OASIS CAMPGROUND, AMARILLO, TX-CAMP 6

I wrote quite a bit about the Oasis campground in 2009. Obviously some prices have changed, but it is still as well maintained as it was back then.  In fact they had just done some refinishing on the asphalt drives just before we arrived.

Basically it is a big parking lot with wide flat parking spaces and little to no shade.  But the staff is friendly and helpful, the pool is great, has a good playground for the younger travelers, sparkling clean bathrooms that are 4 per building (there are numerous buildings) with the laundry attached.  The laundry is reasonably priced at $1 to wash and $1 to dry with both units running long enough to thoroughly wash and dry your loads on a single dollar.

The only drawback of course was the fact that it was a flat concrete and asphalt parking lot. It was over 100 degrees when we were there and the winds were so strong all the time no one put their awnings out.

Nature did step in and really cool us off one afternoon with a pretty huge storm that came through.  At one point the camper really rocked, but all was good and the running water after the storm disappeared quickly.

We did get permission and one day were the breeze was slightly lower so Gary could fly the quadcopter and take videos of the campground. You can view the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrcIisWnyrw 

The rate for full hook-ups including wi-fi and cable tv was $35 a night, $150 a week or I think it was $375 for a month, but I am not certain of the monthly rate.  Call to verify if you are headed there.  This campground is open year round. 

Located right off the I-40 highway almost next to the CadillacRanch it is easy on and easy off to go to the campground.  While there is a fuel station just a couple of blocks from the campground they tend to be a little high so we chose to go to the Sam’s Club that was around 5 miles from the campground and save almost $.30 a gallon on diesel. 

Our original plan had been to stay one week at the Oasis seeing the CadillacRanch, Jack Sisemore’s RV Museum, the Amarillo Botanical Garden, and Palo Duro Canyon then to move on to another location to enjoy the sites.

While we never actually got out of our truck and walked out to the cars at the Cadillac Ranch, we did drive by it constantly because it was so close to the campground.  We have been up to the cars in the past and I have previously blogged about them so it wasn’t as if we were missing anything.

The other three locations we did visit and I blogged about each one individually because each was interesting in its own right.  You can read about those by clicking on the hyperlinks in blue on this blog. All were low priced to do or free, and within a short driving distance.

We ended up staying 8 days because Murphy, of Murphy’s Law, seemed to think it was a good time to play tricks on us. 

First he kept the right turn signal from working on the trailer.  We spent a huge amount of time on our departure day working on that to learn that the trailer turn signal was a different fuse on the truck than the one the truck turn signal is on.  Once we determined that the fuse was blown that was a quick fix (so we thought) and we hit the road.

Or at least that was the idea as we pulled out.  Roughly 20 minutes later the tire minder screamed at us just as we were getting on the main expressway to take us back into Oklahoma.  The valve stem on the driver’s side outside rear dually tire on the truck had broken.

Normally Gary would have just changed the tire himself, but it was already 98 degrees on the side of the highway.  I called AAA.  The fellow to change the flat was there in about 30 minutes.  I will say this is the first time that the AAA representative showed up in just a car rather than a tow truck.  Luckily Gary already had our tire changing equipment out and was lowering the spare when he arrived.

He verified our AAA membership had rv coverage before he even started.  Even though the now totally flat tire was on the truck the fact the fifth wheel was attached to the back of the truck would have prevented AAA from paying off had we not had the RV policy, unless we detached the rv from the truck.  Which we do have the rv plus policy. So be aware that you must have an rv policy to get AAA to provide the proper coverage while traveling.   He changed the flat quickly and we were off to find a valve stem.

Because our tires had been purchased at Sam’s Club, albeit the Florida one, using our Oklahoma membership there was no charge for the valve stem replacement in Texas and the job was done quickly. Once again we put what they can metal valve stems on the tires to help cut down valve stem breakage due to the after market addition of the tire minders. The valve stems weren't the brass ones we truly needed ones, but they had some metal in them.

