Eating up the miles

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It has very sensibly been suggested that we should put some dates into this, so here goes:

31/08/05 Memphis

We're having trouble finding accommodation because of refugees from Katrina, we've ended up on a travel plaza with rigs all around and somebody has just tried to get into our room, mmmm nice.

01-02/09/05 Memphis to Tulsa

We spent the morning in the Pyramid Centre at Memphis viewing "The Art of the Motorcycle", see photos for the full beauty of an Ordinary with engine. After lunch we drove past Gracelands then headed towards Tulsa, getting as far as Lake Ouchita where we camped. We got approached by raccoons, which was rather unnerving as their eyes lit up fluorescent green in our torches. They ran away when Vern tried to take a picture.
We met a couple from Louisiana today who were camping at the lake to avoid Katrina, they said they had about 8 feet of water in their house but that there wasn't too much damage and they expected to be home soon. I was amazed at how calm they were about it all.

The next morning we headed to Tulsa (which we both thought had a good write up in The Rough Guide - Lesson 1, Checking Your Facts). We were on a toll road, so every few miles there was a yell of "Dollar 25" followed by frantic scrabbling in our bags for the correct change for the auto-bucket.
At Tulsa we drove past Oral Roberts University, which was founded after our eponymous hero announced that God would take him if he didn't raise $4.5 million and he sat in vigil in his prayer tower while the money rolled in. Apparently at the deadline the tower was struck by lightning, but the money was raised and the university got built, including a 60 ft tall sculpture of praying hands at the entrance!!

03/09/05 Route 66 to Oklahoma and on

We decided to drive Route 66 today, finding it was fun, the directions were along the lines of "as you approach the I-40 West take the second turn after it, but look out for the first turn as it is just past the Interstate and easily missed. Look for the home-made advertising boards at the junction" etc. Vern was not a happy navigator.
Sometimes we ended up on the original 66, with it's 1920s bridges and Portland cement surface, most of the towns we passed through had more shops boarded up than open.
We rolled into Oklahoma (in the SUV with the rack on top) and tried to find a coffee, we ended up in an ice cream parlour by the ball park where we had very yummy ice creams, but still no coffee.
In the end we gave up the search and headed west on the I-40, trying to get to the Palo Duro Canyon before dark, we were about 10mins too late and the sunset colour show was over, but we had a quick drive around before heading to the Day's Inn on the I-27 and that's the way to Amarillo

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