As my Grandmother Seiler used to say (and this is the OTHER grandmother...not the one with the "This is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life" quote above her toilet) if something goes wrong, "Ya got a hitch in yer get-along". And, yep, today that's EXACTLY what we got.
We started the morning really well with a stop at Panera in Oklahoma City, OK, a great breakfast, a blog update, Facebooking for Mama and e-mails to her friends for Janan. However, as we left Panera I noticed my oil pressure light came on every time I hit the brakes (for you non-car-savvy folks...that's NOT good). Fortunately, as I came to the first stop light I noticed a Valero gas station that had a small oil change shop attached. I pulled in and
Casey and his crew graciously pulled in Bessie (that's our Saturn's name), found her to be 2 quarts of oil low, did an oil change and filled her with gas and had her back to me in about 10 minutes. No leaks, just an apparent 'over torquing' on the oil filter at Saturn of Clarkston before we left. Grrr.....if anyone should know better than THAT it's the Saturn facility. Sadly, they just aren't what they used to be since GM took over. MANY blessings to Casey and his guys at the Valero in Oklahoma City.
After that hitch, we were safely on our way and enjoying our trip through Texas. Did you know that I-40 W through Texas is the ORIGINAL Route 66? There's a museum to prove it in Clinton, TX (no, we didn't stop). Also, we passed the 'largest cross in the western hemisphere' in Groom, TX. And, Mama's favorite was seeing all the windmills across the Texas landscape.
Then, we arrived at the Alabates Flint Quarries and Lake Meredith State Park. Hmmm....not what they advertised. The camping was horrible and the lake is so low right now that even though the camp sites are supposed to be lakeside, they're more than a mile away.
Lucky for us (this is like one of those 'the bad news is....'/'the good news is...' stories, isn't it?) I had seen a sign for a KOA campground as we came into Amarillo, so I turned the car around, located the KOA on my TomTom and headed that way instead.
As I turned onto the KOA road, I noticed it was called "Folsom Road"...I laughed to myself thinking...wouldn't THAT just be the icing on this day's cake if we were near Folsom Prison. Uh, OK, not so funny. We're less than a mile away and I can see the prison towers from our campsite. I mean, really, that's less than a minor hitch, right? There is more barbed wire and armed guards around those folks than most anywhere else in the world, right? And, really, would a prison escapee head for the KOA up the road?
Fortunately, Janan's oblivious to our proximity to a maximum security penitentiary and is LOVING the fact that the campground brings pizza right to your tent (with cheesecake for dessert), has a heated swimming pool AND a hayride tonight at 8:00 p.m. Looks like this will be a one-night stop.
So, the moral of today's lesson is...when life hands you a 'hitch in yer get along', just keep on going and you might end up with a fresh oil change, heated pool, playground, free tent-side Wi-Fi and a hayride with it's own soundtrack of Amarillo by Morning, Green Acres, Old McDonald had a Farm and Happy Trails on the most gorgeous summer night in years.
Of course, the day would end with one last hitch...blogger's not uploading pics. I'll try again tomorrow.
(Thurs...well, I was able to get 2 pics up this morning!) We're off for New Mexico!
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