Texans are Back in Texas!

Thursday was awful.  We spent the day being battered by 40 mile an hour gusts of wind and watching the awnings on the slide outs billow out, hoping they did not rip and when we had to pull the slides in when we leave, the the canopy would retract.  And, the temperature was 100.  Way too hot.  The air conditioner would never keep up with that intense heat so we left the windows open and just got beaten up.

This train came through at 5pm last night - very close to us, scared the cats.

Arkansas River is bone dry

Sorghum - 5th most important crop of the world - and there's lots of it!

And of course, more wind farms

The wind never let up all day, and way into the night.  About midnight we put the a/c on just to stop listening the the wind hit the RV.  We did get a few minutes of sleep but not much.  So, this morning we got out of Dodge (City).  Seems everyone else at the campground was also giving up, packing up and skedaddling.  Phoose - all gone!

We both said at same time - 'I am a lineman for the county, and I
drive the main road, searching in the sun for another overload.....' 
- late Glen Campbell song

Harvesting has begun

Fracking operation in full swing

Cimarron River also bone dry

Yep, big beef processing plant.

We got on the road by 8:50am, and of course the winds had died to a mere 18 miles an hour.  On our nose.  We dropped straight down route 283 into the small town of Minneolis, then picked up Route 54 and took it all the way down south west, into Oklahoma, and then into Texas.  We passed through the town of Liberal, Kansas when we saw that Dorothy and her 3 friends from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz have a museum.  I did not realize that the story was based in the town of Liberal.  Lots of Dorothy this, Toto that, etc.  Cute.

Dorothy and her crew watched you drive into town

Statue of Dorothy on the corner

We got into Dalhart, Texas (where we are staying for 2 days) by 1pm, and drove to the service company that inspects cars and RV for the Department of Transportation.  Everything went smoothly and we got to Corrall RV Park by 2pm.  Settled in, and just fell into a stupor, we were so tired.  Were able to take a quick power nap and then a great thunderstorm came through.  Winds, heavy rain, some hail, lots of lightning and thunder.  Lasted about an hour.  Cooled everything down nicely.

Huge home in the middle of nowhere!

Dinky little sign that says - Oklahoma State Line

Further down the road - saw the 'official' sign for Oklahoma

Lots of gas plants - not sure if natural

EVERY town has their co-op AG silos, EVERY

Fracking

Had to be careful of the farm equipment on the road

Getting closer

Howdy, Pardner!  Welcome back.

Then the fun began.  We are here in Dalhart at the start of harvesting season.  And in this campground are 3 harvesters, companies that contract with farms to do the harvesting.  The empty spot in front of us was reserved for a large bunk-house type RV, sleeps 8, and when we watched it swing into the sight, it hit the branch of the tree.  Boss-man was called in, he moved it into the spot and we saw a great humanity type thing happen.  One of the truckers (he was the passenger in the rig at the time) that hit the tree was called over by the boss-man.  Some arm pointing, the trucker looked like he was crying because he felt bad that it was his fault - he was the spotter - and the boss-man hugged him and said not to worry, things happen.  Wow.  Wish there was more good stories like this in the world. You have to also know that when the truckers/bunk-house was being parked, it was raining really hard, not good visibility.

Like seeing that sign - Corral RV Park up ahead, home for 2 nights

53 foot bunk house, had to move the car, they could not get in

Of course, raining like a son-of-a-gun, then they hit the tree on right 

We will stay here in Dalhart until Sunday morning, using tomorrow to get our energy level back since we did not sleep at all last night, and then Sunday morning we will leave for Alamagordo, New Mexico for a week's stay.  In the mean time - Howdy, Pardner!!!