Our Wander Years

STE2 Hop 5: Bartlesville OK to Durant OK

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 5

222 miles via US 75, with a refueling stop and an unexpected detour in Tulsa. Cumulative tow miles: 1140. Truck miles: 285. Cumulative truck miles: 1225.

This was probably the longest hop we have ever traveled on a single US route. US 75 travels basically due south all the way, so it was a logical choice. Google wanted to divert us onto a toll road south of Tulsa, but we don’t like toll roads so we continued on US 75. Or tried to. Turns out there was a closed ramp for where US 75 turned west in Tulsa and I missed the detour sign, so I had to scramble and find my own detour. It cost us a couple of miles and about 5 minutes. Not a big problem.

We didn’t like US 75 much. Parts of it were smooth and wide, but most of it was narrow and bumpy. And more sharp curves than I expected. The rough ride jumbled things in the RV pretty good. Jett didn’t like the curves.

Our home in Bartlesville was the Riverside RV Resort. I didn’t have high hopes for this park. On Google Earth it looked small and the sites looked cramped. But we were given one of the few pull-through sites in the park and it worked out very nicely. It put our window side up against the creek, which gave us a lot of privacy. We didn’t even drop our shades at night.

We spent our free day in Pawhuska (see my previous post) and spent the night surviving a severe thunderstorm. Before the storm hit I took Rusty out for a walk where I was trying to find a place to shelter in case we received a tornado warning. Didn’t find much – Plan B was to drop down into the river ravine and hang onto roots. Not much of a plan, but, fortunately, I didn’t have to execute it. The rain was heavy only for about an hour. The lightning was too frequent and too close, but did no damage – except the loud clap at 3:11am the made both Jett and me pop up out of bed.

I never like severe thunderstorms in Oklahoma.

I was chatting with our neighbor the morning after and the topic of Rockport TX arose – our STE2 Hop 8 destination. She said she was there just 2 weeks ago and the Hurricane Harvey devastation is hard to believe. She showed me some photos. Horrible. I expect we will see things we have never seen before when we get down there.

Today we are going to the Choctaw Casino. We will probably lose money there – money that we should have donated to Hurricane Harvey relief.

Categories: OK, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

Pawhuska OK

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Sparky

Flying the Osage Nation flag

We used our free day in Bartlesville OK to travel 20 miles to Pawhuska, in the Osage Reservation, and capital of Osage Nation. We visited the Osage Nation Museum, which is a nice little museum chronicling the history of the Osage tribe – including the period in the 1920’s when white men married Osage women, then murdered them, specifically to obtain the rights to the oil that had been found on tribal lands. Several dozen Osage Indians were murdered during this period. Murderous greed.

We also walked around downtown Pawhuska, which was a fairly interesting small town with some interesting shops featuring Osage crafts. We had some ice cream and marveled at the line which wrapped around The Mercantile. We learned that Pawhuska is home to the Pioneer Woman, one of the most popular chefs on the Food Network. She actually is in the restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays and people travel hundreds of miles to see her and sample her new recipes.

We didn’t stand in line.

Osage Nation Museum

Shopping

Pioneer Woman line

Categories: Adventures, OK, Places, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 4: Junction City KS to Bartlesville OK

Posted on October 21, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 4

209 miles via US 77, US 400, KS 99, US 166, US 75 and US 60 with a refueling stop in El Dorado KS. Cumulative tow miles: 918. Truck miles: 209. Cumulative truck miles: 940.

The truck miles equaled the tow miles in the case because we did something we almost never do: we stayed hitched up overnight. That meant that we needed to plan a refueling stop for Hop 4. There weren’t a lot of options – we didn’t pass a single gas station in the nearly 90 miles to El Dorado. And we cut it close – the low fuel light popped on as we turned into the service station. But we made it, no problem. We even took a lunch break.

