Elk City (4), Oklahoma to Santa Rosa (6), New Mexico (NM)

Our drive today took us part way through 3 States (the northern part of Texas as well as those above) and was along the I40 (Interstate 40) heading almost due West for over 500 kilometres.

The scenery changed quite considerably and the slow rolling hills of Oklahoma started to increase in size the further West we went. Not dramatically, but certainly noticeable when driving (more about statistics below).

Wind has also been a significant problem today, not mine but outside the vehicle! It’s been blowing quite hard from the West all day and with the size of the front of the Sierra, it sure slows us down and increases our fuel consumption.

As we moved into and through northern Texas the rolling hills were replaced by huge prairies as far as you could see.

New Mexico brought changing scenery again and you could envisage the ice age era where there were enormous flat lands with jutting mountains either side. It sort of felt like you were tiny and were travelling on a road with gutters either side. Some rocky outcrops were obviously too hard for the ice to push away and they looked majestic sitting atop the land around.

The old Route 66 runs parallel to the I40 for hundreds of miles and for most of the day was easily visible as we drove, a huge contrast of what was and is today. However, the shear length of the old 66 (over 2400 miles long) and how and when it was built is staggering.

Yesterday we were told to keep a good look out for a Cadillac Farm just West of Amarillo. Just as well we were keeping a close eye because it would have been so easy to miss, the prime thing to get our attention was a few cars and RVs parked in a group alongside the road.

And there the farm was, 10 old Cadillacs buried face down, on an angle in the middle of a paddock!! All of them had been sprayed by graffiti artists and there was a well trodden path leading to them from the road. Once we got there, and much to our surprise, someone had left many spray cans of paint and you are encouraged to add to the colour and spectacle.

Statistics as mentioned above. For those interested, we’ve been keeping track of our diesel consumption. During the first stage of our trip from Dallas to Elk City, we averaged 9.4 mpg and diesel cost $2.89/gallon (1 US gallon = just under 3.8 litres). Today the price was the same but due to the headwind, we’ve only averaged 7.3 mpg – sure not looking forward to going through the Rockies, particularly if there’s a headwind also!! We’ll need to tow another trailer for the extra diesel.

Tomorrow, Santa Fe

Route 66 Museum (3) - Clinton, Oklahoma

What a fantastic place! We all took so many photos it is difficult to decide which to post.

Before going in to the museum, we chatted with a quite elderly lady who collected our entrance fee. I was surprised by how many things I remembered about that era, about drive in theatres with the old speakers hanging from inside the window (and leaving with it still attached), about how we used to sneak people in hidden under blankets and/or pillows between the front and back seats, the songs, the clothes etc etc.

The museum was made up of about 7 rooms all with various themes and filled to the brim with 1920s and up to 1960s icons. Each room had a little button you needed to push and music of that era played - really added to the atmosphere.

There was a 20 minute video at the end of the museum tour that showed the making of the road from Chicago to LA. The movie describes the road's importance during the Great Depression (Central America was also hit by a horrific drought at the same time) when people had to walk away from their land and head West because their livestock were decimated, and the sudden and sad closing when Route 66 was replaced by 4 interstate highways.

    Remember any of these?

Overlooked moments + schoolwork

I imagine I'll have a quite a few of these moments during our trip. These are photos and videos I've found (or been shown) on the family's other cameras and have either not been posted or are to be found on Grace's Facebook page (actually, Grace has heaps posted). They have taken some wonderful photos already and I'll share them with you through our journey. 

Our second visitor

We had another visitor while Rod was with us in The Vineyards and both Grace and Rochelle got some lovely shots - time to post his/her picture. He/she was very game and slowly came up to our table, hid around behind the trees and darted up if someone came close.
Grace also took a video of me practicing reversing for the first time. Only a few metres but in the safety of our "pull through" site. I didn't tackle larger reversing manoeuvers till yesterday in a service station with no-one near. It's not as difficult as I'd imagined - I just have to get a little more practice because sitting on the left is a new perspective.

Study in Dallas - too hot outside

You may also be wondering how and where the girls do their schoolwork - certainly, the Dept of Education and Training (DET) were. So, we've take a couple of photos of them doing their schoolwork - shortly we need to explore the American postal system as Chantelle's and Rochelle's work has to be posted fornightly back to Australia for marking and appraisal.

