Places Visited:
Texas: Lake Tawakoni, Lake Bridgeport
Oklahoma: Tulsa
Missouri: Marshfield
2004 Travelogue # 11 Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri
Lake Tawakoni Thousand Trails
Point, Texas
6/1 Today was doctor's day in Dallas for my stress test. I checked-in with my
physician, Dr. David Turner, at Medical City, where the test would be administered.
Before my test, David and I had a short visit during which he reminded me that
he received our Travelogues, noting in particular our dining experiences and
advised me to ease up on the sausage and gravy. We both got chuckles out of
that, since I was there to check my heart rate. I did pass the stress test with
flying colors and soon we were on our way back to Lake Tawakoni.
Later that evening, we made a neighborly call on our friends Bill and Dorothy Bruster, the first folks we met at Thousand Trails three years ago. At that time, they introduced us to the "flamingo ladies" who were trendsetters in flamingo decorating. They are great fun and we've developed a good friendship with Bill and Dorothy over the years. They were at Thousand Trails for Memorial Weekend with their newly purchased 5th wheel. Peggy and I wanted to celebrate with them and have a tour so, with our wine bottle in hand; we popped in for a visit. During the conversation, we were surprised to discover that they spend several months each summer in Pagosa Springs, CO. Since we are planning a trip there also, to visit our son and daughter-in-law, they gave us many tips on places to park the motorhome and sights to see.
6/2 Last night it was stormy again and we didn't know what damage we'd find this morning but, one thing for sure, it was a sparkling morning and the woods had a wonderful fresh smell that only comes after a rain. Fortunately, there was little damage, just leaves and branches blown from the trees.
It was time to pack and move to the Bay Landing Thousand Trails Park at Lake Bridgeport. This was the park where we had helped with the Easter egg hunt and it will be a two-day stopover to see our good friends, John and Charlotte in Jacksboro, TX, before we head West.
. Arriving a little after 6 pm, we found a camping spot and started hooking up just as a friend from our Easter visit, Sandra Bratcher, stopped to check on us. She and Peggy visited outside about last night's wind and hail damage to their coach, warning us that bad weather was forecast again for tonight. These late spring- early summer storms in "tornado ally" can make you pucker. Those poor souls in Erath County get pounded all the time and we're just a couple of counties east, in Wise County. One never knows what's going to happen.
Sure enough, around 9 pm the Ranger knocked on our door and said we needed to seek shelter because, 20 minutes away, a storm was heading for us with a wind shear in excess of 80 mph and hail the size of golf balls. We closed the slide-outs on the motor home, lowered the shades to keep the broken glass from coming in, and headed to one of the Park's concrete public restrooms for shelter. In about 20 minutes here it came, but the winds were not as strong as forecasted and the hail was pea size. By 10:30 it was over and we returned to the coach. Thankfully, everything was fine and we went straight to bed, didn't even turn the power back on or open the bedroom slide. We were exhausted.
6/4 Time to hit the road and head north this morning, with our next stop being
Tulsa to see Peggy's brother, Jeff. Since we were only going to stay in Tulsa
one or two nights, we chose to stay at Mingo RV Park near I-244 and Mingo Road,
in the northeast part of town. The Park was all right for an overnight stay
but nothing more. I think we were directly across from the Water Works Sanitation
Plant; thank goodness the wind was blowing away from us. There were no scenic
overlooks there.
6/5 When I awoke this morning, I heard the pattering of rain on our roof and thought leaving might be a little difficult. Fortunately, the rain was more of an off and on sprinkle and we appeared to be on the front edge of the thunderstorm which we could out run, by going East.
By 8:30 we were on The Oklahoma Turnpike with a 10 am stop at the world's largest McDonalds for a stretch and a few nourishing breakfast goodies. We arrived in Marshfield, MO around 12:30 at Mary and Scott Routh's home, Peggy's sister and brother-in-law. Driving into their circular drive, I gave the air horns a few resounding "hello" blasts. That noise, accompanied with the chugging of the diesel engine, was enough to vibrate their refrigerator. They thought a helicopter was flying overhead, but when the noise didn't go away, they opened the front door, and knew we had arrived…It was good to be back with them and we would enjoy our time together.
6/6 Scott is a fireman with the Springfield Fire Department and he was off to work by 6:15 this morning. I started working on various necessary projects, which are easier to complete on a landline rather than my cell phone...like our reservations for air and car to Manchester, NH, the latter part of the week.
We received two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines from our VISA card purchases. In past years we've had wonderful side-trips (other than motorhome) using these tickets. Last year, we went to Niagara Falls and Canada, the year before to Salt Lake City, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons, and the year before that, to southern California. Our trip to Manchester is across the state-line from Boston, but our true destination is Maine and in particular, Acadia National Park. Just maybe, by chance, we'll find a few lobsters to snack on while we're there.
6/10 We left Marshfield, MO for the St. Louis airport this morning around 8
with a quick stop at Mickey D's for "road food ". Our flight had one
stop in Baltimore then on to Manchester, NH. This is where Southwest dumps you
for the Boston area.
An Information Booth in the Luggage Claim area caught our attention. We stopped and two reserved, grandmotherly type ladies provided us with material regarding the area. They started to tell us about some of the wonderful B&B's in Manchester for our night's lodging, but I politely informed them. "I didn't want to hurt their feelings but, is there a Holiday Inn Express close by?" They laughed and said there is one and it's not too far.
We just needed a simple place to rest for the night, to put our research and schedule together for tomorrow. We were heading toward the18 miles of New Hampshire coastline, then up the Maine coastline to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.
Bob & Peggy Woodall