Blogs from Elk City, Oklahoma, United States, North America

Learnt something new about the iPhone today. While it can be on mute you still get that wake up call. What you don't get on mute are emergency alerts. At 12:41am there was a tornado alert in Springdale to take shelter. I woke up at some point hearing thunder, but just grunted and went back to sleep rather than seek the basement of the Quality Inn. I suspect this Inn had bed bugs so a night in the basement may have been worse than the tornado. When I got out to the bike in the morning it was still standing, not even twisted around. The sky was crystal blue and the air fresh as is true after a good overnight rain. It was the start of a 70/70 day. A perfect 70F and maintaining a speed ... read more

New Mexico has reintroduced us to the heat as we continue our eastern drive into the northwestern part of Texas and note an absence of reservoir water. The NPS staff at their Fritch HQ are helpful and we make a short visit to the Albetes Flint Quarries National Monument for an explanatory video of how natives used this valuable rock to fashion arrowheads and other tools. We also learned about the Meredith National Recreation Area and had a chance to drive through Wheeler, TX, the county seat of Wheeler County, named for early Texas jurist Royal T. Wheeler. More cattle were in feeding pens along the roadside as were sorghum fields depending on constant irrigation. This country is obviously farm and cattle land and the economy also depends on the pumping oil wells. We did notice ... read more

Oklahoma was revealed through foggy and dusty morning air. Again, the diversity of the landscape was stunning. One side of the road would be overtaken over by rolling red hills and huge pointed mounds of red dirt that gave a very rugged, worn feel while the other side of the road would be completely flat. The land told a story of a very worn, roughened and tough life. The feeling of insignificance that Texas had given me was still there throughout Oklahoma. I pulled into the wet parking lot of the Route 66 museum in Elk City, Oklahoma as the fog cleared. We bought a map of Route 66 and some postcards, then asked the cashier (who I remember as being unusually kind and helpful) where a good place to eat was. She pointed us in ... read more

We left Memphis yesterday after visiting Graceland. On one side of Elvis Presley Boulevard is some hideous complex that holds various exhibits including his jets and cars. The war memorabilia of Elvis was worth seeing as it had many little ration and equipment cards, his uniforms and the story of meeting Priscilla. Mostly I thought this side of the street was poorly setup with the main goal of getting visitors to visit all the exhibits seperatly so that you then have to enter one of 13 gift shops. Also, park some where else other than the complex as it appeared they were charging $10! We walked from our hotel as it was next door. When you are ready to see the mansion they hand you an audio set and you hop on to the shuttle which ... read more

deep in the heart of Texas!!! Although I am not in Texas anymore...nor New Mexico for that matter...I still have the lonestar state on the brain! Yesterday was a tough day because I was in a lousy mood. I have not been sleeping well on the road and its starting to catch up to me. I am sure my parents are feeling the wrath of Mary as well. It seems nobody benefits when I am overtired! We left the Verde Valley in Arizona early yesterday after a stop at Randall's. Its a little mom and pop breakfast place that locals frequent. That was pretty apparent because as soon as we walked in everyone turned to stare at us. They soon grew tired of the "newcomers" and went about their business as we grabbed some coffee and ... read more