Beautiful morning in Oklahoma
to study outside

Following that, Frank (their teacher) will send us their new work and assignments. Frank works in Distance Education at Stanmore Primary and their ratio for teacher/student is normally 14 to 1 and they have students spread throughout the globe. Frank has a couple of students on a yacht in the Pacific, 2 (about 10 & 8) travelling in the USA (other than us) and some in Africa.

Dallas (1) to Elk City (2 - under 4), Oklahoma

I mentioned at the end of yesterday's blog about changing our routing. All done. The above is our first leg with a 2 night stay and I'm not too sure where we'll end up for the following nights, however, our planned stop to park the rig is Denver while we're off to Seattle.

Yesterday we met Rod, in fact that's not quite right. We had a quick encounter the other night when we met at the entrance gate to The Vineyards - the gate is locked from 7pm and entrance is via a code on a keypad, if you can find it! We apparently drove a few metres past it and parked near the gate with Grace and myself walking around in the dark trying to locate this bl**dy pad.

Rod and Kathy (Rod's wife) pulled up about 5 metres behind us and fortunatley ended our frustration quite quickly. Once they established we were legitimately trying to enter, Rod pointed out the missing pad (he was beside it) and keyed in the number.

Anyway, Rod came over yesterday and we learnt he and Kathy are retired and travelling full time. Rod stayed a couple of hours and was full of information. They have their own blog site: http://retiredonwheels.blogspot.com/ and their adventures are certainly worth a read. They're off to New Zealand shortly to travel for 6 months in a motorhome - this follows months of travel in Alaska etc etc. If you happen to read this blog, thanks very much again Rod for your invaluable time spent with us - hope to see you somewhere in the USA on your return from NZ.

We stopped at a roadside rest in Texas and took this
photo just to give you an idea of the size of our rig

Today we've finally hooked the rig up without supervision and have done some mileage, just over 300 miles or around 480 kilometres. The weather was good for driving, plenty of sunshine, a few clouds in the sky and around 26C.

The management are doing improvements in The Vineyards and just before we were to leave the concrete trucks moved in. I thought we'd be limited in the exit out so was a little nervy about the only exit available - a reasonably narrow 90 degree left hand turn with 60 cm culverts each side. I drove the Chev through without the Sierra just to survey the turn and see how much space was left for the Sierra's wheels. Seemed fine so.....got through without a problem - what did you think!

The country side through Texas (North of Dallas) is reasonably flat and surprisingly quite green with the current temperatures. The roads are very good and are 2 or 3 lanes each way, separated by quite a distance North bound to South bound.

We missed a photo opportunity of what I thought was an unusual advetisement for - "Fried Pie". At the time I thought what you're probably thinking, but having arrived at the RV Park and connected to the internet, looks like I was mistaken: http://texasfriedpies.com/  
"Fried pies - just like you remember!" 


Funnily enough, even taking my stroke and memory loss into account, I don't remember them.

Casino in ???

Our planned trip took us through the outskirts of Oklahoma City, virtually due North of Dallas on the I35 and then West on the I40. The flatish plains of Texas gave way to slow, rolling hills in Oklahoma and again, they were quite green. The only really surprising thing we saw were huge casinos, seemingly in the middle of nowhere!

We've arrived safely and despite the sub-heading, we're actually not staying in Elk City, we're in a Kampground Of America (KOA) park outside of town. The only damage to equipment was the clock face (with glass insert) that fell, hitting the air conditioning controls and shattering the glass. Unfortunatley it wasn't tempered glass so hopefully we have picked up all the slivers. The remainder of the clock now sits on the wall, without its cover but still working fine.

Tomorrow we're off to a Route 66 museum in Clinton, about 10 miles away - that's the reason we (I) chose this KOA park, because, well...I just wanted to see the museum.

Dallas (point 1) - gearing up

Saturday morning was an exciting time as the time had come to pick up the new Chev. It was driven to our hotel by one of the guys from Classic Chev and as he needed to return, we (he) drove back to Classic. By the way, I'm sure "Classic" was "meant" to be. Ken, Steve, Ashley and the people there have been great, but the clincher is the suburb (or city) - Grapevine. Just knew it was meant to be!