However, by then it was around three in the afternoon, which is the time we usually try to be in our next campground by, so we went the five miles back up the road to the Oasis and back into our exact same spot paying the nightly rate for one more night, rather than getting into Woodward, OK after dark.

Since we had done only the very basic of set-up for the single night stay we left early the next day and other than the turn signal fuse being blown again we had no other problems.

The turn signal fuse was to become a great mystery that finally got solved when we returned to Oklahoma for various appointments. More on this later.  Jan who wishes we could just continue to travel rather than bopping back to Oklahoma every few weeks but thankful to be healthy in and away from OK

AMARILLO BOTANICAL GARDENS

It had been years since we had gone to any botanical gardens so we thought this might be another way to enjoy nature in our travels.

Their fee rate is pretty basic $5 adults, $4 seniors and children under a certain age free.  Gary and I qualified for the seniors rate but we also had two coupons, given to us by the Oasis Campground that took $1 each off the price.  They are in an Amarillo attractions book and while most of the coupons in the book are good for 2 or more tickets this particular one you needed one coupon per person.  Luckily Gary spotted that before we left the campground and we were able to acquire another coupon. 

For $3 each we thought the gardens were well worth it.  We enjoyed the conservatory with its rainforest atmosphere even more.

The first few gardens were looking pretty wilted in the 100 degree high humidity weather, and one garden needed some serious dead heading of spent flowers.  Later on in one garden area we found someone working who was doing just that.

The walkways in the gardens all lead back upon themselves and intermingle where you can roam easily from one theme to another.  While the main walkways are wheel chair accessible there are a few individual areas that would be extremely hard to navigate in a chair.  Two that come to mind is one with big natural looking paving stones set loosely in gravel and the Japanese Garden which was a series of stair step decks going down to the koi pond.

There are ways for you to view these areas, but not by roaming the individual pathways.

It appears that each area has a different sponsor who follows a certain theme for their section.  There were some new sections under development that looked like they would be interesting to visit in the future.

Pergolas and benches of every sort decorate the gardens, all generally tied into the theme of that particular garden.  There are also nice garden statues scattered among the flowers and grasses.

We particularly like the conservatory with its waterfall, orchids and the one lone South American (Peru I think they said) duck living in the area.  Ricky, the duck, was a donation from a patron along with Lucy.  However, Lucy did not travel well and failed to survive the trip.  So poor old Ricky sits by the waterfall waiting for visitors. 

The day we were there they had a concert scheduled for in the amplitheater in the evening.  It was suppose to be the Sweet Adalines and another similar group.  We considered coming back for the show, once we had cooled off.

Because all the gardens are naturally outside and the conservatory is of rainforest type we got increasingly warmer as the afternoon went on.

So warm that as we were leaving I threatened to go run through the splash park that was right next to Botanical Gardens.  It was one of the nicest splash parks I had ever seen.

Besides all types of water areas to play in they had a big unique playground with swings that slid on a tube from one end to another as a child rode in it.  We considered filming it, but feared somebody might take us for bad people and call the police, so we decided not to film any of the waterpark or adjoining playground.

Gary told me that while I was probably short enough to play on the splash pads I was too old.  Well I fooled him.  Later that day, back at the campground, I convinced him to go on a walk with me.  Then the skies opened up and we both got cooled off very quickly as we sprinted, okay waddled, back to the camper.

The rain storms of the evening caused us to decide to not go to the open air concert that night. 

Next to the splash pad and playground area was the Helium Monument at the Children’s Discovery Center.  A hands on museum.  We did not go into that museum because we had no children with us.  I do know that the same coupon book had discount coupons for the discovery center as well.

If you are traveling with young children this entire area could be a great spot to visit.  Along with the places I already mentioned, including the botanical gardens which periodically has children’s events, there is a very nice picnic area.  You could easily spend an entire day with young folks.

Here is just a small sample of the beauty of the gardens.  Hope you enjoy.

EL DORADO STATE PARK, EL DORADO KANSAS, BOONDOCK IN WICHITA AND BACK—CAMPS 10, 11, 12

I don’t know what it is about every time we try to head north it is like the truck is terrified to leave the safety of home. 

