2006/01 Southwest USA trip (MN-TX) - Oklahoma! |
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Michael pushed his Camaro out of the way (the car without an engine) and we slid back down the driveway and crunched our way up the street through snow and ice, but the main roads were clear and we were soon bombing south across Minnesota on the freeway. There was no sightseeing for this part of the trip, as we were just piling on the miles. There wasn’t much to see anyway as the fine drizzle soon became wet fog and we could only see white fields on either side of us. We saw a quite a few campers on the road, other “snowbirds” who’d stayed in the north for Christmas and New Year’s and were heading south on the first day with a good forecast.
The fog stayed with us into Iowa, but halfway across the state we left the snow behind and now had brown fields on either side. The temperature stayed just above freezing until we crossed into Missouri and the sun came out. By Kansas City we were seeing 40s, and it climbed into the 50s as we drove across Kansas. We were prepared to drive all night but by midnight we were into Oklahoma and 700 miles south of home, far enough in this warm year to have good weather, so we camped for the night in a rest area. Most states don’t allow this but Oklahoma is a state that does.
In contrast to Iowa and its wet fog, Oklahoma felt warm and very dry. The first sign after “Welcome to Oklahoma” was “Severe fire danger”. Grass fires had burned a number of towns to the ground in the last week.
Wednesday January 4th
We both slept well, even with the traffic close by. We had a sunny, warm morning soon into the 60s. Even though this was Oklahoma, there was nobody singing “Oh what a beautiful morning”. Maybe they only do that in summer and when the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye.
Although it was warm, much of Oklahoma is flat and uninteresting, so we pushed on another 200 miles through Oklahoma City and across the state. We were headed for the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, which looked to be a good place to get ourselves set up for the rest of the trip. It turned out to be an interesting spot, with hills and lakes, a mix of oak trees and cactus, and with lots of birds, a gang of black vultures, and even a pair of bald eagles. We also found this painted bison at the visitor’s centre in the town of Sulphur.
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