Time for me to to drive solo on the way back. It's funny and pleasing, but as I was here three months ago and drove for a week, I slipped quickly back into driving on "their" side. However, I have to get used to the length (22 feet - just under 7 metres) and the turning circle of a Mack truck. Other than driving over the kerb a couple of times, I'm now getting the hang of it.

We're using a Tom Tom for guidance and have downloaded Homer Simpson's voice for navigation instructions. Ironically his humour and the way he provides guidance has been fantastic - on the occasions I've taken incorrect turns, his droll voice and tones and relaxed "ummm" cause me to relax as well. If he's not stressed, why should I be!! After giving about 10~15 instructions, he will say "can I hear a thank you" and you find yourself responding with the "thank you". I'm sure it will become annoying as the weeks go by, but for now it's still fun.  

After returing to the hotel to pick up Grace and the girls, we drove to United RV at Fort Worth to meet with Phil and look at our 5th wheeler for the first time. It's fabulous - bucketloads of room but very nerve wracking to think I have to pull this goliath around North America. The formal introduction and explanation to how everything works is to be given on Monday so we'll return then - apparently this will only take a couple of hours.

Sunday - not much to do today other than to try to stay cool and get the body into Texas time. The weather here, in a word is HOT. For the past few weeks the daytime temp has not been below 100F (38 C) and tomorrow is expected to be near to a record 109F. Off to Wallmart in search of pillows, sheets etc that will be needed to spend our first night in the Fiver, and on our return the girls opened their Distance Ed books for the first time.

Monday, a BIG day for me as this will finally be the day I have to tow the goliath. I have had ongoing apprehension about driving 58 feet of vehicle (Chev + Sierra hitched up) up a dead end street or cul-de-sac. Anyway, Mike commenced showing us around the Sierra around 9.30 and by the time Grace & the girls had finished putting away our 16 (or so) "travelling lightly" bags plus what we bought in Wallmart, it was just after 5 pm - so much for the 2 hours and you're away!

My apprehension grew as did the time of day - 5 pm is the beginning of peak hour and if I found it necessary to have to swing across 3 or 4 lanes of freeway because of an exit.....

Grace found it most amusing to film my instructions and first attempt to connect the Chev to the Sierra - thought she might make a few dollars on Funniest Videos.. Unfortuantely for her, it all went very smoothly. OK, no further delay or procrastination...away we went. To be honest, it feels no different to pulling a caravan and the hitching up is certainly easier. Just have to remember to swing very, very wide on RH turns.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that other drivers in Dallas courteously gave way when I was trying to change lanes. I subsequently did make mention of that to Kevin at DFW and he said it's probably due to our having Florida registration plates and we would be perceived as tourists...little do they know!

The 23 miles from United RV to The Vineyards (the beautiful RV Park we're staying in - can't seem to get away from the wine scenario) went quite smoothly except when I pre-empted one of Homer's instructions and I turned 250 metres too early. That caused us to go up a relatively narrow street, turn right and go back to the (3 lane each way) highway we should have been on. My heart beat increased when he told us to turn left then immediatley right - that meant crossing 6 lanes in about 100 metres - Grace said she felt like crying and I could feel the heartbeat through the veins in my head!

Mike (United's instructor) did tell us that size is good, so when we had a break that seemed appropriate, off we went...delighted to say, safely across and right - thanks to those who assisted us by slowing and not displaying the bird!! Drove the remainder safely to The Vineyards and are parked in a "Pull through" site, no reversing required.

On Tuesday I dropped Grace and the girls off at Walmart to do some serious shopping for all our essentials in the Sierra and I went back to DFW to have a tonneau cover fitted. Several hours later I picked them up and we needed most of the truck's 8' of length to store the goodies and return them home to the Sierra.

Wednesday (today) has been very good. A huuuge night's sleep aided by a tablet, cool weather (mid 20s) with some rain and a great chance to sit indoors for the girls to catch up on their school work.