This time we made it all the way to the gate of the campground before the truck decided it wasn’t going to restart after we stopped to read the check in info on the empty gate host cabin.

It turned out to be an air in the lines problem again and after what seemed like an eternity it finally did start and we were able to move on into the campground and into a fairly shaded pull through campsite one of the camp hosts suggested. 

It had water and 50/30 amp electricity, but no sewer and was $24 a night.  What we weren’t told was there was a $3 fee for each block of time you rented a spot whether it was one night or 14 you paid a $3 registration fee.  They also offer no discounts and of course have a graduating cost depending on what amenities you are getting.  Our rate was $24 a night.

We were on campsite 2 in the Quail Run campground.  Right on the corner of the road and a very easy to access campsite. Fairly level with a gravel drive, no real pad to mention, just a gravel curved pull-thru that you park on. It seemed to be very firm, and when we had rain it didn’t create a problem so all was good.

The site is a bit unusual in one way.  This is an older campground with the state of Kansas slowly adding more and more 50 amp sites, but to avoid having to re-wire everything they are putting the 50 amp boxes on the passenger side of the trailer, opposite the driver side lower amp electric box and the water hook-up.  So you end up with your water on one side of the camper and the 50 amp electric on the other no matter which way you come into the pull thru.  

This means you may need either a longer hose or a longer extension cord for your electric depending on which way you pull in.  Luckily we were able to park just right on the pad and not have a problem with either. Folks whose utilities hook up in different locations on their rig than ours may have a bit of a problem.

We have a good view of the lake from our campsite.

While getting into the campsite and setting up we saw Canadian Geese and deer.  This felt so much better than those in town parking lot campgrounds for relaxing.

Another thing that seems a bit different here is all the undeveloped land between campsites that is apparently being use for prairie hay production.  They had recently mowed and from the way it looked the balers should have been coming soon.  I like the idea that the grounds were producing a useful product that didn’t detract from the natural beauty of the place.

Our first day at the campground we started trying to pull in NBC on our over the air antenna because the Olympic opening ceremonies were scheduled to start in two days.  The opening/closing ceremonies are some of our favorite parts of the Olympics. This was the first we had try to use the already installed but partially broken antenna on the camper since we started traveling in May.  TV simply isn’t that big a priority with us.

After much discussion when we realized that due to some problems with the antenna NBC would only come in badly pixalated we decided it was time to break down and get an antenna.  The one for the camper has some damage to it and the rotator doesn’t work well.

Instead of buying and wiring in a regular camper one we chose one that mounts on the camper window at Wal-mart.  Gary installed it that night.

We were thrilled.  It has a better picture than our satellite system had on the farm, is very thin and compact and Gary didn’t have to get on the roof to install it.  A major win in our book.

At this particular location we could not get ABC with it, but we could with the camper system.  Since the Olympics are on NBC, which was super clear it was a great investment for $60.  A new one for the camper would have cost far more and then would have only been wired for the bedroom (why do they do that?)

We could have found a sports bar to watch the Olympics opening ceremonies at, and then again for the closing and the events we want to watch in between, but we would have spent far more on food doing so.  Plus now we have an antenna for when we do want to watch tv, which we don’t do very often anyway.

I will admit there are a few shows like NCIS I do miss, but without Tony…maybe not as much.  If Abby ever leaves they have lost me as a viewer.

We had planned on going to Cowtown and a historic museum on our second day there but woke to thunderstorms and cooler temps.  Since both the museums have a lot of outdoor displays and the forecast was for storms all day we opted to hang around the camper and catch up on blog posts, video editing and other chores.  Then to enjoy the Olympic opening ceremonies.  Leaving the museums for another day.

We did visit Cowtown the next day, but decided to save the museum for another trip since we had decided to move on earlier than originally planned.

So the day we visited Cowtown we drove around and took a photo of a couple of sculptures that caught our eye. 

While at El Dorado we were alone most of the time, even with the weekend the park didn’t fill completely up.  When we boomeranged back due to truck problems we were literally the only ones other than the camp hosts there on that Tuesday night.

