Greetings friends,
Our goal upon leaving Miami, OK, just S/W of Joplin, MO, is to get back home in the most expedient, yet safe, manner as possible. We are heading west on our old friend and frequent traveling companion, Interstate 40. We are done sightseeing and looking forward to getting home. Today we departed Miami, OK, at 6:30 a.m. under clear skies with temperatures in the mid-70's, headed for Amarillo, TX via Tulsa and Oklahoma City, OK.
Our journey west has brought us some good fortune, the unbearable humidity that we have suffered for the past two weeks was beginning to subside. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the heat. By the time we reached Tulsa, where we stopped at the Hard Rock Casino for Bob to collect another pin for his daughter, the temperature had risen to the mid-90's where it would stay all day. But, as they say out west, "It's a dry heat." They wouldn't say that if they saw the seat of my pants!
Passing through Oklahoma City we considered stopping at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, but we had a lot of miles to make and driving through town during the lunch hour in the heat was just not an attractive option. We motored on.
Entering the panhandle of Texas, one could not help but to make a comparison between the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee, Missouri and parts of Oklahoma with the stark contrast of the absolutely flat prairie lands of Texas approaching Amarillo. The highest thing in sight, beyond the top of my helmet, was a grain elevator.
One of the interesting things about a road trip is the people you meet. We ran into a nice chap from England riding a well-worn, oil covered, seventies vintage Triumph "motorbike" with a Vetter fairing that he shipped to the US. He was taking a 9,000 mile solo tour around the country. He was also headed for LA, where he would ship his motorcycle back home again.
We arrived in Amarillo to find that our Holiday Inn Expresses and Marriott affiliate hotels that we had been enjoying at very reasonable rates, thanks to our hotel guru Lane, were not available. We opted for a off-brand hotel from a coupon book and checked into $38.00 rooms, which we immediately upgraded to the newly refurbished $59.00 rooms with air conditioning that actually worked and you could make out the original color of the carpet.
We split up for supper. Some of us opted for the Outback Steakhouse while the remainder enjoyed the Hofbreau Steaks restaurant, both withing walking distance. No one was disappointed or went to bed hungry.
Tomorrow, we're going to try to make Flagstaff, AZ, 612 miles to the west and get home the following day, Friday, July 1, 2011, God willing, the creek don't rise and the road gremlins don't find us.
Best regards from,
John and the Usual Suspects
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