The route was, as usual in Kansas, boring. The only thing that made it interesting is that the corn and wheat harvests were in high gear and nearly every field had harvesting activity. Which also meant that there were a lot of trucks on the road hauling the harvest. But no major slowdowns.

Our one-night stop in Kansas was at the Owl’s Nest Campground. Our original plan was to spend 2 nights here, but we cut it to one in order to make it to Bartlesville OK on Friday – so we could get to the Osage Nation Museum on Saturday. It turns out that we didn’t like the campground much and were very glad it was just one night. The campsites were mostly small and the roads were narrow. Plus there was no cable TV and absolutely no over-the-air service. So we played cards, watched DVDs and left without looking back.

While we didn’t like our overnight stay very much, we had to appreciate it for what it was: the culmination of our 5-year goal to visit all 48 states.

Refueling stop in El Dorado

#48 – Kansas

Hitched up at our site

Categories: KS, OK, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 3: Kearney NE to Junction City KS

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 3

242 miles via I-80, NE 10, KS 8, US 36, US 81 and I-70. Cumulative tow miles: 709. Truck miles: 258. Cumulative truck miles: 731.

Sunset at the Kearney RV Park

This was another boring trip in terms of the scenery, but this time we had some navigation issues to keep us busy. I originally planned this to be a 230-mile trip the used only about 6 miles of I-70 at the end. But Jett convinced me to add a refueling stop and, knowing that range was no longer an issue, opted for a slightly longer but faster route down US 81.

We saw a lot of corn, much of it being harvested. Consequently we had some trucks on the road carrying corn and wheat. But not many. Traffic was not a problem.

The truck ran flawlessly once again. It has now been over 1,000 miles since it was repaired. I am starting to think that the repair was good.

For the two nights in Kearney we stayed at the Kearney RV Park & Campground. This was a nice short-term place. Concrete pads on large pull-through sites. No cable TV but we pulled in about 10 channels over the air. Not that it mattered, but the park had a lake with a beach. And it was near shopping. We dined at Culvers the first night and at Whisky Creek Wood Fire Grill the second night. Whisky Creek was a mixed bag. The salad and bread were simply excellent. The prime rib… not so much. Very strange prime rib. Almost like ribeye – very fatty. And not very thick. Good flavor but still disappointing.

Categories: KS, NE, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 2: Chappell NE to Kearney NE

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 2

190 miles, almost exclusively on I-80. Cumulative tow miles: 467. Truck miles: 204. Cumulative truck miles: 473.

Funky trailer and nearby factory

This route was Boring, with a capital B. Straight, flat, a few trees among the fields, but everything brown. Dull, uninteresting.

All of which didn’t help Jett’s headache. We were supposed to stay in Chappell for 2 nights – and paid for two – but two things combined to cut it short: (1) I learned that the Osage Nation Museum, which I had scheduled for a visit next Monday, was closed on Mondays and (2) the train traffic in Chappell, with loud horns blaring all night long, kept Jett from getting more than about 2 hours sleep. Which explained her headache.

Normally I would not want to travel when she is feeling so lousy, but when the reason for her illness is the campground… what’s a guy to do? The Osage Nation Museum problem pushed the decision over the edge. I decided that I needed to get to Bartlesville OK two days early. The only way to do that was to cut a day out of Chappell and a day out of Junction City KS (our next stop after Kearney). So I called, made the necessary changes to reservations and, once Jett was feeling well enough to travel, headed to Kearney.

The fact that we paid for 2 nights actually helped as we could leave a couple of hours later than normal. We departed Chappell at 1:30 and got into Kearney at 5:30 pm, losing an hour along the way due to the time zone change. But it all turned out to be worth it when Jett got a good night’s sleep last night.

Our train-filled night in Chappell was at the Creekside RV Park & Campground. If you follow the link you will see that it actually gets pretty good ratings. Not from us. Yes, the elderly hosts were very nice, and the site was large and level, but the train noise negatives overwhelmed any positives. It is a very basic park. I also made the mistake of choosing a 50-amp site with no water over a 30-amp site with water. Not having water meant that we had to operate off of our internal fresh water tank, which is fine, except that the pump noise is very irritating. That didn’t help Jett’s headache, either.

