Heading north out of Texas we went through Mineral Wells, Texas. I wish I had planned the travel day better so I could have called on Casey & Gretchen Hilley who live there now. Casey was a friend of our son Robby’s from back in their pre-school days. His mom Lynn Hilley & I shared the duty of driving our youngin’s to & from pre-school at Winder Methodist Church. Robby invited another student, Conner Devine, to come spend the afternoon with us one day. When we dropped Casey off at his uncle’s house before going to ours, his uncle came out to the car all excited. He said he had something for the boys to see & lead the three into the backyard. He had killed two deer that morning & had them strung up on the dressing pole, one was skinned & was ready to be butchered. I’m not implying there is a single thing wrong with hunting (it was hunting season), but Robby & Conner had never seen such a sight. They were bug eyed with their mouths agape. Robby turned to Conner & exclaimed, “Let’s get out of here!” I laughed so hard! I guess they thought they were next? Anyway, I had a long discussion with the city boys later in the day & explained legal hunting & how it helps the species survival. At the ripe age of 5, Casey had already been acclimated to hunting – he was far more advanced in the country ways. Robby is now in his mid-thirties & has learned how to hunt. His first time out, he got a young buck & was so proud. I imagine he recalled the deer skinning episode, a life lesson for sure.
As we traveled into Oklahoma we experienced our first toll road. $2 for the car & the motorhome was $2, too. Thought it would be more than that but I guess it is determined by how many axels? We also experienced some sudden gusts of wind. I was driving the car ahead of the motorhome & felt it. Perry said he felt it tilted the motorhome so much the wheels on one side came up. We slowed WAY down for a bit. We also used our new 2 way radios & they were awesome! We HAVE to be able to talk to one another about turns, needs of a stop, etc. We found the campground easy & got set up with no issues.
Our campsite was the first in the very small park, actually on Ft Sill Army Base. It was clean & neat & had full hook-ups which we appreciated. There was a stream nearby which attracted a good many fishermen & picnickers through the day. And the base had LOTS of amenities – a small city within it’s borders. Ft Sill is a training base for artillery so we had to adapt to the onslaught of cannon fire & such throughout the day. A bit disconcerting for us as we have been away from anything military for several years.
Continue reading “Entry #67 – OKLAHOMA – May 24 – 28, 2021”
