Closer to Home

We are so close to home now we didn't even want to stop for the night.   Good sense took over though and we landed in a Casino parking lot in Erie Pennsylvania.    We are two hours from home,  110 miles, plus however long they detain us at the border.       

There just wasn't anything exciting along our 4 hour drive today, so I found myself all caught up in this fun house mirror like truck that was in front of us for a while.   Sometimes it looked like Myrtle was going to topple over sideways.     We were like silly children who couldn't stop looking at themselves in the mirror.   ah, a little fun to break up the monotony of the road.    

Here's Myrtle tucked in for the night.   We got here at about 2:30 p.m.    The temptation to just move on was great, but I think we have gained some wisdom.   The payment would be too high.    As it is, we are wondering if we will be able bodied enough to make the two hour trek tomorrow.    We have decided that as long as even one of us is capable of driving, we will go home.    

 

After we had a nap, shower and dinner, Gerry couldn't resist the call of the Casino.   He headed over a few minutes ago.....I hope he comes back a richer man.  :)    

I am chilling in Myrtle, enjoying the quiet solitude and the gentle rocking from the wind.

Trent (the grandson) thinks we are coming home somewhere between April 8th and 10th.   We plan to surprise him  on Friday.   I can't wait to see his face.    I think out of everyone from home, he misses us the most.   

One more sleep...........

3 States, one long day.

We left Illinois at 9:00 a.m., drove all the way through Indiana, and landed in London, Ohio for the night.  We spent six hours on the road again today.   Yes, of course we are overdoing it, but we have decided it makes most sense to get home as soon as possible.     We don't have anything in particular we want to see along the route, and home is calling our names loud and clear.    


For the past two days the roadside has been peppered with these beautfiul purple blossoms.   Spring is truly in the air.

We had a couple of traffic jams today.    This looks like a roll of aluminum tape to me.   They were pulling a few of them out of the ditch at our first hold up.   

Our second hold-up turned out to be this transport truck.   It decided to take out a good portion of the railing.   The third hold-up was for no apparent reason whatsoever, but signs on the road claimed they were cleaning up a crash site.   It was the longest grid-lock and added about an hour to the day.   We took advantage of the time, by making sandwiches and eating lunch.  

We missed entering Indiana, but Ohio made sure we knew we arrived.

Home for the night.  We thought we would switch it up and picked a Pilot instead of a Flying J's.  

At around 7:00 p.m., the sounds of the birds actually drowned out the sounds of the road.   When I looked outside I noticed bird after bird land in this tree.   There has to be a couple of hundred of them in it.

Does anyone recognize this bird?   I don't.   At first we thought they were sparrows, but we think they may be some sort of a finch.

Bad Planning

We didn't plan our route home through the U.S., and that was a mistake.   We knew I had to be home for an appointment by April 11th, and we knew we would cross into the states at the same border we entered Mexico.  Other than that, we failed.    We failed to educate ourselves on the weather expectations, we failed to identify places we would like to visit, and we failed to find out when campgrounds open for the season.    Now that we are north of Oklahoma, the campgrounds are all closed until mid-April.  lol.  so, it appears the rest of our overnights will be at places much like the one we are at right now.   We are in Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri.  

This is our lovely view from Myrtle.  

We had a long drive along U.S. 44 through Missouri today.   We decided to drive until we dropped, and we lasted 6 hours.   We both are paying for it now.    I have two things to say about route 44.   First, if you see this sign...don't believe it.

Second, if you decide to ride a motorcycle along this road, be sure to wear a face shield unless you enjoy the feeling of bugs between your teeth.   lol.    There was no taking pictures through the windsheild today.  

There is very little to write home about today.   We did cross the great Mississippi River from Missouri to Illinois.         

We are watching the weather forecasts now, and it seems we may actually end up spending a night or two or perhaps three in hotel rooms between here and home.    The days are balmy as we head north, but it seems the nights oft times drop below 0.  

Grove, Oklahoma - Day 2

It's nice to have a day of rest, especially when the sun is shining.   Reptiles, amphibians, and birds all seem to be enjoying the warmth of the sun rays along with us.  