In addition to being adjacent to the train tracks, the campground was also near a large grain elevator or similar structure that had a lot of truck traffic. There were also some interesting long-term resident rigs in the park, including a trailer with a bolt-on deck. Unique.

On a positive note, I liked Chappell. It is an interesting small town that seems to be brimming with civic pride. I shopped at a very funky old-fashioned food market that had a nice meat section and decent prices. I got some really good photos of the beautiful sunset and we got to add our 47th state. But the negatives outweigh the positives. We won’t return.

Sunset in Chappell

Our site at Creekside

#47 – Nebraska

Categories: NE, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 1: Rawlins WY to Chappell NE

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 1

Our site in the gravel lot

269 miles almost entirely via I-80, with a refueling stop. Cumulative tow miles: 269. Truck miles: 269. Cumulative truck miles: 269.

This was a very easy navigation hop, but it was a true test of the truck repairs. We passed over the Rockies at 8500 feet. The engine got pretty warm, but didn’t overheat. Once over the pass it was a long, slow downhill trip to Chappell NE, elevation 3700 feet. Not only did we get out of the heights, we got a bit warmer, too. It was in the low 70s when we arrived in Chappell. Relief!

We refueled just east of Cheyenne and had a Burger King lunch. A whopper for me. Better than the carrots that I usually get for lunch while traveling.

Our overnight stay in Rawlins was at the Western Hills Campground and RV Park. This was a gravel parking lot where the only amenities were a dog park and cable TV. But those are the only amenities we care about, so it was fine for an overnight stop. We had dinner at the Golden 8 Chinese Restaurant. It had a very nice buffet for a reasonable price. Not spectacular, but a pretty good meal. Then we took a brief tour of Rawlins before refueling for the next hop. It is an interesting little western town.

Categories: NE, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE, WY | Leave a comment

STE2 preview

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Plan

Due to the truck problems and the decision to avoid the 11,000 foot pass on I-70, the starting point for the second segment of the STE (STE2) has changed significantly. So I thought I had better update the STE2 plan.

It starts in Rawlins WY and terminates in Brownsville TX. It will consist of 9 hops over 19 days for a total towing distance of about 1900 miles. The highlights will be completing our 48-state map and checking out the RV parks in southern Texas to see if we might want to spend a future winter down there. We will also visit the Osage Nation Museum and will see Jett’s sister and nephew in Austin.

And, perhaps most importantly, it will be warmer. The chill is really getting to us.

Categories: Preparation/Planning, STE | Leave a comment

STE1 wrapup

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Sparky

Our one-night stay in Rawlins WY concluded the first segment of the STE. The segment by the numbers:

8 hops
17 nights
1605 tow miles
2033 truck miles
$719.56 in campground fees ($42.33 per night)

This was not the segment that we planned. The planned versus the actual routes:

STE1 Plan

STE1 Actual

Highlights:

Visiting Tillamook again and catching up with my sister and her husband.
Seeing Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.
Touring the Mormon Tabernacle and other LDS buildings.
Catching some incredible sunsets in Oregon and Idaho.
Getting the truck fixed quickly and relatively painlessly.

Lowlights:

Having the truck fail in Salina UT. Fortunately we were able to get to a campground and were safe and warm while we waited for repairs.
Missing out on Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks due to the truck problem. We also had to skip Monument Valley. All huge disappointments.
The cold weather. We had to endure a number of sub-freezing nights, including one, in Silt CO, that dropped to 25 degrees. I had to wrestle with a frozen hose to pack up there. We also had to adjust our schedule to avoid snow in Wyoming. In general, this entire segment has been much colder than I expected for early October.

The next segment, STE2, will take us through Nebraska and Kansas, completing our 48-state map. It will also get us down to Oklahoma and Texas and, hopefully, into warmer weather.

