Day 65-August 9, 2013-To Arkansas
Hot again, 92, humid. Huge storm last night, sunny during the day, storms again at night.
Drove 205 miles in 6-1/2 hours.
Remember how I said the lightning last night was pretty but menacing? Well, by midnight it was a full blown Oklahoma storm. The rain came down in buckets, the wind was bringing down branches and sweeping the rain, which was now flash flooding, all over the campground, the lightning was still flashing only closer now and the thunder was constant and sounded like a freight train. And every time I hear someone describe a tornado they say it sounded like a freight train. So what does Harry say to me? I’m going to sleep now, don’t wake me up. Hello!!! This is Oklahoma and we’re in the middle of a storm!!!! It lasted until about 1:30 and then just as I thought it was going away…BAM! A clap of thunder like I’ve never heard before. There were two more of them before it finally left. In the morning there was sand and leaves all over the campground and everything was water logged. We saw a lot of flooding on the way out of town and we heard a 60 year old man was killed when he tried to help his family in a flood.
The weather all day was good, although hot and humid. We passed by about six casinos before we stopped at the last exit in Oklahoma at Cherokee Casino, but I think we’re now done with casinos. There are so many Indian Reservations in OK and they all seem to have a casino but now that we’re in Arkansas I think we’re done.
Talked with the insurance adjuster for the original claim today and he tried to get all three claims transferred to him but because he’s not licensed in Texas or OK, where two of tires went, I have to deal with two other adjusters. But once we get home it should be easier. We’ll just need to get appraisals and go from there. I hope.
The campground we’re at tonight, Crabtree RV Park, is right off I-40. When we got off to get gas there was about 7 miles on the main road that was filled with flea markets. It was more like everybody selling their excess “stuff” but we must have passed almost 100 tents on both sides of the road. It looked like this was something that happens every Friday. When we walked into the campground office, the manager was holding a kitten and said “You get one of these free with every night you stay”. The cutest kitten I’ve even seen, and she had a sister, too. The mother was a stray and is now the campground cat. We played with them for a while and they were really cute and playful but we resisted. Just like we resisted the cute little black puppy in Texas. That was even hard for Harry. And these kittens were trying, they were rubbing up against his legs and being extra cute. But they have a good home here and we’re sure the owners will take good care of them.
The campground is right in back of a Cracker Barrel, so how could I cook dinner? We walked over and it poured as soon as we got there but stopped by the time we left.
Didn’t unhook so we can get an early start tomorrow. We’re anxious to get home now.