We originally tried to leave on Monday, but once again had a valve stem break so we went to Meineke, in Wichita to get the brass valve stems we had been looking for all along and finally found at Oreilly’s in a small Kansas town.  Unfortunately, by the time we found out from Sam’s Club, who couldn’t/wouldn’t install the stems that it was Meineke we needed to go to they were closed. 

So we boondocked overnight, with permission in Sam’s parking lot.  Even though it was August it wasn’t too bad that night until the rains hit and we had to close the windows,

Naturally, while Meineke was checking the tires they found we had a rear seal going out.  So we went ahead and had them fix that, verifying the work would be warrantied, this turned out to be very important about a week later.

10 valve stems and the rear end work turned out to be a two day job and that is why we ended up back at El Dorado campground  back in site 2 on Tuesday night. We didn't even disconnect and then took the trailer in Wednesday for its part of the valve stem work and we finally got on the road headed further north thinking our worries were over. 

As I mentioned before we were the only people there, but there was abundant wildlife and Gary got some great photos and video.

All in all our stay there was comfortable and pleasant.

COWTOWN MUSEUM, WICHITA, KANSAS

Our friend Cliff from back home recommended we visit the Cowtown museum while we were in the area and we are glad we did.  It was right up our alley as a way to get a taste of history and a little exercise.

The museum is all outdoors in a series of actual buildings from around the area that they use for their displays.  They said they were the only ones in the area to use the actual old buildings.  So it made it that much nicer.

The fees are reasonable to help keep the museum afloat, but we did find out quite by accident that Gary being a veteran got us a bigger discount than AAA or senior citizen.

I believe the docent said there 35 buildings in all and most were open to view at least partially. They were on a couple of different streets

and ranged from the poorest to the richest style of living arrangements.

 I particularly liked the farm at the end of town

There were many of the usual buildings you find in the recreation towns, but all were well outfitted that we went in. 

Some had people in them to discuss the house/business they were in and gave you bits of insight into the lives of that decade.  All that you are allowed to go in, which is most of them, are well outfitted in period correct items for that particular location.

Because we meandered around doing things like going to the gunfight, which is two shows daily in different locations and different scripts daily

To stopping for a soft drink in the saloon ($2 each—20 ounce bottles) and just enjoying the day out we waked roughly two miles that day.

There was a lot to see and we took far too many photos of the little recreation town to post here.

All in all we really enjoyed our afternoon there and want to thank Cliff again for putting us on to the Cowtown Museum and the beautiful artwork nearby in the museum complex there in Wichita.

If you have places you think we should visit as we explore this great nation of ours we’d like to hear from you.  You never know what jewel we might miss because no one told us about it.

TULSA RV RANCH, BEGGS, OKLAHOMA CAMP 9

All the spring and summer rains have made it impossible to get the fifth wheel up the driveway due to washed out ¼ mile drive and trees that grew like crazy due to all the rains.  So we figured rather than damage the Montana it would be worth staying at a campground the few extra days we had decided to stay in the area.

We could have easily stayed at the Okmulgee State Park again, but being the math nerd I am I started looking at numbers both cash wise and time wise.

Tulsa RV Ranch, who accepts Good Sam’s Club and active military discounts, is $35 a night without discounts, or $150 per week, they also have monthly rates and are a year round park. Not to mention they have a horse camp for those who travel with your horses.  You cannot stack discounts and I noticed the electrical boxes on the monthly ones had a meter slot, so that would be a consideration if you were looking at staying there for a month or more.

I will go into more details about the campground after I get through with the math part.

We decided to stay a week extra to take advantage of the weekly discount.  This campground was roughly 5 miles closer to the farm than the one at the lake, and a good 20 miles closer to all the places we needed to run errands to.  Adding in the discounts, the fuel consumption saved and the time.  The RV Ranch was a lot better choice for this trip.

