Day 86 - Dawn Of The Dead
Trip Start
May 19, 2008
1
88
161
Trip End
Nov 08, 2008
Chicota,
Texas,
United States
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
As we drove down the minor roads on our way to join Highway 7, we commented on how we could have been on an English country road (except for the different road markings and the fact that we were driving on the wrong side of the road).
After around a couple of hours on the road and passing through the small town of Fox, we came through the city of Ardmore where we saw one of the largest flags we have ever seen (we did see an even bigger one earlier in the trip). We certainly wouldn't want it to come loose and flap across our windscreen, that's for sure.
On our way to the city of Durant we crossed over Lake Texoma, so named because it straddles Texas and Oklahoma. We also passed quite a few oil wells, part of the Texoma oil field (no further explanation necessary!). The sky was still overcast and we were quite grateful for the break from the scorching sun.
We had planned to camp around Durant but as it was still early we decided to crack on to Hugo and Kiamichi Park at Hugo Lake. After eventually finding our way through the appallingly signposted Hugo, we arrived to find the campsite closed, but only after we had driven 4 miles through the park to get there.
A Very Grey Morning
Why don't these people cover up their signs when things are closed? As we drove away from the locked gate the camp host arrived and explained that they were having to re-build the roads through the site as they were collapsing. He also offered to let us stay for free at one of the two pitches on the road through the park as they would literally be a place to stay, there was no water or electric hooked up to them. He also told us we could get showers at another location in the park. We gratefully accepted and went off to find the showers. After around 30 minutes of checking every building on every road through the park and still not finding them, we resigned ourselves to bus washes and went to get parked up. No sooner had we popped the roof and were just getting settled in when a ranger pulled up and told us that the pitches weren't actually pitches and that we couldn't stay there. He said that there was another site a few miles away around the other side of the lake. So we packed up again a and followed his directions to the other site. We arrived to be "greeted" by one of the most ignorant camp hosts we have yet encountered and instructed to go and find a pitch and then go back to the gatehouse to register with the pitch number. On the way through we checked out the toilets and showers (in light of the bad "facilities" last night) and found them to be nice and clean. So armed with our chosen pitch number, we drove the half a mile (no exaggeration) back to the gate house to be "greeted" by the other most ignorant camp host we have met (presumably his wife) and ended up telling them to forget it and drove off.
It Could Be Blighty!
Now faced with quite a few more miles driving ahead of us, we stopped for fuel on the outskirts of Hugo. Neil went into pay to be met by much enthusiasm from the staff and several customers as to where we were from, where we were going, etc, etc. They obviously don't get many international visitors to Hugo. One of the customers was a lady who we soon learned was named Dawn. She chatted with both of us on the forecourt, telling us how envious she was that we would be seeing New England in the fall, before saying goodbye and waving as she drove off.
As we headed back towards Hugo and our road south to Texas, we suddenly saw a car pulled over by the side of the road and Dawn waving for us to pull over and stop. We pulled over thinking that she may have a flat tyre or something but instead she rather excitedly asked if we would like to see the local cemetery where some famous people were buried. We agreed and she told us to follow her. In the bus, Mel commented to Neil how it reminded her of the Stephen King novel, Misery, to which Neil replied that she seemed like a nice, harmless lady, and Mel countered with, "well so did Cathy before she locked the writer in her cellar and got her sledgehammer out"!!!
The cemetery was only a couple of minutes away and as we parked up Dawn was already out of her car and raring to go. It turned out that her husband was a former Mayor of Hugo and so she was used to doing the PR thing for the town. It also turned out that he was now on the committee for the cemetery.
Almost The Largest Flag In The World
She obviously gets very excited about her husband's work! She explained to us that many of the big circuses come to Hugo over the winter and consequently a lot of the former big names in the industry are buried there. Hugo is actually referred to as "Circus City". There are also several rodeo cowboys in this cemetery, the most famous being Warren Granger "Freckles" Brown, a legendary bull rider born in Wheatland, Wyoming on January 18, 1921. He died March 20, 1987, at his ranch in Oklahoma. His career spanned from 1937 to 1974, competing in bull riding, saddle bronco riding, bareback riding, team roping, and bulldogging. He was PRCA World Champion Bull Rider in 1962 and is remembered for riding an "unrideable" bull named Tornado in 1967 that had thrown over 200 riders over a 14 year period. Also in the cemetery is the headstone for the "Marlboro man", Max Bryan "Turk" Robinson. He was born in 1931 and is still alive, living in Hugo, Oklahoma. Not content with picking out his plot it seems, his headstone is there, all engraved with everything except the date of his death (obviously), and that of his also living wife too. Quite spooky.
The whole "tour" took less than 10 minutes and after thanking Dawn and saying goodbye we all left in our respective vehicles, with her showing no signs of wanting to take us home and lock us in her cellar. She was actually a very nice lady indeed and it was really good of her to give up her own time to show us something interesting. And so after doing another circuit of Hugo, thanks to the really bad signs, we eventually headed south.
Approaching Lake Texoma
About 10 miles south of Hugo we crossed back into Texas, and this time we did have a big sign to welcome us. A few miles further south still we turned off towards Pat Mayse Lake and another campsite. The first one that we arrived at, Sanders Cove, was employing the same system as the last one in Oklahoma, and so after passing the gate house we went to find a pitch. On the way to the pitches we stopped off to check out the showers. Mel came out of the ladies to report that they weren't brilliant and in fact there was a toad in one of them! So around we turned again and carried on to the next site, fortunately on the same lake. Same system again and this time it was a good mile between the gate and the pitches. (Did someone argue that Americans aren't wasteful?)
They weren't the best showers we've used but then after what we had seen earlier they weren't the worst either so we drove back, registered and paid and then stopped off to have our showers before going back down to our pitch as it was getting dark by now. Unfortunately it hasn't been Mel's day for showers today and she came out of these ones to report that there was an infestation of chigger-like insects in the ladies!
Not surprisingly, this site isn't very busy and so at least we should get a good night's sleep as there aren't many people around to make any noise.
Miles travelled: 241
Total miles travelled: 8229
Days on road: 66
States visited: 13
National Parks visited: 11
