Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Happy #1 Birthday to my Sweet Great Nephew, Gus!

Can you believe that we have been "on the road" for 30 days?......two days to go until we are home!

Oklahoma Welcome 

Phil wanted to drive on Old Route 66..... So, we veered off course for a ride....Route 66 followed pretty much along side Interstate 40 for most of our Oklahoma Route.

Can you imagine how many vehicles have traveled on this highway since 1927?........

And, now there is grass growing in the center of the highway.....

I find that fascinating.

An old, sad, dilapidated barn / farm with a lone windmill and a rusty fence.

This "farm" was right on Route 66.    No traffic....just crickets chirping.....

All through Texas and Oklahoma every so many miles there was a lone windmill.

Some still pumping water, some twisted by heavy winds, some rusty, some a relic from days gone by..

It saddens me to see barns gone by the wayside....

A field of red dirt along Route 66

An Oklahoma City Skyline

A working rusty oil pump rig.  

Kaw Nation Tower along Interstate 35

I googled Kaw Indians. I had not heard of that tribe.  There is a lot of information about the Kaw.

Kansas Welcome

A hedge row apple tree.

We passed miles and miles of hedge apple trees.  

A great wind break.  And an affordable way of fencing off ranches and farms.

A hedge apple or Osage orange

I love the color!  I have used them in fall decorations.   

We are about 70 miles into Kansas.  Staying in the southwestern corner of the state.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 1, 2014

We will travel to Kansas City, Kansas, visiting my aunt and uncle and two of my cousins and their families.  It will be great to see them!   So many great childhood memories!

Journey Mercies

Texas

Monday, September 29, 2014

Texas

We were at an altitude of over 7,000 feet leaving New Mexico and drove through a cloud....

I put my hand out the window and touched a cloud....how cool is that?

Leaving New Mexico.....we did not have directions to the Land of Enchantment

Welcome to Texas

A Texas Homestead once upon a time

Can you see the dust cloud?  There were occasional "dust" warnings along the interstate 

A green field....didn't see any green fields in Arizona or New Mexico

Please notice it is flat!

Also, the road running along Intestate 40 is Old Route 66 

I wonder if this water tower got too close to a northern Texas tornado?

Looks like this field of corn is ready to be harvested?  

Different than the picture of a corn field in Iowa a few weeks ago.....

I'm partial to old rusty grain elevators

A Texas windmill 

Lone Star Barn

We are staying in Shamrock, Texas and  in town we passed a retro Conoco and Cafe Gas Station

Part of Old Route 66.

Update of Destination Decals....

We have a few on the opposite rear window....of Coronado and Route 66

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - Destination: Oklahoma and Kansas 

This has been a dream!

Journey Mercies

Travel Weary!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Travel Weary....."and we've only just begun to drive".    (Homage to The Carpenters)

We left Flagstaff, Arizona this morning heading east on Interstate 40.....destination - Albuquerque!

Blue Skies and Flat Land......works for me!

The Skies turned stormy.....but, it didn't last long

Huge Power Plant in the middle of nowhere......

We decided to check out The Petrified National Forest, since Interstate 40 drove right through it.

We turned into the town of Holbrook, Arizona.  Holbrook is located right on Historic Route 66.

We passed a historic landmark....The Tepee Hotel that was featured in Disney's Animated Feature 

"Cars".  

They also had vintage cars and trucks parked outside the motel tepees.

One of the vintage trucks was 'Mater' from "Cars".......with a new paint job!

The highway to The Petrified Wood Forest was long and no traffic or homes or barns.....

But, we did follow a truck for a short distance with a dog catching the breeze.

Petrified Forest National Park

Pictures of Petrified Logs 

Notice the Rainbow color of the buried log.....red and yellow are more popular colors of the wood as opposed to green and blue.

Petrified Wood on a "mountain"

Scattered Logs

Logs on the hillside

Huge piece of petrified wood

This Historic Marker and rusty old car and the electrical poles that followed Route 66 were at the entrance of the Painted Desert.

Interstate 40 is on the horizon.  The "older" poles originally lined Route 66

The Petrified Forest highway evolves into the highway for the Painted Desert

We got back on the Interstate.

When I was a young girl, our family went to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest and I recall driving through the "forest" just as we did today.  It seemed to me that there were a lot more pieces of the logs though the forest than there was today?  You were warned by signs not to take any wood...that it was available for purchase at the rock shop. However, today, we saw only one sign prohibiting the taking of wood pieces......

The Petrified Forest wood comes from tall conifers.  The trees grew more than 200 million years ago along waterways, where flooding caused uprooted trees.  The minerals from the water over time caused the mineralization of the trees and hardened them.

Tomorrow, Monday, September 29, 2014, our destination is Amarillo, Texas.

We are blest to live in the United States of America!

Saw a new crescent moon in a New Mexico Sky....did you?

Journey Mercies.....