Elk City, Oklahoma

The car is headed East and we expect to be home on Friday. HOORAY!! Last night we stayed in New Mexico. (Side note: the owner graduated from Steven Decatur High School in Decatur, IL!!!) Tonight we are in Oklahoma. So, why are we spending the night at Elk City, Oklahoma? After searching for a room in several towns in Texas, we crossed over to Oklahoma. There were no rooms at any inn in Texas. We kept hearing the oil workers were taking all of them. Finally found a room with a bed (we were starting to discuss tossing a coin to see who would sleep in the back seat) at a newly remodeled Super 8. It turns out that it isn't just the oil workers. There was a huge riot at the State Pen and over one hundred extra guards were called in to subdue it. Of course. And now this motel has two more rooms and then it will be full. And we checked in about 8:30. Wow. Interesting.

Some notes: We spent last night at a casino just west of Albuquerque. When we checked in John asked the clerk how many miles to Albuquerque. She said, 25 miles unless you drive faster and then it is closer. Huh? Had a nice stay there. John played poker twice but didn't cash. It was a nice place. Weird though. They close at night so this morning it was quiet and empty.

Three more states with 75 mph:   New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. Oklahoma is 70 mph. Dear, dear Illinois....we vote that you increase the speed limit....

A sign we saw in Fresno: Alien meat jerky. Um. Illegal aliens? Aliens from outer space? We didn't buy any.

We stopped at a Stuckeys close to Amarillo today. All of you waiting for gifts from us from our trip....well, we still haven't gotten you anything...but we could have gotten gater heads!!! Yes, gater heads. Um. No.....

It has been interesting to see the long trains. Some of the terrain out here is so flat and you can see so far that we can see the beginning and the end of the trains. I think most of them have been at least 100 cars if not more. Also have seen semis pulling two or three trailers!

Another interesting note: In Illinois we have deer crossing signs. On our travels we have seen "Elk crossing" and one that said "Various Animals crossing." But nothing prepared us for the crossing sign we just saw at a Wal-mart close to our motel. Drum roll please........"cart crossing".... Yes, the shopping carts have their own crossing.

Tomorrow we will reach Missouri and then on to home. It has been an adventure!!---Penny