Now about the Tulsa RV Ranch, it is strictly rv’s no tent sites.  Most of the sites are pull through and many of them are 50 amp.  We saw NO public restroom in the campground part, but there was a metal building painted to look like a wild west series of buildings and it did have a bath house on one of the signs, so perhaps it is there. 
Most likely there are at least restrooms in the arena. 

Pets are welcome with all the usual rules.

If you want wi-fi it too is an extra variable fee, we opted to just use the wifi at the farm for our needs. 

What it does have is rental trailers, small cabins, a horse motel, a LARGE arena, a saloon with entertainment, a general store (albeit poorly stocked), putt putt golf course, pool tables, a weekend restaurant, cowboy church, and go carts.  Oh and did I mention it has a horse motel as well?  This is not your usual campground.

It is located right on highway 75 between Okmulgee and Glenpool Oklahoma near the Duck Creek Casino and about 10 miles south of the Glenpool Supercenter Walmart.

They seem to always have something going there, whether it is karaoke at the saloon, or barrel racing in the arena something is always in the works there.  It is also a work in progress.  They are constantly adding more and more to it.

While we were there they seem to be adding more “cowboy cabins” with attached horse stalls by the arena. 

You can visit their website and find out what is going on when at this link Tulsa RV Ranch.

Now for the down side of it. The day we checked in the lady working the desk was less than friendly.  Not mean or grumpy, but I guess “cold” would be the best term.  Perhaps it was because we were there asking for a spot without the trailer and that threw her off.  We explained we were on our way to pick it up, but that didn’t seem to push her friendly button at all. 

We had already been on their website so we knew about the weekly rate, but when I asked about other discounts she volunteered no info.  You see at that point we weren’t certain if we wanted to stay a full week or not.  It wasn’t until I noticed the Good Sam emblem that she said yes they gave a discount but it would only bring it down to $31.25 per night, so the weekly rate was cheaper.

When we asked for certain pull thrus we were told they were not available for a week and we had to settle for a back in.  No problem, at least that site was partially shaded where the  four pull thrus—that remained VACANT the whole time we were there, except for two late evening arrivals that left before daybreak on two different occasions, --were in full sun.

It is our thought they have set places for set number of days and they won’t alter from that, but that is just our assumption. Holding spots for overnighters is probably a good business concept.  I know there have been times I would have given my eye teeth for a campground at the last minute.

We also asked permission to aerial film the park and was given an adamant NO by MS Chilly. Sorry again.

Another strange thing about the set-up is the hook-ups are all at the middle of the pad, which means we had to set the fifth wheel further forward on the pad than we normally would have in order for all our hook-ups to reach without using extensions. No biggie, we are adaptable.

Although the dumpsters were emptied regularly they seemed to be always full.  Not sure how that happened as there weren’t that many people in the park.

The campground wasn’t dirty, but it wasn’t exactly clean either.  Perhaps they just hadn’t had time to clean our site up before we occupied it, but I had to move several items off our gravel pad before we backed in.  We definitely left the campsite cleaner than it was when we arrived.

The entrance/exit is on a hill directly onto highway 75, which is divided at that point and heavily traveled.  While turning right (north) is no problem, someone pulling a big rig trying to turn left (south) might get to wait awhile for a break in the traffic to get out as the medium break is just large enough for a pickup to sit in waiting for a break on the southbound traffic, no where near big enough for a truck and trailer for certain.

When weighing the pros and cons of the place it balances out to be a decent place to stop, especially if you are interested in cowboy style entertainment. 

We a observed various long term campers washing their rigs and found there was nothing in the rules that said you couldn’t.  So we took advantage of it to knock some of the diesel exhaust and bugs off of Betty Claire.  She seemed to be a happier camper after her bath.

After she was bathed we added the new USA states outline decal we had picked up while staying at Edmond from the Oklahoma City Camping World.  We decided with this one we would basically start over with filling in the states with only the ones we had visited since Gary had retired.  Those four little states: AR, MO, OK and TX sure looks pitiful.  We’ll have to fix that.

Next stop: El Dorado Kansas State Park finally traveling to areas we haven’t previously been and adding state five to our map away from OK.

