We're headed south, the warm weather is headed north

This winter script is getting a little old for us. Every year we head south to escape the cold only to find the cold following us to the south. Right now, it is expected that Lapeer will be in the 60s on Saturday and only in the 40s down here.

Joan outside Jorge's Restaurant

We arrived in Amarillo to the reports that high wind warnings have been posted for tomorrow. With the luxury of a little extra time, we have decided to camp in the hotel for an extra day instead of struggling with the trailer and the high winds tomorrow. Anything we would save on the hotel room we would suck up in gas bucking what are expected to be
35 mph steady winds from the southwest and gusts up to 55 mph.

So tomorrow we will visit the trailer, off load the supplies we have brought down with us and then play tourist in Amarillo, something we have not done before. Hey, we’re retired and not on a schedule, so sue us.

We left Fort Leonard Wood in a light rain and a 40 degree temperature this morning and cruised across the remainder of Missouri, the totality of Oklahoma and half the panhandle of Texas, not a bad day’s drive.

If there is a theme to the trip so far it is accidents. Today we passed a bad wreck in Oklahoma. A car pulling a travel trailer flipped over and down a hill. The trailer was turned to splinters and we hoped that no one was badly hurt in the accident. Later as we crossed the Texas panhandle there was a semi-truck and trailer on its side in the median near mile marker 151 on I-40and again we pray no one was badly hurt.

Earlier, while passing through Oklahoma City we were warned by an electronic sign not to use the I-40 on ramp because it was closed due to an accident. Fortunately, by the time we arrived at the on ramp the evidence of the accident remained, but the ramp had been reopened.

Gas prices have been a pleasant surprise along the route with the lowest today when we filled up for $2.89 a gallon in the little town of Sarcoxie in east Missouri. Later we filled up for $2.95 in Oklahoma and tonight after dinner we filled up in Amarillo for $2.97. Still too high, but it is about 40 cents a gallon cheaper than in Michigan when we left.

Along the Oklahoma Turnpike we are always amused by the signs advertising “Free Restrooms” at the rest stops along the way. Heck, if you have to pay $4.00 to drive on the road the least they can do is provide a free toilet.

During the long drive (during those rare moments when Joan wasn’t sleeping) we listened to songs from the 1950s on our XM Satellite Radio. One of the songs they played was “Book of Love,” which was popular at the time I was going to 6^th grade at Monte Vista Elementary School in La Crescenta, California.

Joan with an industrial sized Sangria

It prompted a long lost memory that caused me to realize – and I know this will come as a major revelation to all – that I may have been the inventor of the “Air Guitar.”

With very little natural talent I joined with three of my elementary school friends to perform “Book of Love” at the spring talent show by mouthing the words and pretending to play invisible guitars. So the next time you hear or see someone talking about “Air Guitars” you can now tell them you know who invented it. Or maybe not.

After our arrival here we went back to dinner at the same restaurant we eat at 18 months ago – Jorge’s Tacos Garcia. We enjoyed our meal and came back to our room to relax from a long day on the road.

Mileage out: 36339

Time out: 7:20 a.m.

Mileage in: 36974

Time in: 4:35 p.m.