4 October 2023 Claremore OK to Mansfield TX

 When we got up in the morning, we rushed to get the Wanderer ready for the road. We have a 380 mile drive ahead of us with storms moving in from the west. So, it was going to be a race to Oklahoma City. While checking under the Wanderer for any damage from the blown tire, David noticed the tire forward from the tire that blew had chunks missing from the tread. There was no way we were hitting the highway with that tire. A frustrating half hour of calling around trying to find someone who carried the specific tire, we finally located a Goodyear dealer in Tulsa. After checking in with the KOA office, we got the Wanderer all packed up, tilted it and pulled the bad tire, put it in the back of the Behemoth along with the blown tire and headed for Tulsa. We got two new tires ($990) and rushed back to the Wanderer. Mounted the new tire, aired up the spare, and hooked up. We pulled out of the KOA just after noon and headed for Oklahoma City. The storms were moving in fast from the west, but we made it through Oklahoma City before the really bad storms hit. We raced down I-35 to stay ahead of the storms. We caught some rain showers and heavy winds but stayed ahead of the really bad stuff. We crossed the Red River and breathed a sigh of relief to be back in Texas. After a short stop at Buc-ees to get fuel (Under $4.00 per gallon ($3.88) for the first time since March!) and BBQ sandwiches for dinner we continued on. We pulled into the Texas RV Ranch ($42 per night, no discount) after dark and after the office was closed. But our late arrival package was waiting for us and we pulled into our site, disconnected the Wanderer and did a quick set up. Thirty minutes later the heavy storms hit. A possible tornado occurred about 5 miles east of us. A little hail, lots of wind and rain. But we were happy to have finally made it. 

Welcome back to Texas

Texan RV Site

3 October 2023 St. Charles MO to Claremore OK

 We headed out early, not looking forward to the 377 miles to Claremore. The roads in Missouri were good. At the Oklahoma border, I-44 turns into a toll road. We stopped at the first service center to get some fuel and stretch our legs. While doing our walk around, Leslie pointed at one of the tires on the passenger side and asked if it was ok. There were a few flat spots on the tire from the scrubbing in turns, but nothing extreme. So, we headed on down the road. We were about a mile and a half from our exit from the toll road when there was a loud KBANG. David quickly checked the mirrors and kicked out the cruise control. He could see pieces of rubber flying out behind us. We had obviously blown a tire. The trailer was handling normally, so we decided to continue to the exit so we could pull over away from the 75mph traffic. Sure enough, the tire Leslie had pointed out had blown (she jinxed it). The other two tires on that side were handling the load. We called the Good Sam club to get roadside assistance to come help changing the tire. While on the phone with them, we decided to exit to a gas station at the end of the ramp so we could be out of traffic. GSC sent a roadside support contractor to help us change the tire, but it took him an hour to get to us. We have a full-size spare, so it was just a matter of using the trailer levels to tilt the trailer up so we could pull the tire and put the spare on. Then we continued on to the East Claremore KOA ($42.50 with KOA Discount) only to arrive after dark and 5 minutes after the office closed. We were surprised to find that there was not an after-hours arrival package. With no one to talk to, we decided to grab and open pull through and get with the office in the morning. The travel gods had caught up with us today. 

Entering Oklahoma along I-44/Route 66

Shredded tire

Blown tire

Chunks missing

More chunks missing

2 October 2023 Visiting with friends

 We took the opportunity to sleep in late and rest up for what will be a rough couple of days on the road. Our friends Janette and Jerry rearranged their plans to meet us for dinner so we could catch up since our last visit here in 2020. . It had been almost three years since we last came through St. Louis so we had a lot to catch up on. One of the best parts of our life style is reconnecting with friends while we are on the road.

 

1 October 2023 East Charleston OH to St. Charles MO

 This was the longest drive of the year. Four states, 394 miles in 7.5 hours (3 stops to get out and walk around). We hopped on I-70 west and just drove west. I-70 in Indiana was in horrible shape and we got beaten to near death! The road was fine in Ohio and Illinois, but crazy bad in Indiana. We pulled into St. Charles at 5pm. We are staying at the Sundermeier RV Park ($55 per night with GSC). We stayed here a couple of years ago and liked it. We're only here two nights and then have a long drive to Tulsa. 

26 - 30 September 2023 Jason and Michelle’s wedding

 The first several days we did what we could to help Michelle and Jason prepare their house for the wedding. We took them out to the Pine Club on Tuesday night for an AWESOME steak dinner. David was promoted to be Jason’s best man after Jason’s sons had to back out for reasons still unclear. So, he went to get fitted for his outfit along with Jason and Michelle’s son in law. We had a chance to get to know Michelle, her mom (Mena), two daughters (Maya and Erika) and her son-in-law (Adrian).We pitched in where we could and stayed out of the way when needed. Saturday morning we learned that Jason's father, Rod, would be able to attend the wedding. He had to have supplemental oxygen but otherwise was able to get around. For all the problems, the wedding came together just fine and Jason and Michelle had a wonderful ceremony. We were so happy we could attend and support them!

Late in the week, we learned we had to cancel our plans to attend the New Horizon Ambassador’s week and reroute to DFW as quickly as possible to make a 5 October appointment. 

Jason and his Dad

Michelle starting down the aisle

The wedding party

Michelle and her daughters Mia (on left) and Erika (On right)

The cake/cupcakes

Jason and Michelle with his dad Rod and her mom Lena

25 September 2023 East Sparta to East Charleston Ohio

 We reluctantly hit the road for East Charleston. We are staying at the Tomorrow Stars RV Resort ($67 per night, no discount) near Springfield Ohio. We're here for our nephew, Jason, wedding on the 30^th. Since we came into Canton on US30 and experienced how beat up the road was, we decided to take the slightly longer route down I-77 to I-70 and I-70 across to South Charleston. We stayed at this RV Resort a couple of years ago, so we knew our way around the area. It's an easy on/off to the interstate and only a 20 minute drive into Dayton. The resort is featuring Halloween Nights so many of the sites were decorated for Halloween!

Tomorrows Stars RV Park Site

Spooky stuff in the RV Park

9-24 September 2023 Ohio Family Visit

 We spent as much time as possible with Veronica. We went over to the house to see it all cleaned up and ready to hit the market now that the auction is complete. We stopped by and picked up the auction items that we had bought. We took Veronica out to eat as much as we could stand since she has lost too much weight because she does not like the food at the retirement home. During the two weeks we ran down to Bergholz twice to visit with Aunt Joyce and once down to visit Veronica’s sister Katy. Joyce is looking very good. We took the opportunity to go up to the cemetery to put flowers on family graves. Katy looks great and is very active. We got to visit several times with Cousin Amy. One day we drove up to Hartsville to meet up with the jeweler that Leslie was having modify some jewelry she bought in Veronica’s auction. We were surprised to find that there was a festival going on as well, so we took the time to walk around the festival and the market area of Hartsville. The Goodyear blimp even flew overhead!. We took Veronica and Cheryl to Veronica’s Favorite restaurant (Twisted Olive) for a final dinner. We managed to exhaust everyone in two weeks in Canton, including ourselves. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone.

Amy and Veronica

Gotcha Aunt Jo!

The old apple tree in Bergholz