The Journey Begins pt 4

A Detour of fate

The reality has sunk in, we are nomads.  With our job and our home left behind, we have visited the last of our family and friends that lived in the Midwest, and everything in front of us is now a land of strangers.  With apprehension of the unknown and not knowing what each town and city before us as to offer, we set forth.  Maybe this played a small role in our minds in making the fateful decision to detour south to a small town just outside of Wichita, Kansas to visit our family friend.  We got on Interstate 35 and headed southwest.

We reached Matt's house in the early afternoon, only to find he was not there.  Matt is a farmer, and he spent long hours in the field.  Especially this time of year when planting and spraying were a necessity to setting the crop.  We hung out there for about a half an hour, petting the goats and scanning the fields in hopes of catching a glimpse of his tractor somewhere in hopes that we might be able to catch his attention.  But as fate would have it, This was not to happen.

We checked our maps and Interstate 35 makes a beeline due South to Oklahoma City.  Between the Interstate 70 in the Interstate 40 we were already one third of the way to the Interstate 40.  We took one last look at our planned route of taking the 70 to Denver then going south, but again with 200,000 miles on an overloaded van, we felt that backtracking plus the extra miles north the Interstate 70 would take us, was just too risky.  So we left our dreams of the Colorado Rockies and the area surrounding the Colorado Springs behind us and continued south to the 40.

By the time we reached Oklahoma we were tired, it had been a long day crossing the state of Kansas and detouring to look for our friend, and now it was getting dark.  We did not see any campgrounds along the way, and the mosquitoes were thick at Matt's house, so when we cross the border into Oklahoma we found a hotel right off the freeway near Braman, Oklahoma and decided to stop for the night there.

We chose the Best Western because it seemed really nice and clean.  It was just off the freeway near the Braman exit. Of all the places we had stayed, this Best Western was the biggest disappointment we encountered.  Once we got all unpacked and were in our room, Carmella discovered the bathroom had not been cleaned well in fact, there was fecal matter on the floor and the shower walls were filthy.  I went to the front desk to complain about the problem, and the man working the front desk gave me a spray bottle of cleaner and a rag.  So Carmella cleaned the bathroom for them so that we could enjoy a restful night.

The next morning when we checked out, we filed a complaint with the daytime employees about the condition of that room and how we had to clean it ourselves, and we paid our bill.  This is where I really lost it.  The night before when we checked in we were quoted a price of about $83.  When we paid our bill in the morning we were charged and $97 and some chump change.  Once again I complained and I would not let up until the clerk promised me she would have the manager call us when she arrived.  So we took off and continued our journey with our cell phone in hand waiting for that call.  Waiting for that call.  Yes, we kept waiting for that call that would never come.  Nonetheless, if we had to stay in another motel before we reached our destination, it would not be a Best Western nor will we ever stay in another Best Western.

The rest of our journey that day was pretty uneventful.  We found the Cadillacs that have their noses buried in the ground along the old Route 66, and as we got near the Texas border we made our first stop at a southwestern trading post so we could pick up some souvenirs for the grandkids and snap a few photos of some real live buffalo and let our kids see the Buffalo up close.  Our youngest children had never even been out of the state of Indiana, so this journey was a whole new experience for them.

At my age I was in no hurry to get across the country, because of the weight we were hauling and the mileage on our van I set the cruise control at 55.  By the time we got close to the Texas border I was getting tired and we decided to stop for the night.  We stopped at a KOA campgrounds in Oklahoma about 20 miles from the Texas border.  I really didn't want to stop in Texas because many times in my life I've driven through Texas it has always been a boring drive, second in boredom only to driving through Nebraska.

We tried something new at this KOA, it was getting dark and we did not want to pitch the tent so we inquired about their little log cabins.  The cabins were only about $15 a night more than a tent site, so we rented a little log cabin.  It was really nice, and as we closely examined the log cabin we came to a realization.  Log cabins do not readily grow mold, and if they do it cannot be concealed.  The health of our whole family had been compromised by mold that grew inside the hollow wall construction that is typical of modern construction techniques, so this was something to add to our education about building practices and potential safe housing for us in the future.

As you will read as our journey moves forward, we alternated between tent camping and log cabins and we never found a log cabin that caused us any issues with mold or other allergens.  It was during our travels that we learn that not only could we possibly live in an RV but log cabins were also an option for future housing.

Tomorrow we would pack the van, cross the top of the Texas, and reach our primary target of New Mexico.  The long part of the journey, that is the path unknown with the most miles, would be over and the next phase of the journey, looking for a place to call home, would begin. Fewer miles but potentially more time.

To be continued......