After visiting family near Oklahoma City, Tom and I continued our journey home along county roads and state highways. We zig-zagged north and west across the Texas panhandle and into New Mexico
As we drove across rural Oklahoma and Texas, the landscape was scattered cattle ranches and oil fields. The skies were filled with birds, presumably migrating north…. just like the rest of us snowbirds!
We stopped for lunch at Kim’s Kitchen in Wheeler, Texas. We chose it because it was easily accessible as we drove through town on highway 152. As soon as we stepped inside, Tom knew we picked the right place. It was full of genuine Texas cowboys talking about calves and heifers.
I enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich on Texas toast, my go-to vegetarian meal in meat-country. Tom had planned to get a burger but couldn’t resist the small buffet of homemade Texas chow. The fried chicken, ribs, green beans, corn, and mashed potatoes almost made me regret being vegetarian.
While Tom and I ate lunch in the restaurant, Aly ate Tom’s extra ball cap and other unsecured items in the truck cab. I guess that was her way of demanding a visit to the dog park. We stopped a little farther up the road, at the Hobart Street Dog Park, in Pampa, Texas. As we rested in the camper next to the dog park, we were happy to see a free RV dump station right next to us. It was perfect timing as we needed to transition from wet to dry camping before reaching the cold Colorado Rockies.
We watched a beautiful sunset as we crossed the state line from Texas into New Mexico. Unfortunately, the angle of the sun also revealed small dings in our new truck that we hadn't previously noticed. We thought our truck escaped the hailstorm in San Antonio that had damaged our camper skylights. But, sadly, the dings were just hidden under all the dirt!
When we left Oklahoma that morning, we didn’t know how far we would get. We were familiar with the Sierra Grande Rest Area, east of Raton, New Mexico, from our lunch stop there last year. It’s a very nice rest stop with a huge parking lot and plenty of picnic and bathroom facilities. It was the perfect place for us to spend the starry-clear night. We were surprised to wake up surrounded by fog.
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