BACK TO TULSA RV RANCH, BEGGS, OK—Camp 29

As we left Kilgore, TX Murphy jumped in the back seat of the truck and decided it was time to create another little bit of mischief.  It was a trailer tire going flat this time.  

Luckily the tire minder warned us and we were able to pull over before it blew.

Once again it was on the drivers side, and this time we were on a fairly narrow stretch of highway.  

A call to AAA got us help in due time, but this time we had to use Gary’s card because Murphy had maxed mine out for the year.  We really need to get rid of that hitch hiker.

We had planned on going on in to Tulsa RV Ranch that night, but with the delay of the flat we pulled into the Choctaw Travel Plaza and Casino near Hugo, OK to boondock. 

It was Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and we were pretty certain we would have to wait until Monday until we could get a trailer tire.

Instead of even trying to find one that late in the evening on a Sunday of a holiday weekend I called my long time friend and fellow rendezvouer Linda Lou Alexander, who lives near where we were camped for the night.  

I have mentioned Linda Lou in another post, one that is a true story of the events at one rendezvous.  You can read “Be Careful What You Ask for” by clicking the hyperlink to refresh your memory.

Besides being a good friend she is also an excellent basket maker.  So of course I have written a review of her baskets, complete with some photos on my “Outside a Dog” blog as well.

Linda Lou came right over that night to chat with us for a while and then again bright and early the next morning to take us looking for a tire so we wouldn’t have to unhook the truck from the trailer. She knew just where to take us.

She also took us to look at various campgrounds in the area.  Many were beautiful, the prettiest one of all, one we had previously considered for camping instead of the Truck Plaza.  We had decided against it at the last minute because we hate arriving in campgrounds after dark.

We definitely made the right choice.  The campground was fairly full and would have been a very tight fit to work our fifth wheel into any of the available spots .

If we hadn’t already been late getting back to Tulsa we would have stayed another day or so to visit a few things in the area like the circusperformer cemetery at Hugo, OK Linda Lou mentioned to us just before dark.  We definitely have it on our list to go back and see.

I have already written about the Tulsa RV Ranch on our previous visits, not too much had changed except we noticed that they were paving the rodeo arena and had signs up that they were instead installing a Pick ‘n Pay auto parts place, read salvage yard.  We were not amused. 

They were paving part of the roads in the park, so that was a good thing.

Neither were we amused that the campsite we were given was not the one we had requested months earlier and it was heavily littered with dog poo.  Before we could complain to management about the dog poo another camper arrived to camp next to us with her two dogs and immediately cleaned both our campsites with her handy pooper scooper because she didn’t want her dogs in another dogs droppings.  Thank you kind lady.

We love dogs, but ours do not travel with us.  They are farm dogs that are happy having the right to run free on our 90 acres.  They would not be happy on a 6 ft leash for certain. Therefore we do not want to clean up after other campers’ dogs. Not to mention our labs are a little big to haul the two of them with us, as you can see.

We paid the monthly rate plus a one week rate to stay this time because we were home for Thanksgiving, our son’s birthday, Christmas, and into January as well as the usual doctor’s appointments.

Oklahoma seldom has below zero temperatures.  We are native Tulsan’s and we were banking on the normal temperatures while we were there.  More than one Christmas I have worn shorts on Christmas Day. 

Boy did we get a surprise. We suffered through several below zero night time temps and nearly 10 days of frozen pipes despite having heat tape on our heavily insulated water hose and insulating the faucet at the campground.  So much for that spigot being frost proof.  Not to mention our Montana has the arctic package on it.

Luckily we did not get any burst pipes, other campers were not as lucky, nor was the campground.

A main line burst and the water, after the repair, the rest of our stay was very brown, most likely we thought, from dirt in the lines.  We did not cook with or drink it and it did stain our toilet.  Again, not amused, but burst pipes happen.

The holidays were fun with our son and I particularly enjoyed my birthday gift from my husband.  He took me to Ree Drummond’s, aka: the Pioneer Woman Mercantile.   I love watching her show when I can. I use many of her recipes, especially her Hot Crash Hot Potatoes and FriedPork Chops.

They even had a special event going on that if you went by the Mercantile you would get a free ticket to tour their lodge for free.  For those of you who don’t watch her show the lodge is where they film most of it.  The lodge was huge I will post photos of it and the restaurant in a separate post.

By the way, to show you how splendid of a gift this was the lines were known to be FIVE HOURS LONG to get just inside the restaurant, mainly outside and remember the temps were below freezing during the day and below zero at night.  Yet my wonderful husband was willing to endure it for me. 

Then there was of course all our pets to love on the two dogs pictured above and our three cats.  The grey one, Gypsy, traveled with us as a kitten, but she has made it very clear she has no intention of going on the road with us again. 

She prefers to stay home with Oliver, the black cat that was missing for two months in the summer last year, to battle the calico, Lizzie.

All five animals were glad to see us, but made it clear they were now Sean’s animals and had no desire to travel with us.

To make up for the cold was the great health news both Gary and I received.  We are both in excellent health and the doctors now only need to see me every six months instead of every six weeks or so.  YES!  Freedom to travel further was a great Christmas gift.