HOME AGAIN CAMP 8.5

Our first week back at the farm was a blur of one appointment or another for various reasons.  I am very pleased to say that all the medical reports came back good. 

Other meetings and appointments were also good.

It took them 10 days to refinish the trailer from the scrape, and to find the electrical problem. 

The turn signal turned out to be that at some point when someone had worked on the wiring they had wired a ground wire in with others where it shouldn’t have been and two loose connectors.  Why anyone would wire it like that none of us know. But between that, the loose connectors the bumpy roads were definitely causing shorts and blowing the fuses.

Since we had purchased the trailer there, they had done all work on it and the loosing of the connectors could have been due to the bump received on their lot we were only charged a small fee for the work AND they fixed for free the hot water tank that had worked loose from the wall. So that went well as well.

Other happy news was by spending long hours in the heat outside and talking calmly to the terrified cat he is back in the house after nearly two months.  It was worth every bit of the time I spent doing so just to see him and Gypsy curled up together on the sofa safe and sound.

Granted he is minus some fur due to stress and allergies, and he has definitely lost weight.  But my baby boy is home safe and sound. 

Sir Oliver Inkwell before being terrorized

After, as you can see he has a lot of fur to grow back, but I have faith it will. 

Once we got back the trailer back we stayed in the area for a short while to help our son with some things, and to also finish up the retraining of the skittish cat. 

The last 7 nights we stayed at Tulsa RV Ranch which is less than 15 miles from the farm.

All in all the visit home was good, but we were anxious to get back on the road and get away from OK.

CENTRAL CAMPGROUND, LAKE ARCADIA, EDMOND OK-CAMP 8

Once again as we left Boiling Springs State Park we discovered the fuse had blown again on that right turn signal. We had checked it in route from Amarillo to Woodward and it was fine, but apparently some time after we checked it the fuse had blown again. 

We were beginning to suspect a short that only happened when we hit rough road and of course there are no rough roads in Texas or Oklahoma right? Yeah right.

The day we left Woodward we met the nice couple next door who were also loading up to leave.  As fate would have it we ran across them twice more that day as we traveled toward Edmond and them toward Arkansas.

Although they left before us and we stopped to take a few photos on our way out we ended up at the same Wendy’s for lunch.  They finished their lunch before we did, but we noticed them fighting with the awning on their cab over pickup camper.  They did manage to get it fixed, or so all of us thought, and depart the restaurant before we did.

 

Gary and I got a little behind them because once again the fuse was blown and we were determined to have right signal lights on the camper.  After we got the lights running AGAIN. We headed on toward Edmond.

Not far down the road we saw the same older couple on the side of the road under an underpass, once again fighting with their awning. Gary stopped immediately to see if we could help.

Luckily we could, we had the step stool needed and Gary had the strength to help the gentleman to get the awning secured into its spot with a tie down cord until they could get home and fix it properly. 

When we stopped the woman told us that once again our signal was not working.  Great!  This was getting annoying, not only was it not safe, we were blowing through packages of fuses like crazy and it was starting to get a little expensive.

Our thought at this point was we had an appointment with the dealership in just a few days so we would park it until the day it was to go in and then let them figure it out.  We were out of things to check and were beginning to wonder if it had anything to do with the scuff they put on the right side when it was in their shop the previous month.

Once we got to Edmond we did just that.  We parked it!

The campground at Edmond is another Oklahoma State Park with easy access.  While our site was less than level it did have full hook ups and a wee bit of shade, so we were happy. 

Our rate was $23 per night less $2 for our senior discount and we had full hook-ups including sewer.  Of course there was no wi-fi, but our Sprint phones did work well there.

The bathrooms were clean, albeit a little older they were decently maintained. 

Since we have simply been not even trying to get tv I don’t know what the reception was like, but several campers had their antennas up.  Since Edmond is not that far from Oklahoma City chances are good the reception was good.

The scenery around the lake was pretty and we found out very well prepared for storm warnings.

The next morning we were blasted out of bed by weather warnings coming over the loud speaker system that we had not previously even noticed.  We took all the normal precautions and hunkered down waiting for the “high winds” to hit.  They never materialized thank goodness.  For us it was “just a drill” but others in the state did not fair as well. 

