WHITETAILS

Monday, September, 21, 2009

When we rose it was cold.  Rain hissed intermittently on the side of the coach.  The heater was fired up to chase the cold from our rolling home.

After showers Onie fixed breakfast while the driver began disconnecting the land lines.  With a strong north wind blowing and a fine mist permeating the air the driver quickly became chilled to the bone as he did his walk around and was only too glad to go inside to hot cereal and hot tea.

Onie began washing the breakfast dishes right after the last bite was downed and the last drop of tea was swallowed.  The driver went back out to tie down the living room slide cover as soon as the navigator had it retracted.  With the wind whistling all around us we had no doubt that we were in for some strong buffeting by the wind and the slide cover would undoubtedly unspool unless it was secured.

With the slide cover secured the driver returned, cold and damp, to the environs of the coach.  Onie had things buttoned up, ready to travel.  The Cummins was idling and had been for a few minutes but showed no sign of warming past a hundred and twenty degrees.  Operating temp is one eighty to one eighty five.

Leaving our rest site we headed back to the highway, in the wind and rain.  It was eight twenty.  We figured we were getting a good start on the day.

The good road surface mitigated the strong winds and blowing rain but close attention was still needed to keep us between the white lines.

On the hills we were passing a few antelope grazed but many more lay close to the ground, trying to escape the wind and rain.

Motoring homeward the north wind rocked us and the rain fell, and fell and fell.

One hill followed the next as the serpentine highway carried us east ward and closer to Lake Road.

Now the brush covered hills were giving way to lush pastures.  Through the pastures ran clear flowing creeks that were tree lined.  Near the trees large herds of deer grazed, filling their bellies against the winter that was soon to come.  One pasture, about fifty acres, full of alfalfa, contained what was perhaps the largest aggregation of deer we had ever seen.  At least fifty deer grazed unconcerned about the traffic passing a quarter mile away.

In Nebraska we kept a sharp lookout for pheasant but saw not one.

The day was wearing on but we thought we had quite a bit of time to keep driving and then in a matter of minutes the sun touched the horizon and dipped below it.  Darkness fell quickly.

Not wanting to drive after dark we began looking for a rest stop where we could spend the night.  The first one was full so we drove another forty miles to another.  It too was full but a motor home parked there, had the engine running and the driver’s foot on the brake.  We felt they were about to leave.  Sure enough after a five minute wait they were on their way.  We eased into their spot, set the parking brake and stopped the engine.

It was twenty after nine.  We had traveled four hundred forty miles.  A day’s rest had paid off in miles traveled.

We would spend the night in this Nebraska pullout.

Onie prepared our evening meal.

Later we visited a bit before toddling off to bed.

ODOMETER ROLLED

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The night had been cool and the temp was still down when we rose.

As Onie fixed breakfast the writer made some quick notes, among those being that it was fifty degrees, outside.  Inside the heater ran.

We left our pullout at nine twenty five headed east on IH 80.  In the distance we could see clear skies and a brilliant sun.  We knew before the day was over we would lose our cool temps and perhaps even be running the dash air conditioner.  In the meantime the dash heater ran and a light drizzle fell.

Passing our windows were a few ducks, gathering on ponds, preparing for their flight south.  Overhead we could see geese already on the wing.  The fields were empty of animals.

At highway 81 we turned south.  Bluegrass and gospel music kept us company.

A relative tried to reach us by cell phone but being very remote as we were the signal was too poor to carry on a conversation.

After turning south on highway 135 our signal improved and we had another call.  A sister-in-law had passed away early this morning.  Onie made calls to other family members and made an effort to find out when the service would take place.

We traveled in silence for quite a ways.  When we talked again we agreed that we should travel as far as we could, today, before stopping.

The highway stretched out before us, the wheels turned, the odometer rolled and we motored on to IH 35.

Kansas came and passed beneath the coach.

The hills of Oklahoma greeted us and we headed on south.

Calling ahead we reserved a campsite at a park in Ardmore telling them we would arrive after their office was closed.

 Beautiful sunset along our route.

Ten hours and five minutes after leaving our rest area in Nebraska we pulled into our campsite.  We had traveled five hundred twenty miles.

Parked we gazed out on a ten acre lake where folks tried their hands for supper.

Onie prepared ours quickly, tuning in our satellite in the process.  Eating we caught up on national news.

Notes made and the shades of night fast around us we slept.

Overhead the roof air conditioners droned.

HOME

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

We were up at seven thirty.  Outside it was fifty degrees under cloudy skies.

Onie fixed breakfast while the driver checked the outside of the coach, emptied trash and studied the sky.  The living room slide had been put out last night and he decided high wind would not be a threat today so he opted not to tie it back down, after breakfast.

Showers were enjoyed before we began the last leg home.

We were headed south again at ten ten.  Our next stop would be Denton.  Friends, Mike and Margarete Richardson, live there and we were transporting some canned salmon and yard sale treasures for them.

 Friends Mike and Marguerite Richardson.

An hour and a half later we stopped the coach in a Wal-Mart parking lot where they waited for us.

After hugs were exchanged we rode with them to a Starbucks where we visited over coffee, tea and scones.

Later back at Wal-Mart we unloaded their salmon and treasures, said our goodbyes and headed back to IH35S.

Once we left Denton we were in heavy traffic until we left Dallas in our rear view mirrors, a couple of hours later, near three o’clock.

With the wipers on the intermittent setting we traveled though a light mist and ran the heater.  It was hard to believe but it was actually cool, almost cold.

Now everything looked familiar and we could almost smell the fresh scent of towering pines, hear the songs of birds and see our home on Lake Road.

The last few hours passed quickly and we were soon positioning the coach in our yard.

It was hooked up to our fifty amp service, water and sewer since we would be living in it a few days until we get things transferred back into the house.

When we finished it was six ten.

We had traveled four thousand four hundred ninety nine miles from Castaway and since leaving home the odometer in the Marlin had registered nine thousand one hundred and eighty miles.

Another summer had come and gone.

Supper waited for us, down the road, at our friends, Jim and Polly Johnson.

Back home some of the family came by and we visited before

we retired in the coach.

Some of the family from Louisiana slept in our guest room.