has called about a site for the night, as we are expecting freezing temperatures tonight. We will have rain this morning but should drive through it early afternoon, the forecast is showing a warm up with Amarillo TX having a high of mid 60’s on Friday and low 70’s on Saturday before plunging to a high of 34 on Monday and a low at night of 19 or -11 degrees. This is why a couple days of pushing should get us to New Mexico before the big chill comes in early next week.

By staying on the I-40 corridor it is the shortest, straightest, so obviously the quickest and even Dallas TX is going to be below freezing next week, so even the I-20 route has cold ahead, so we just need to get west far enough to be avoid the cold. We are at mile marker 241 so we have about four hours to the Oklahoma state line and the end of the rain.

As I look around the parking lot this morning, I cannot believe how many rigs have slides out, the Fifth wheel beside me has three on this side only…sorry people this is not right, if you need that much space overnight, you need a campground, you are not lot docking people, you either are just ignorant or stupid, at Walmart NO SLIDES and NO JACKS, the class “A” behind me has the front wheels jacked right off the ground. Seriously have some respect, and don’t ruin it for us that do. If you want to lot dock when you travel, buy a rig that will allow you to do that, we see this all the time, at least some people will park to have a slide over a grassed area, not this group, middle of the lot multiple slides out! Sorry that rant has been building all week!

As we crossed into Oklahoma, Thunder developed a little cough, we have driven about 240 miles (390 kms), only on hard pulls up grades, still able to roll along at 65 mph or 110 kmph, but is starting to cause some issues. So we have limped into Chandler OK, to our reserved spot, and extended for an extra day so I can resolve the issue…see life on the road is not always smooth…just saying

Day 766