Where the Winds Come Rushing Down the Plain
October 5, 2023 – Day 7
We got up in the morning and had an egg, ham, spinach and cheddar scramble with toast and even did a load of laundry. If you recall from the previous trip with the trailer finding good laundry machines proved challenging. Oh, you could find machines, but you didn’t know they were bad until it was too late. When we bought Clifford we were happy to see that we had onboard laundry, slightly disappointed that we need to be stationary to use and plan for it but it’s still a heck of a lot better having laundry on board as opposed to seeking it out.
Remember that ominous music winding up from the last episode? Yeah. We started to prepare for travel and that means starting the engine to bring in the slides and raise the leveling jacks. The engine started, grumbled a little and then died. Susan started it again and same thing happened. The third time it almost ran. We got to thinking right after we both went thru the “Oh. No. What now!!!” fears because we were in the middle of nowhere (Google Ava, MO. There’s not much there.) Remember that rain from yesterday’s fill up? We think some of that got into the tank. And then it had all night to settle. Gas engines don’t run well on a gas and water mix.
We called the camp host to make sure it was ok to be leaving a little late (“Sure! Whatever you need.” They were real nice folks.) and also to ask where to buy some dry gas.
When we got back to the coach, Susan started the engine and Paul put 2 of the 4 bottles of the Heet fuel treatment, which said right on the front, “Removes Water.” It was running so well I didn’t even add the next two bottles, figuring I could save that for the next disaster.
Finally we could head out for Tulsa, OK. Even though it was a bit later than expected it wasn’t going to be a long day of driving. Here we are stopping in Joplin for gas. We were next a strange gas pump.
We need to use a pump on the left, but there wasn’t a way to put your credit card in. It turns out this is common in truck stops and apparently in RV lanes. You put your credit card into the machine and it asks you which side you want to use. Sometime you need to take the credit card side, remove the nozzle, and put on the ground and it will let you pump from the other side. Weird.
We made it to Oklahoma!
You know, that song was right. It is windy here. This is probably the first time we’ve felt the coach move from wind!
The scenery was really beautiful. We’re used to seeing rolls of hay back home, but these fields were huge.
Susan got to unlock the Tollbooth achievement badge first!
We saw huge fields of cows, just like with the hay, but we weren’t able to get a picture of them. So here’s a photo of some cows that I stole off the Internet.
By now it was getting to be late. Just the other day Paul swore we’d never do that again. But it wasn’t too bad. We were at the campsite by 5:45 with plenty of light left. It was a pretty easy pull through hookup and Paul cooked some raviolis for dinner. Paul claims they were homemade using flour grown by Demeter and eggs laid by dragons—just like John taught him—then run thru the pasta machine and stuffed with a delicate blend of ricotta and spinach and finally blessed by fairies. (Susan here: No he didn’t. It was Louisa’s frozen.) (Paul here: Did to!) (Susan here: Sure. [with a bit of side eye])
Daily: 253
Total: 1,632
Moving Miles/Day: 326
Overall Miles/Day: 272
mpg: 6.1