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| Where we left the trailer, in case I forget |
This morning we got up early and continued our journey east. When I headed to the shower I realized I had done an RV camp “no-no.” Last night I turned on our outside ‘porch’ light and then when I came back inside I forgot to turn it off. That’s considered bad behavior in an RV park as the light may shine into someone’s bedroom, which is likely not more than 15-feet away.
Other than feeling badly about that, there wasn’t much I could do and besides I realized in about 30 minutes Joan and I would be pulling out of the park and would likely never see any of these folks again. |
| Each 'chair' represents a bombing victim |
With the trailer already attached to the Tahoe, it took just a short time to break camp, flush the water and sewer tanks, turn off the water and disconnect the power cord from the park to the trailer.
We headed out of the park and immediately started our climb out of Albuquerque. The grades were steep and long, but the Tahoe never missed a beat, maintained a speed of about 55 mph at 3,300 rpms and we climbed out of the city with no problems. The transmission fluid temperature never got above 150 degrees, which is pretty much normal running temperature on the flat and straight.We were no doubt aided in the temperature department by low air temperatures in the mid-30s at the time we left. Still, with each subsequent trip I gain more and more confidence in the Tahoe, trailer and my ability to control and operate them.
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| A longer view of the memorial chairs |
So we headed to the same Love’s Travel Center where we had filled up on our way west in Tucumcari. When we arrived there it was like a zoo. There were semi-trucks and trailers, RVs, and plenty of private cars waiting and jockey for pump position. At one point Joan mentioned they needed either a control tower or some form of traffic control to sort everything out.
But even without my “end cap” pump available I was able to pull to an interior pump, fill up and still maneuver my way out of the gas station into the line of trucks and vehicles merging back onto I-40 west. |
| One of the many memorials left on the fence |
The rest of the first half of the trip was uneventful and we made it to Strater’s Acres RV business in Amarillo early in the afternoon. I visited with the service manager and Joan visited with his wife, the office manager, in the Sales office.
I left him a short list of things I would like done to the trailer, not the least and most important was the immediate winterizing of the Laredo. Temperatures are already dipping into the freezing level in Amarillo and freezing in a trailer can do very expensive damage.The trailer was dropped (softly and appropriately) at the door of the service center and Joan and I cleaned out the trailer and packed the Tahoe with the liquids, dirty laundry, trailer battery, luggage with clothes we will need at home, the computer printer, exercise weights and anything else that needed to come back to Michigan.
It took about an hour to accomplish all we needed to do, but then we bid ‘adios’ (we are in Texas after all) to the Laredo and continued on our way to Oklahoma City. |
| Outside the memorial |
That part of the trip was fairly long, but again uneventful. With the Tahoe liberated from its 33-foot anchor we made much better time and the gas mileage improved considerably, which always messes with the vehicle information computer for the first couple days. The computer is calculating our range based on recent gas usage so when we drop the trailer it takes awhile for the computer to adjust to the extra gas mileage we get without the dragging wagon.
Joan was threatening to take a bite out of my driving arm, so instead of going straight to our hotel, we stopped at a Texas Roadhouse Restaurant about a mile from our hotel where we had dinner. After dinner we headed to the hotel and checked in, but we had decided earlier in the day that we wanted to drive to downtown Oklahoma City and see the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Back in 1995 when the Oklahoma City bombing occurred I was working at the Flint Journal as a reporter and within days came the news that one or more of them suspects in the horrific bombing had connections to our subscription area. Because of some personal issues in my life at the time, my editor was kind enough to keep me at arm’s length from the story as it broke in April 1995.Not the least of those reasons was I was leaving for a two-week, much needed vacation to Maui on April 30th. Later on I would do stories on the local connection to the bombing but I will be forever grateful to my editor Julie for realizing I was not mentally prepared to work on the story at that time.
Anyway, we arrived at the memorial after dark. There were only a few visitors there and it was a very solemn and emotional place. Both Joan and I were overwhelmed at spots at the magnitude of the tragedy, reflected in the individual chairs which each represent one of the 168 victims.What really got to Joan was the placement of many smaller chairs, representing the children in the daycare center in the building who were killed on the second floor that day. The chairs are arranged in rows, which correspond with the floor the person was on when killed.
Joan couldn’t help but think of all the grieving parents, grandparents and children who were left behind due to the senseless bombing. A chain link fence on the outside of the memorial is covered with remembrances left hanging on it. |
| Jesus, weeping |
At the two entrances to the Memorial there are two times “9:01” and “9:03” which represent the minute before and the minute after the bomb was detonated. The first time represents the old “innocent” Oklahoma City and the second time represents how the city was changed forever in a moment. Very powerful stuff.
Across the street, at the site of St. Josephs Catholic Church was a statue of Jesus, with his back turned to the memorial with his head in his hands weeping. It was a very powerful monument that left us quite moved.
On our way back to the hotel we were caught in traffic due to a traffic accident on the freeway and the idiots who kept trying to sneak into the one-lane of traffic being allowed to go around the wreck were making things much slower.When motorists realize it is time to merge into a single lane, the quicker they do that, the quicker everyone gets through. But when people keep driving down to the point of the merge and then force their way in it just slows up everyone, but them of course.
It’s as if they are telling everyone else that their time is so much more valuable and important than anyone else’s. Just a little pet peeve of mine.A couple other non-connected observations: We have been surprised at the number of homeless (or people saying they are homeless) that occupy nearly every major intersection from Tucson to Oklahoma City. If you gave just $1 to every one of them you would be broke in a day. Of course we feel badly for them, but it is very unsafe the way they hamper traffic and panhandle in the intersections. It is very widespread here.
We have also observed that wherever we receive “free” Internet service that most of the time it is really crappy Internet service. The old adage, you get what you pay for, seems very true in this instance and should explain why I could not post this item last night using our “free” Internet service at the hotel. It never worked, not even for a minute. Obviously, it was fixed overnight or you wouldn't be reading this.Due to my great planning our trip tomorrow should land us in St. Louis either in the middle of rush hour commute traffic or in World Series traffic, so bully for me.
Mileage out: 80961
Time out: 7:20 a.m. (Mountain time)Mileage in: (Trailer to Amarillo) 81245
Time in: (Trailer to Amarillo) 1:10 p.m. (Central time)
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