We even had a few more trees come down back at the farm, this we didn’t know until we went there the next week.

We asj die and were denied permission to aerial film the campground.  Sorry no video of this comfy campground from the air.

Edmond was a fun visit for us, while we have several friends in the area we only got to visit briefly with one of them.  A delightful young lady we had known since she was just a young thing and now she has nearly grown kids of her own.

The birds in the area were your normal fare, but still enjoyable.  This was the first campsite we had come across that had birds known as Kites in the area.  This handsome one was perched on a tree top next to our camper one afternoon.

We also came across something we had never seen before at a campground.

We never saw anyone there, but the day we left the motor home was gone and instead there was a uhaul trailer behind the limo and part of the boating equipment was off the trailers.  Strange to say the least, but it did make for interesting conversation.

While staying at the campground we ventured around the area to go to another fort, this time it was Fort El Reno, travel a little on Route 66, and to eat at Pops, which I reviewed a few years back.  It has not changed and the burger was good.

During our stay there my son called to give me news I had thought I’d never hear.  My beloved cat that had disappeared when we were home in June after being terrified by various things had shown up.  I couldn’t believe it.  My baby was home.  Ollie wouldn’t let Sean near him, and he’d lost a lot of weight and fur, but he was home and eating everything Sean set out for him.  I couldn’t wait to get home and coax him back into the house.

Since we weren’t that far from Camping World in OKC we went over there to get a new USA map decal.  We had purchased the suction cup version one when we first got the trailer a year ago thinking we wouldn’t want to put the decal type of the camper.

Here’s a quick review of the suction cup one.  It stinks!  It won’t stay on a window, it can’t be seen through the tinted windows (after all the whole idea is to use it as a conversation starter right?), it wrinkles horribly in the sun and was a total waste of the $30 I had spent on it last year.  

Being the tight wad I am I won’t throw it out, which is what it deserves, I’ll put it in the front of my travel scrapbook instead so it won’t be a total loss.  It only had 19 states on it so far anyway.

Camping world had the regular decal one on sale for far less than we could get it anywhere else and there were a few other things Gary wanted to check out, but didn’t buy because he knew his prices on the items and knew he could get it cheaper elsewhere.

We did get a bit of a surprise while there.  Just as we were getting in line to pay for the decal the clerk rushed from behind the counter and after a man running out the door.  What drew my attention to it was the clerk going “Sir, Sir, Sir stop please” then the man peeling out in his car.

I turned to Gary and said “I wonder what is going on.”

He said “the guy just shoplifted a compressor, I saw him take it.”

So we got to hang around a bit so Gary could give the police an eye witness report.

Between that, the clerk getting the tag number, the fact the clerk had just inventoried that compressor and had the serial number of it, and Camping World’s security system chances are good the guy was going to be caught and prosecuted. We haven’t heard any more on it and we left for home not long after that.

The day we left there we went straight back to our home base dropping our fifth wheel at the dealership for the repairs they had promised to do for free and to have them see if they could figure out the mysterious on again off again tail light. 

At least we got there safely and of course the light was working when we hit the lot. Isn’t that always the way with auto/rv repairs?  But when my husband went to move the trailer to where they wanted him to drop it the thing blew the fuse thankfully.

Now it was back to the sticks and bricks until we got the trailer back.

Jan who wishes she didn’t have to come back to the farm so often in OK

FORT EL RENO, OKLAHOMA

There was a huge difference in touring Ft. El Reno over touring Ft. Supply.  First of all my friend, Wendy Ogden is the curator of the Calvary section so it was great fun to see how cute little Wendy had grown up to be such a beautiful woman and to see her children.

Maybe I am partial, but I love the way Wendy has handled putting the building together. Each painting is not only labeled with who painted it and the name of the painting, but exactly what had lead up to the event that the painting was about and also, sometimes, what happened after that.  