I'll post photos later as we have a little more shopping to do. I also need to re-plan this first part of our trip leading up to the ship cruise from Seattle. Yesterday we found out that the weekend we need to be in Seattle for the start of our cruise is also their Labor Day holiday weekend - flights and accommodation may be in short supply

LA then Dallas

Our arrival at the airport in LA and transport to our hotel should have been dull, but wasn't. We needed confirmation where our hotel shuttle left from so asked a local "friendly" wearing a formal looking ID and assisting all and sundry.

He pointed out the spot (about 5 metres away from where we were) and then produced another ID showing he was collecting for ??? He was very insistent we should pay for his help so Grace offered about AUD 7 in coins - so, to say he was vocally disappointed is an understatement!! "Loose change, and from another country" he stated loudly, but still took the money.

Now, travelling "lightly" with the family (I'll be in trouble for saying with 4 females) internationally for an extended time could be construed as a misnomer. We had distinct differences in counting the correct number of bags, both checked-in and hand-carried. Grace, Meryla and myself had varying numbers, anything from 16~18 articles. The differences were small packs that were given on the plane and whether or not they should be counted.


Enormously frustrating and, of course, ending with an argument. As a result, once the bus dropped us off at our hotel and had left, we discovered one bag missing. Not an unimportant bag either, the one carrying all our cameras, the mini Mac computer, an iPod and all associated chargers and cabling. Fortunately I was there 3 months ago and knew the location of the next stop. A quick sprint through a laneway and I luckily managed to stop the bus and retrieve our bag.
This photo is us at nearly midnight, waiting for the hotel shuttle bus from DFW Airport in Dallas.

Uneventful for the balance of our overnight stay and off to the airport again on Friday afternoon to fly to Dallas. When we went to the check-in, we were told our allowance was only 1 bag/person and we needed to pay an additional $25/bag - until they found out we were still "in transit" internationally and waived the fees.

However, each of us were seated in between 2 people in separate rows scattered through the plane. Neither safe nor acceptable to have our girls between 2 strangers. So, for a USD 29 fee each, they could all be seated in the front row of economy, behind the bulkhead. Pay up we did.

Arrived in our Dallas hotel at midnight local time

New baby - YAY - timing - well done Nona!!!!!

Wow, talk about last minute happenings, as we were about to take the luggage from the house to the taxi and leave for the airport, Colin phoned to say Nona had just given birth. Following a chat with the driver, we were very happy to find out we had enough time with a detour to call in to the hospital on the way for a brief visit.

We felt very priviliged when we arrived and were allowed into the delivery room - their new son (yet to be named) hadn't even been weighed or measured!! He looked fantastic, good head of hair and you can certainly see lots of Nona's features - congratulations to you both. As we were leaving the hospital, Brenda and Keiran (Nona's parents) were arriving and we had the chance to congratulate the new Grandparents and say our farewells.

When we checked in we found out the plane loading was full - not a spare seat anywhere. Grace and the girls got the middle four seats on the new A380 and I had an aisle seat, hoped the person next to me wasn't a 150kg giant. I was pleased to find out that wasn't the case but I had the passenger from ?? in front - he was very large and insisted on dropping his chair back as far as possible, as quickly as possible and as frequently as possible, crushing my knees often....oh well, only a 13 hour flight :-(

Due to the excitement of the new baby and delayed arrival to check in, the person responsible for getting our GST refund at the airport completely forgot - I've given myself a good dressing down and don't want to look at the receipts to see we should have got. Also managed to send our cameras into "checked in" luggage (clearly didn't want to do that) so we've been unable to take photos to record our departure...another black mark for the person responsible - yep, me again!!

LA here we come

House sitters in - we're out!

The day for us to start our trip has finally arrived and all preparation time over the last week has evaporated at an alarming rate. The house sitters are in and have been given instructions about alarms etc - hope they follow the alarm procedure well because not so long ago we managed to have the police on our doorstep when we accidentally activated the silent alarm! Wonderful to have the technology and back-to-base stuff but sometimes a bit tricky.

We had a lovely dinner at our neighbours Indian restaurant on Tuesday night with Nona (now 1 week overdue), Colin and the Bryans. Hope the curry can have some effect on Nona's impending birth as we would love to welcome the newest Lowther before we leave.

