Tulsa to Elk City, Oklahoma

It wasn't raining when we first got up and around this morning. But, by the time we were ready to pull out just after 9:00, there was a light rain. This is the KOA at Catoosa, Oklahoma, where we spent last night. That's just a little northwest of Tulsa.


This was our site there.



We had a pretty uneventful drive today. For most of the way between Tulsa and Oklahoma City we were in the rain. I was reminded of our trip this way last August during a tropical depression. Today was not nearly that bad!

We took the I-44 Turnpike to Oklahoma City, then the northern loop, also a turnpike, around to the west, where we picked up I-40. I think our tolls were a total of $21.00, including yesterday. For a few miles outside Oklahoma City, I-40 was extremely rough. Eventually, it smoothed out and the rain stopped, at least for awhile.

Along the way we saw a few interesting things, like a tumbling-down barn:

A Jet:
Wind Generators:
Lots of water:

And big rolls of hay. We stopped and topped off the tank again today, as we usually do. The price was the same today as yesterday, $4.499 per gallon. We traveled 227 miles and got 8.6 mpg.

We are staying at a Passport America park, Elk Run RV Park in Elk City, Oklahoma. There's not much here, but at $14 for the night, I'm ok with it. Tomorrow we'll be at Dickie Stout RV Dealership in Amarillo. We'll stay there one night and have our appointment first thing Thursday morning. We have a list of minor things that need to be fixed or adjusted under warranty. We are really hoping we don't get stuck in Amarillo, waiting for parts!

Branson to Tulsa

We had quite a treat last night. Jim Guld made a movie of many of the rally events. Those of us who were still at ABC gathered under the big top for one last evening together. It's like we just weren't ready to let go of the fun and friendships just yet. Chris Guld played a slide show of various blogs while Jim finished up the video. Once the video started, we laughed until our sides hurt. It was so fun to share those moments once again. Several people brought snacks to share, and I saw at least 2 bottles of wine under the tent, as well as other adult beverages. Linda brought out a couple of bowls of popcorn to enjoy while watching the movie.

This morning we were up and around by 7. We got the Castle ready to roll and then went around to say "See Ya Later" to everyone who was still there, including Howard and Linda, Joe and Sherri, Debbie and Bill, Leslie and Mike, and Jesse and Ginger. We missed a few who left earlier, so if we didn't get to say it in person, we sure enjoyed meeting you and wish you all safe and happy travels!

We decided to take 65 north back towards Springfield and pick up the shortcut southwest to I-44. We headed west on I-44 and ended up at a KOA in Tulsa for the night. We'd talked about going to Keystone Lake State Park, but with the rain and thunder storms, and the fact we'll only be staying one night, we decided to stop at a convenient place rather than drive over 20 miles out of the way. Hopefully there will be another opportunity to stay at the state park when we have more time to stay a few days or a week and really enjoy it. This KOA is right off Interstate 44, but we're at the opposite end from the traffic, so it won't be too noisy. We took a site that has just 30 amp electric and water, so it was only $25. That's what we would have paid for the state park, so it evened out. Our mileage today was pretty good. At one point we reached 8.9 mpg. We also found a place to top off the fuel at $4.499. We traveled 210 miles.

The rain had nearly stopped when we got here and set up. I was able to go out and walk the dogs before it let loose again. We have flash flood warnings for another couple of hours. With the rain, it took several resets on the Directv receiver before we got satellite tv to come in. There are quite a few local channels, so we have a choice.

Both of us are tired, and I suspect it will be an early evening. I didn't take any pictures today, even when we crossed the state line into Oklahoma. Just think of a road going along with lots of green on either side of the road, and of course, clouds and rain. That should give you a good idea of the scenery today!

It was hard to leave Branson and the new friends we've made, but I know we'll meet again, down the road!

Rally Wrap Up

In the blink of an eye, it's over. The past two days were a whirlwind in hindsight, but at the time things were happening, it didn't seem so frantic in those moments. I'll try to convey the highlights.

Thursday afternoon, several of the chatters from the rv-dreams.com chat room gathered here in the Castle to plan a special presentation for Howard and Linda that evening at the potluck. They opened the chat room a year ago this month, and since then, several of us have gotten to know each other through our evening chats online. Two of the folks who couldn't attend the rally, "Roz" and "Foxriverguy", actually wrote up the script for the presentation, which included a live chat session that was to be projected up on the big screen for the whole rally audience to see.

From left to right are Jenny, Dee, Speedhitch (Joe), and Mrs. Speedy (Sherri) planning.

There were rainstorms during the afternoon, some of them pretty heavy. But it stopped just in time for the potluck. Such great food appeared in amazing abundance! Thanks to all the rv dreamers who participated in making that a successful event!