We saw a few snakes as well, but by the time I got the camera in position they had slithered into the lake.       

Have I mentioned the tornadoes in this state?   This is a compound in the trailer park.

Bear's Den, Grove, Oklahoma

Here we are in Grove, Oklahoma.   We are staying at an ROD park called Bears Den.    Gerry will have to take a couple of days off from the Casinos, but there are lots in Missouri just waiting to take his money.   Today was a beautiful sun shiny day.  It feels like late spring in Canada.    Rain and tornadoes have been plaguing Oklahoma.    We will be sure to remember that next year when we plan our trip home.   It has not been a pleasant 2 months...oh wait, it has only been 2 weeks....huh...sure feels like two months, since we left Mexico. 

This is the Grand Lake of the Cherokee Nation.   They tell me it is up about 9 feet right now.    

There are gazillions of bugs, which I imagine has something to do with all the birds here.

Hey Canada!!!!   Are you looking for your geese???   There are flocks and flocks of them here.

Isn't this one of those nasty birds whose feces kill the trees they live in?   Cormorants?

The robins mustn't know how nice it is back home yet either.   There are hundreds of them hop hop hopping around.

Oklahoma

We haven't been blogging much lately, because frankly there hasn't been anything to blog about.   The weather has been cold, windy and rainy.   I've had migraines more often than not and Brenda has been suffering with back and neck pain.    We have not been the two most pleasant people on earth the last few days.   

 We are in Oklahoma now.   We have seen more cattle,sheep, buffalo and horses here than any other state we have driven through.    
 

 We have also seen a lot of casinos.    I have been in four of them in the last two days.   I was pretty happy when I came out of the first one with an extra $500.00 in my pocket, but by the end of the fourth one today I managed to donate it all back.     Brenda took this opportunity to have some alone down time.    After a week in the rain cooped up together in a 20 x 7 living space....we are both lucky to be alive.   

After all that rain, the rivers and creeks are running high, trees and docks are under water.

 Finally today, the sun has appeared again.      Oklahoma isn't anything like I imagined it would be.   It is lush, hilly at times and flat at times.    A good portion of this state is populated by what they refer to as the 5 Civilized Tribes, being  the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek & Seminole Tribes.


We went on a search for moccasins, figuring Oklahoma the home of the 5 Civilized Tribes ought to have plenty of authentic ones.   Wow, were we mistaken.   After being sent on a wild goose chase over about 50 miles we stopped at half a dozen places and only found moccasins for babies.    We ended up at a Cherokee Historical Site.    

Brenda swore she saw an animal run behind a tree with a long white tail with black rings on it.   The only thing we found was this squirrel.

After having had a nice Cherokee style lunch, complete with some very tasty catfish, we have taken this sign to heart and have stopped for the night.    We are spending the night in a casino parking lot again, and will head to an ROD tomorrow for a couple of days to dump, and replenish our water supply.    For the next few days we will be stopping at various casinos through Oklahoma and Missouri.         

Lake Whitney and Glen Rose

Yesterday we couldn't blog because we had no internet again. We ended up in Whitney Texas at Sun Country Resort.  It's on a golf course and if you strain your eyes you can see the lake.

 On the way to Whitney we came across areas that were burnt by the fires last fall during the drought.

This is a strange park most of the people are seasonal.  As you can see by this picture they build roofs over their trailers or RV's, some have there whole lot covered.  It must get hot here.
We had a crazy thunder and lightning storm last night it poured most of the night.    We've read that when a tornado is headed your way it sounds like a freight train.    The thunder seemed to go on forever.

We got up and left first thing this morning.  On our way we came across some game farms, this one had a herd of Buffalo.

We ended up in Glen Rose Texas at Tres Rios RV park.  It is one of the Resorts of Distinction so it is free for us; other than our yearly fee of course.   It\s a nice place.   There has to be 100 RV's here.

                                                       This is one of the three rivers

                                                              This another one 

 
It rained so much last night that the rivers are way up, and the mud was a all churned up.  .A guy I met says it has to be up 6 feet.You can see all the trees in the water.

We look a little out of place here with all these hundreds of thousand dollar rigs parked next to us.   It was the same way last night at the last ROD.