Monday, October 10, 2011
I got up and packed everything away so that hopefully nothing moved much when I drove. Since I was in one place for two weeks, I had clothes, food, etc. around so they were handy.
I needed to get propane for my tank to run my fridge. I wasn’t sure that the propane I had in my tank would last the entire two and a half weeks until I could refill it, but it did with some extra. I think the longest I had run it without refilling was 10 days. I found the propane dealer that Scott had told me about and after getting the propane, I headed east on I-40 towards Amarillo, Texas to see my friend Jim. He was one of my friends, and also a doctor who was part of my surgical team in Fort Worth in1992 when I had my ostomy. He moved to Amarillo many years ago and we keep in touch periodically. I stopped at the hospital where he was working for a few minutes to say hi, then I headed towards Palo Duro Canyon south of Amarillo.
Palo Duro Canyon
I arrived at Palo Duro Canyon about 5 p.m. They did have some campsites with electric and water available and I drove down into the canyon to the campground. It was a really steep and winding road down into the canyon. As I drove, I remembered some of the sights from when I was there about 25 years ago. I found my campsite which was near the showers and of course, I had to take advantage of taking a shower since it had been several days since the last one. Since the weather was really cold, I didn’t sweat, so a washcloth bath was okay in the meantime, but washing my hair sure felt great. I ate the dinner that I bought in the deli at a grocery store, then finished reading a novel I started the day before. Then I went to sleep. I had the windows open in the skylight and there was no sounds other than the wind in the trees. The scenery here is spectacular, I took lots of pictures.
Palo Duro Canyon, TX
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I got up and ate some breakfast and then drove the road through Palo Duro Canyon. It is so pretty here, and very quiet. They had some rain the other day so parts of roads were closed due to the flooding. The colors of the rocks are just beautiful, they are various shades of yellows, oranges, and reds. That with the greens of the trees and bushes makes it so pretty. I think Palo Duro Canyon is more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. Palo Duro Canyon is approximately 120 miles long and 600 – 800 feet deep and is the second largest canyon in the United States. It consists of 18,438 acres in two counties.
Palo Duro Canyon
After I left Palo Duro Canyon, I continued driving east on I-40 and I found a place to stop for lunch and I had Chicken Fried Steak and a baked potato and soup. I saved some for leftovers for lunch or dinner on Wednesday. I kept driving east and stopped at Red Rock Canyon State Park just outside Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They had several campspots with electric and water hookups so I drove down into the canyon and found a spot I liked. I chose the last campground since it had less people there and also instead of having the campspots next to each other in a row, this area had them along the road so no one is next to anyone else. The trees in this park are beginning to turn to shades of reds and yellows and it’s looking like fall. I don’t think the temperatures will be in the 40’s like Albuquerque. There were really no pictures to take of this park, it is beautiful with trees, but no canyon walls or anything to photograph.
I ate dinner and decided since I had electricity to update my narratives so that I could upload them and some photos when I get an Internet connection. On Thursday I will be in Oklahoma City to visit with my friend Albert Gray Eagle for a few days, then on to Fort Worth, Texas to visit with my friends there for a couple of weeks.
Wednesday, October 12th – I found out that there is a library about 3 miles from the campground, so I came and updated my website so you could see my latest photos and know where I am. So far, I have driven about 9,800 miles since June 20th.