I'll keep this blog short as we still haven't finished packing and only have hours till our taxi arrives to take us to the airport.

6 days to go!

I can't believe the speed at which time is passing as our countdown till we leave gets closer. The hour hand seems to be spinning like a fan! The external memory of daily chores yet to be completed is increasing, despite being busy with what was already in place...??

Great news earlier this week - the Chev is finally registered and ready to go. The rear view cameras, DVD head rests, under seat storage and 5th wheeler hitch have all been fitted.

I didn't realise some of the complexities between States in the USA. We bought the Chev in Texas and we insured it there through a National insurance company. However, the only street address we could use was in Florida, therefore registration was required to be in Florida. It took 3 weeks to discover that the Florida Dept of Motor Vehicles would not register our truck unless insurance was taken out in their State. Thus, we cancelled the insurance in Texas and re-insured through a broker based in Florida with exactly the same insurance company!?

Unfortunately the Sierra is not yet registered, but soon to be, we hope. Phil (United RV's Sales Manager) told me they could fit temporary plates, however, as the correct plates will be coming from Florida, I'm not too confident they'd find us when we start our travels. I think it's better for us to wait in Dallas till we get them. The safes are in place and later today (Texas time) the rear vision camera will be fitted.

I took Meryla to Canberra on Wednesday to meet with her new teachers in Distance Education. They were great, very helpful and understanding of the flexibility needed by those "on the road". We're very happy that they'll allow us to do the vast majority of Meryla's schooling via the internet. Not too much required in the way of postage - that being said, they gave us all their paperwork for the balance of the course for 2010. The box is one of those outer boxes you get when you buy 6 reams of paper - it's absolutely full of Meryla's work!! There goes the "travelling light" concept.

Grace and I also took Chantelle and Rochelle to Stanmore yesterday to meet their new teacher at the Primary School Distance Ed. They both have the same teacher (Frank Bowman) who has about 12 other students in various locations around the world. 2 are on a yacht somewhere, 2 are in the USA travelling with an exhibition of Australian reptiles (that was poorly written, sounds like the kids are part of the exhibition), another 2 or 3 are travelling somewhere in Australia prior to them going overseas, a boy in Bosnia and a few others whose location I've now forgotten.

Frank puts out a weekly newsletter so it will be great to learn more about their travels as we do ours. Unfortunately, the Primary School curriculum doesn't lend itself to be covered via the internet. We've got some of their material for the next few weeks but I have to go back there on Wed next week to get 2 more packs for each of them. We have to post their completed work back to Australia every 2 weeks so I guess we're about to learn lots about the American postal system.

Today Grace and I are off the the solictiors to sign updated wills (sounds morbid I know) then the accountants to complete the tax returns. I'm also trying to get the video conferencing working properly. For those I've not told, the lovely folk at Chantelle's and Rochelle's current Primary School (Shelley) are setting up a Blog site so that the girls can communicate with their current classmates. They'll be able to upload and send both pictures and video clips, all within the safe confines of the Department of Education' intranet.

The video conferencing (if we can get it to work) will allow our girls to see and talk to their classmates and vice versa live while we are in locations with suitable time zone differences. The concept is great - fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we're going to our boat to meet someone who is flying up from Tasmania. I have relucantly decided to sell her after about 15 years of faithful service and fun.

 Boats are wonderful and provide a fantastic lifestyle, but are a terribly expensive burden, particularly when not being used as often as they should. Chantelle is very upset about selling the Statesman and was in tears again last night - certainly doesn't make my decision any easier. Well, we'll see what he offers - it's really a terrible time to sell as the market for our size boat is very depressed, down 20% over the past 10 months. However, to keep her would still cost us over $10,000 per year for mainteneance, insurance, etc...

On our return to Australia we'll look again at boats. Our decision will be guided by what available time we will have as the girls sport and leisure commitments may cause us to wait till they get older. We will dearly miss the great people we've had so much fun with for so many years in the Berowra Waters Motor Yacht Club - fear not (or fear lots), the Lowther's will return to the BWMYC as active members!!

Time now to call this blog to an end - it's getting long winded and the girls are preparing for their 3rd last day at school - a time for drama, happiness and tears.