Category: Personal

Day 2383

Friday April 12th 2024

Day 4 of our trek north

Dear Journal:

This is how my morning started, sitting in my recliner, Mister Sam on my lap and this view through the windshield. Welcome to day four of our trek north, this location is a “Boondockers’ Welcome” spot. Located two miles north of Interstate I-44 near Chandler Oklahoma.

Today our route will take is into the “Show Me” State (Missouri for those who don’t know), we will remain on Interstate I-44 as we move in a northeast direction. Oklahoma is the only portion of this route that is a toll road and we will pay close to $25 in total by the time we transverse the State.

But first some morning news to see what is happening out there today, of course a cup of fresh perked coffee with a splash of Irish blessing helps with the news. It is so lovely here that we are not in a great rush to get on the road, I have a Cracker Barrel picked out for tonight’s destination at Springfield MO. and the golf coverage doesn’t start till three o’clock so no rush at all. With some extra time Miss Laurie prepares a grilled cheese omelet for breakfast and we make into a second cup of coffee territory. Have I mentioned what a great boondocking spot this is?

We are preparing to roll down the road by ten o’clock and as we hook up the towed and creep down the gravel road, this I suspect will be a stay that will stay that we will remember for some time to come. In fact the only disappointment was that we never got to meet our hosts, on of the features of the Boondockers’ Welcome program that we enjoy, as most are travelers same as us, who appreciate a safe place to stay as well. As we enter the toll road and head east toward Tulsa at least the toll road is reasonably well maintained and while busy seems to have good traffic flow. The Tulsa area is busier and the roadway is still under construction as it has been for years, but I know where the ugly spots are and drive accordingly.

The second half of the toll road dumps us at the State line, and at this point we are a little more than an hour to our destination. No fuel stop today, but we will be buying fuel in Missouri because it is the State with the best fuel prices on our whole trip. Texas and Oklahoma are similar price but Missouri wins the price war hands down, now if we were further south that would be a different story.

Well we made it to our Cracker Barrel and this is what we found. The sign is easy enough to read for those who can read “RV & BUS PARKING ONLY” and none of these vehicles seem to fit either description. So instead of parking in an RV spot we parked on the outside parking area and ended up taking up five car parking spots. But the good news is that we have saved a few people from having to walk an extra fifty feet to the restaurant.

The spot we chose was not level, but it wasn’t bad enough for us to move after watching the golf, and other than having some difficulty trying to hook up and exit the lot in the morning it is all good. As I’m laying out tomorrows route, destination, and fuel stop that I realize that unintentionally we will be staying in a different State every night. And tomorrow is a fuel day and I also realize that there is a new fuel stop with better prices than I had originally planned, it is a little closer than I had planned but it should all work out.

The night was reasonably quiet, lets face it most of the Cracker Barrels are located just yards off of the Interstate highways so some road noise is to be expected. The bonus is that they make a great breakfast, and it means that we have no dishes to cleanup before a travel day.

Day 4 Stats: 246 miles (395 kilometers) solar harvest 274 amp / hours, camping cost $0.00 ($21.00 for breakfast) No fuel purchase today.

Day 2382

Thursday April 11th 2024

Day 3 of our trek north

Dear Journal:

I woke at 6:15 this morning, for a night in a rest stop / welcome center it was a reasonably quiet night, we got lucky and had a flatbed eighteen wheeler pull in beside us early in the evening and did not leave till this morning. We normally avoid truck rest stops but this one is difficult to get to and is usually quiet, we have stayed here a number of times and usually have good luck. It was cool last night as our outside thermometer read 48ºF (8.8ºC) and the coach temperature is 58ºF (14.4ºC) chilly but not too bad, and as I rise this morning dawn is breaking and without a cloud in the sky the sun will be beating on the windshield shortly. So I decide to for go the heater this morning, and I got lucky enough to receive some lap time from Mister Sam.

A quick check of the onboard systems finds our battery bank at 77%, not to bad after watching four hours of television last night and all of our systems running all night. Now if your wondering what systems we leave on here is a quick list of what draws power from our batteries, our refrigerator (both compressors), two televisions on stand by, our Wi-Fi and router, the beverage fridge in the basement, three “Alexa” echoes, and the invertor that inverts the 12 volt battery power to household power for microwaves, as well as recharging 2 phones, 2 iPads, and our laptop and such. We do not shut off or unplug any equipment the same as most people do in their homes.

Todays route will have us moving further east on Interstate I-40 toward Oklahoma City, where we will refuel Thunder before turning north on Interstate I-35 for ten miles to Interstate I-44, we are at 2400 feet of elevation here at Amarillo Texas and I expect we will finish today under 1000 feet of elevation. Breakfast this morning is a toasted bagel, a quick easy breakfast as I want to get on the road early our departure time will be nine o’clock, the good news is there will be no time zone change today and we will be in rolling hills most of the day.

There is not a cloud in the sky this morning, and as we leave the rest stop, I make a few notes about this overnight spot. The poor AT&T cell service here, the fact this exit will have a Buc ee’s here in the fall, that will increase the popularity of the exit and probably increase the use of this rest stop as well. But it will be the only Buc ee’s on our route, which is a bonus as they provide a shopping experience. Traffic is light as we click off the miles, our destination tonight is a “BoonDockers’ Welcome” which is now part of the “Harvest Host” program. We have stayed at “BoonDockers’ Welcome” locations before, they are unique as they are usually RVers that have enough space on their property to accommodate fellow RVers. Some offer nothing more than a flat spot to park, while others offer complete hook-ups, the locations can vary from a parking lot to a total campground experience, some are single spots while others offer multiple spots, and the stay can vary from one night to multiple nights, we will see what this one has to offer.

Todays fuel stop will be a TA truck stop in Oklahoma City, it appears to be an easy off and on to the highway. and ended up being our lunch stop as well, as the rest stop we had picked out was closed. From the fuel stop we charge into Oklahoma City traffic, which again seemed lighter than I expected, we have driven this route last spring which always makes the trip easier. As we enter the toll road that is Interstate I-44 we hope we have the address for our overnight correct in our GPS, too often the street addresses do not come up correctly and we spent a number of minuets during lunch trying to confirm the correct location. This location is located a mile down a gravel road which is not a problem other that a mistake could involve unhooking the towed and a mile of backing up, turning a 40′ coach takes a lot of space.

Well we had the correct address and we have located out spot for tonight and to say it is a small piece of paradise would be a close description. A reasonably level gravel spot to park, a electrical panel with a power supply, there appears to be a 3″ sewer dump, and water supply is available close by, the only item we will need is the parking spot. As we are boondockers and need no hook-ups, the peace and quiet, in a natural setting is more than enough, and although we have not met our host for tonight we will thank them through the “BoonDockers Welcome” page.

Day 3 Stats: 297 miles (478 kilometers) solar harvest 255 amp / hours $0.00 camping, 60.01 gallons (227.2 liters) of diesel $200.20 ($275.98 Cdn)