Holiday Inn Express And Suites Wichita Falls

... her accent – very Texan. Kate just loved the mashed potatoes and gravy there and had 3 helpings.
From lunch it was only a 30 minute drive to Athens, TX and the R.V yard where Fred and Mike bought our 5th Wheel in 2007. We were greeted like long, lost friends by Lex, the parts guy who Fred has been in touch with on e-mail for well over a year, so it was neat to meet him finally. We ...

A week with Joyce, Bob & Debra, enjoy the photos - we don't get to see them often enough! So, it was good to catch up and spend some time with them.. Really hot there during the day - but perfect weather for stargazing in the evening! Donna gets a little nervous outside after dark when the coyotes howl, and it is certainly not a place to take your dog (burrs, sharp edged ...

... got Congress to agree to the $30K expenditure to bring Arabian camels to the west to advance exploration. The first ones arrived in Indianola, TX in 1857. At the end of the Civil war, interest in the animals waned and they were auctioned off in 1863. I don’t know how long camels live, but I don’t think the ones in the area today are the originals.

In addition to the park, there is also the Odessa Meteor Crater and the ...

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.

... what a time to visit Texas!

We stayed in a Hampton Inn in Wichita Falls TX and it was by far the nicest hotel we've stayed in so far. We got there late, but promised the kids a swim - so we quickly checked in and let them go to the pool until it closed at 10 pm. We've been using Pandora to find classical music to lull the kids to sleep at the hotels and it works pretty well.

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 the trip with an Onion Fried Burger at Johnnies in El Reno. It did not disappoint. One of our best meals and we all ate for $17. It's a bit like a slider, but WAAYYY better. And the corn dog was good too! Well, that ends this part of the Route 66 stuff. We have to get down to Texas, so we headed south from there. After watching Adeana moo at cows and a few bathroom breaks we stopped to stay the night in Wichita Falls, TX. Tomorrow we're going to make Jessica and Kristin very jealous :-)

We went to the winery where my mom tasted like 20 wines and I took a ton of pictures. Next we went to a Mexican restaurant where I had a chicken quesadilla with fries and it was really good. Then I went to this place where a guy made all the attractions from Route 66 on his property. There was the peace van that you see in cars, the blue whale, herbie the love bug, and more stuff. And there was this dog there that was so nice and he wanted to come home with me ...

... in Elk City, do some laundry and hopefully will not have to evacuate to the store shelter (yes they have 2 of them in our campground.) Land is cheap out here. One of my pics shows the land where you can buy 140 acres for only $89,900. Takers??? Tomorrow it is off the OK, City and we told Tom we would come on in to Tulsa on Thursday afternoon. More later.

... a reflection of fact. If you're ever in the area, it's worth a visit, if only for the gallery - it's free on Wednesdays. That evening we celebrated our "10th anniversary". Since we won't be going to New Orleans we went to Bourbon Street Café on the Oklahoma City canal for a shot at Creole cuisine. David had crawfish which it turns out are not lobster but a sort of fluffy prawn. I had blackened tilapia ...