This is a peek at the table, there were still more dishes coming in!

After dinner, Howard set up his computer to join the chat room. The image was projected up on a big screen for the whole audience to see.

Chatting from left to right are Speedy, Bob-Guy, Dee, Jenny and Ellie.

Following the dinner and presentation to Howard and Linda, which, by the way, got them both a little choked up teary-eyed, it was time to move on to the Karaoke session. The presentation was a small plaque to let them know how much their efforts have meant to so many people.

Denny Stanford got the musical entertainment started with a couple of songs. Nice job, Denny!

Nicholas Gimmarro (Camper_Boy's son) was celebrating his 12th birthday. He played Red Dirt Road for us.

My Boyfriend's Back, sung by Dale Bruss, Linda Payne and Michelle of ABC:

A very talented Art Bailey (husband of Carol Bailey, Tylersamma) sang 3 or 4 times

Even Chris Guld took the floor for several songs:

Below, a special treat. Ruthie, one of the campground employees, (in the yellow top) gathers the colors of the rainbow for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow). She's got a beautiful voice! There are some talented colors of the rainbow in the background, too!

Howard's turn:

Friday, after the morning seminars, Jim Guld, of http://www.geeksontour.com/ came over to the Castle to solve an issue with my computer. Once that was taken care of, it was nearly time to head over for the Hillbilly Party and Contest. What a night's entertainment that turned out to be!

Two of the Hillbillies, Linda and Jim:

The Winner! The most hillbilly of them all: Speedhitch (with the yellow flower on "her" hat)! Standing next to him (Her?) is Mrs. Speedhitch, Sherri:

Another winner was announced - Debbie Goode was the winner of the 50-50 Raffle. The $500 winning amount was donated to Howard and Linda, what a great gesture, Debbie! Thank you for your generosity!

This morning, we got up early once again (this is a bad habit we intend to break very soon) to go to the farewell breakfast. All too soon, that was over and people started loading up and heading out. There are a few of us left to spend another night or two here.

Our first rally has been a great adventure! Of course, this is a very special community that Howard and Linda Payne started with their website. I'm not sure if they envisioned the group to be what has evolved from their decision about 3 years ago to trade their business and house for a life as full timer RVers. But it has grown to a close knit group of caring, wonderful folks and we're proud to be part of it. We'll miss our new friends, but hope to meet many of them down the road as we just travel this great country!

Thursday, Rally Day Two

We opted out of going to the first seminar, "Getting Ready to Fulltime" for a couple of reasons. The main one being that it started at 8:00 a.m! And, if we're not ready by now, we probably never will be.

I used that time to begin preparing for the open house to be held in the afternoon. I am always amazed how things can accumulate! Especially with the rally going on. We got a packet of brochures and advertisements when we first checked in last Friday. I got a folder of handouts from the computer class on Monday and Tuesday. We got not one, but two bags of information (including duplicates of the ones we got at check-in) from the rally registration on Wednesday. I needed to sort through the stack and deal with the extra clutter.

At 11:00 we attended the seminar on financial management, which was very informative. As usual with this type of presentation, I came out with questions and resolve to learn more about the sometimes confusing, but always important, world of finance.

After the seminar, it was time to put the finishing touches on the Castle for open house. The schedule incuded 2, two hour time slots. We were in the earlier group, from 2 to 4 pm. Karon agreed to help me here, since they were not having their Discovery open. She provided a much needed safe zone for Jasmine, who tends to be vocal when people come in. And come in they did. We had a constant stream of folks coming through for most of the two hours. I'd hoped to take a break to see the other open rigs in our time slot, but that didn't happen. After our time was up, Karon and I visited a few of the other rigs open in the later time slot. There are some very beautiful units here.

In a weak moment, I agreed to participate as a "model" in the rv-dreams fashion show after dinner. We were treated to a wonderful meal that included dessert first! Then it was time to get prepared for the show.



Dale Bruss started off by modeling her outfit for cleaning the outside of the rig:

Jerry Bertlesen modeled his favorite RV hat.

Jenny Johnson finds a geocache in her outdoors attire:

Tim Thorpe shared his Sturgis Motorcycle Rally party hat

Linda has a special outfit for coloring her hair


Jeff, "RV-Dude" Peterson hunting "cougar"

Marilyn Dray demonstrated her robe and "undie-hair-net"






I had to share my early morning dog-walking attire. Since I couldn't bring my real dogs into the building, Jenny loaned me her "dog" Spot. Thanks, Jenny!


It was a fun night. After the festivities, people once again gathered under the big top for cards, dominoe games and internet cafe for chat. The days are going so fast sometimes it's a blur, but we are having a great time at our first rally!