Categories: Routes, STE | Leave a comment

STE1 Hop 8: Silt CO to Rawlins WY

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Sparky

STE1 Hop 8

216 miles via I-70, CO 13, WY 789 and I-80. Cumulative tow miles: 1605. Truck miles: . Cumulative truck miles: 2026.

This was a “Plan B” hop. Plan A was to drive from Silt to Denver via I-70. But I scotched that plan after I took a close look at I-70. The mountain passes were extremely high (one at 11,000 feet and another in excess of 10,000 feet) and the road was very narrow and downright dangerous in places. And steep – both going up and coming down. I couldn’t be sure that the truck could handle it.

Plan B was to drive north and take I-80 across the Rockies. This hop gets us north; the next hop gets us across the Rockies via an 8500-foot pass. About the same height as the one in Yellowstone, so I know the truck can do it.

One of the downsides of Plan B is that the first half – up to Wyoming – was almost exclusively on 2-lane state highways: 13 in Colorado and 789 in Wyoming. But the route is sparsely populated and lightly traveled. It was a fairly pleasant ride in clear, if cold (mid-50s), weather. It was completed almost non-stop. Just a couple of lights in Craig CO, the only town of any size on the route.

Our home for the two nights in Colorado was the Silt/Colorado River KOA. This was a pretty basic campground, but the pullthrough sites were large and flat and it was situated on the banks of the Colorado River. The river is not very big at this point, but it flows rapidly – about 5 mph. And since the trees were pretty much in their prime autumn colors, I was able to get a couple of nice river photos. The trees do not have the vivid reds and oranges that New Englanders are used to, but the yellows are very bright.

Because this was our first (and maybe last) stay in Colorado, we were able to add the 46th state to our map.

Colorado River colors at dusk

Silt KOA

#46 – Colorado

Categories: CO, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE, WY | Leave a comment

STE1 Hop 7: Moab UT to Silt CO

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Sparky

STE1 Hop 7

179 miles via UT 191 and I-70. Cumulative tow miles: 1389. Truck miles: 379. Cumulative truck miles: 1759.

The best thing about the trip to Moab was that the truck handled the load just fine. Every hop now increases my confidence that the truck repairs actually fixed the problem. Still, we have decided to avoid the 11,000-foot pass on I-70; the last hop in STE1 will be north to Rawlins WY. We can go straight to Nebraska from there over a less demanding 8,500-foot pass.

The weather on this hop was clear but very hazy. I think it was just due to atmospheric conditions, but I can’t rule out the possibility that part of it was smoke from the California wildfires.

The high truck miles were due to the visits to the national parks – Canyonlands and Arches (twice). I have blogged about those trips separately.

The other feature of the stay in Moab was Moab itself. The Colorado River canyon on the edge of Moab was very beautiful. And the RV park had mule deer that weren’t intimidated by our presence. Rusty and I encountered them twice. Rusty was very interested but, surprisingly, did not bark at them.

Colorado River canyon at dusk

Mule deer

We stayed 3 nights at the Moab Valley RV Resort. We booked late due to the truck problems and they could accommodate us for only 2 nights. They found a place for us for the third night, but we had to move. I think that is a first in our travels. I suppose you could even call it a “hop” – of about a tenth of a mile.

The park was nice, but a bit cramped. I got an “extra vehicle” space for the truck, to keep its butt from hanging out on the campground road. There was a $5 fee (per night) for the space, which was waived for the first 2 nights. The staff person I dealt with when paying for the third night wasn’t so generous.

The park was right on a road so it was a bit noisy. But a red cliff also loomed over it, which made it kind of exotic. I guess overall we liked it and would return.

We also liked Moab. We only took one trip into town and that was for food shopping. There were some interesting restaurants but the only establishment we visited was Denny’s. Sometimes you just need a Moons Over My Hammy.

The campground

Our site, first 2 nights

Categories: Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE, UT | Leave a comment