I really appreciate little extras like that. While my husband and I are both history buffs there is no way we can know all things about all segments of US history.  So having that bit of historical information added next to each painting made studying the works of art even more understandable and enjoyable.

If it had to do with the Calvary there was something to represent it in the museum. From horses in  saddles to furnished living quarters, to uniforms, to weapons. From the beginning through the air raid sirens of our modern wars.

Oh and let’s not forget the camel saddles, yes camels.  Many people are not aware that our calvary used camels here in the US at one time.  We knew about it, because we had actually already been to the grave site of the main camel herder for the cavalry near Quartzite, AZ and learned about his history by reading up on him after viewing his unusual grave monument.

The entire building was comfortable even in the extreme heat outdoors.

After visiting the Calvary Museum we wandered the grounds snapping photos of

The adjuncts office

Calvary barracks

Commisary

Guard house

And, at Wendy’s suggestion we took a drive up to the cemetery on the hill.  In the cemetery there were definite sections, including the section that had seemed to be for the Germans only.

As with any adventure in this part of the US I came across a family name. Charles Howard, he was a civilian employee of the quarter master, but I am not certain this is our Charles Howard, but the date is close to the time he disappeared from the public records I have researched so far. 

On our trip back to Edmond we traveled old Route 66, many of the once famous sites are now gone, of course but the drive in theater is still there.  It’s out of business, but it is an eye catcher for certain.

As time goes on we hope to travel more and more of Route 66 in and away from OK

BOILING SPRINGS STATE PARK, WOODWARD, OK-CAMP 7

Once again we chose to stay at a campground we were familiar with.  This time it was campsite # 4 in Boiling Springs State Park.  I blogged about this campground in 2009/2010 as well you can read the write up about it by clicking on the hyper link above.

The campsites there are basically first come first served.  This time we were in one of the only ten 50 amp sites in Whitetail campground, site #4.  While the site wasn’t bad, we have had better, much better. 

Our nightly rate was $21 instead of the posted $23 because this is an Oklahoma state park and they give a $2 discount to seniors. It is open year round but the maximum you can stay is two weeks and there are no weekly discounts.

The picnic tables are so close to the pad asphalt pad that if your unit is very long you might have to park a little closer to the benches of the table than you prefer. At 37 ft we barely fit on the asphalt pad, in fact our rear stablizers were on the gravel part of the pull through site.

We choose site 4 because it had a bit of shade, appeared to be an easy in and out and the drop off from the pad to the gravel was minimal, unlike a couple of the other sites where it was almost a curb height drop off.

The bathroom was a few rows over and while old and needing some renovation it was clean.

We weren’t allowed to fly the quadcopter at this campsite so I am afraid still shots of the area will have to do.

As the sign indicated there are three types of campsites at this particular campground and the best shaded sites are the tent sites.  However we saw a LOT of big red ants in those campsites, so if you are tent camping come prepared for them. 

In our evening walks we went a couple of places at the state park itself.  One was the nature trail very close to our campsite and directly behind the nice playground with its own version of the “Kissing Rocks” (see Dogpatch USA, post).

The other was the boiling spring itself.

While on the nature walk we took various photos of the campground, some unique natural “sculptures”, huge Osage Orange (Bodark) trees and the nearby tent sites.

This tree was at our campsite and upon looking at it various times we decided it was a tree spirit couple.  Do you see the bearded man and his mate?

When I wrote previously about Boiling Springs State Park I wrote about being disappointed about the “boiling” area. Not so this time.  They have greatly improved the area where you view the bubbling effect of the glaciers of years ago.  There is now a nice park area with information panels, benches and a nature trail to enjoy.

While the actual “boiling” of the spring in this area is not all that spectacular, it is interesting.

Every evening we would see this beauty or one of its herd show up just a couple of campsites away from us.

While at Boiling Springs we naturally took a side trip to Ft. Supply and another one to Shattuck, OK to visit the Windmill Museum, both were interesting and free.  Although they do accept donations. The best type of entertainment.

In our travels through Gage, OK we stumbled across a Jim’s Metal Art Museum that was out of business, but still had numerous sculptures sitting around.