Baymont Inn And Suites Wichita Falls

After a quick breakfast, we hit Interstate 20 again, heading towards Texas – ye haw! By the time we had reached Taylor, TX the temperature had rocketed up to 22 degrees. For lunch we stopped at a buffet restaurant called Sweet Sue's Restaurant and boy, were we stuffed to the gills by the time we left - $7.99 all you could eat including dessert. The waitress was really friendly and we ...

... cover that can cut their pads), but the warm winds feel good. Donna and I spent an afternoon at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Bison (Tahtonka!), long-long horned cattle roaming free, and unusual birds. The cattle around the park headquarters were especially friendly - they would come right up to the windows and look at you, and lick the glass to give you a big kiss!

September 16, 2009 (Wednesday) – Midland/Odessa, TX (300 miles)



They call it "the smell of money". I don't know who came up with the phrase but the gas wells in this area still stink. I can remember coming through several years ago and seeing most of the oil pumps sitting idle. Now, with the cost of a barrel of oil, I guess production is going a little better.

There’s really not much to say about this ...

Juan figured it would be a good time for me to learn the ins and outs of his truck so I got my first experience driving a Dodge 3500 5 speed through down town Dallas and on to Ardmore where I was just too tired to go on. Pouring rain and Motel 6 beckoned.

... out - but in Amarillo we headed south-east toward Wichita Falls TX - our destination for the night. My original plan was to make it to Forth Worth/Arlington - but it would have been over 10 hours of straight driving time (not including stops) and that was too much for one day. We couldn't believe the heat in Texas - over 100 degrees at 8 pm. That night I heard about the heat wave on the ...

Dinner at 9:15pm

Popeye's Chicken and Pioneer diner both cloased at 9pm, so we had to do the 24 hour IHOP

Our waitress "Granny" had been a waitress for 50 years! Started when she was 13! Should have taken a picture, next time.

... of place for this church, but we found that it was errected on behalf of all the churches in the area. At this point we were right outside Oklahoma City so we made our way to the memorial site of the Murrah Federal Building. Very somber yet beautiful site. We were getting near the end of this part of the Route 66 trip, but we had two more places we wanted to get in. I personally was very excited to get our picture in front of the Yukon's Best Mill and we did. But, we wanted to end this ...

... Sadly I couldn't fit him in the van. Then we went to this round barn where I got 5 hot wheels cars that I get to play with. Then we went upstairs where you can have weddings and auctions. When you stand in the middle in sounded like there was a microphone, but when you walked out it sounded regular. After that was a gas station/soda pop place called Pop's . They FIVE HUNDRED different kinds of soda. Then we went to this church called Lifechurch for 20 minutes ...

Today there was the report of severe weather moving in by tonight. Wind, rain, thunder and lighting are predicted. So... we decided not to stay in Texas and see the Palo Duro Canyon but instead to move on east to stay ahead of the storm. We ended up in Elk City, OK and spent the afternoon touring Foss Lake State Park. What a layout!!! Hookup sites ...

... a river fish) in caramelised rum coconut sauce. We shared a bottle of fine Californian c******nay and alligator bites (exactly like old fashioned fish-and-chip-shop "shark" but a bit chewier). Beats hell out of take-out in the motel room. Oklahoma City presented such navigational challenges that I was thrilled to hit the road for Muskogee the following day on our way to Fayetteville. Muskogee was on our ...