Details: 8.25 hours travel time; 457 miles Total miles: 846
Last night was a noisy one. Shortly after we went to bed, the weather radio squawked a blaring severe thunderstorm alert. It took a while before we were able to get back to sleep. Sometime after midnight we were awakened by heavy rain beating on the roof of the RV. Exhaustion finally triumphed over the racket and we slept uninterrupted until about 6:30.
Gaining an hour by crossing into the Central Time Zone yesterday helped us start out early this morning. As soon as we pulled onto I-40W we began to see the results of last night's storms: trees sheared-off about 20 feet from the ground, large signs blown down, a tractor-trailer tossed on its side. Every body of water we saw--creek, river, lake--was high and brown. The "Big Muddy" was just Big Mud today.
In my opinion, Arkansas is a state one goes through rather than to and the quicker one goes through it the better. (To be fair, the section from Little Rock to the Oklahoma border is more scenic with a better road surface and less traffic than the West Memphis to Little Rock stretch.) A woman at the Welcome Center told us a tornado hit near Little Rock last night; we learned later that 10 people had been killed.
We reached tonight's destination, Sallisaw, OK, about 3:30 and had the RV hooked up by 4. Since then, we've been watching local TV forecasters warn about and track approaching storms. A line of severe thunderstorms and a tornado have already skirted this area but more clusters are moving toward us; there's a tornado warning for this county until 10 PM.
Sallisaw, OK
April 26, 2011
Sallisaw KOA
Details: 7.5 hours travel time; 389 miles Total miles: 389
Here's hoping the rest of the trip goes as smoothly as this first day! We'd planned to leave home by 8 AM but the last-minute chores required to get the house ready took longer than anticipated. We got underway at 9:15.
I made three wishes for light traffic, good weather and low gas prices--and got all of them today. We didn't encounter congestion or delays, even around Knoxville or Nashville, found gas for 15 cents less/gallon than in Brevard and had no rain or tornadoes.
The day's 'cherry on top' was getting an RV site able to accommodate the length of the motor home with the Jeep attached. Eliminating that hitching-up step will save us time and frustration tomorrow morning.
After extending the slide-outs and hooking up the utilities, we strolled around the campground, ate a simple dinner, took our showers in the bath-house and settled in for the night.
No excitement today (except for finally beginning the adventure we've looked forward to for so long) but that's a good thing.
Fred and our rig at the
Hurricane Mills KOA
April 25, 2011
Sunday, April 24th
It feels as though we've been in preparation-mode for months. Looking back, I guess we have. We made innumerable to-do lists, checklists, shopping lists and have completed all but the 'last minute' list which can't be tackled until tomorrow morning. Everything (that is, everything we've thought of) has been packed, stowed, cleaned, gotten rid of, mowed, painted, gassed up or otherwise attended to.
The house is ready! The RV is ready! The Jeep is ready! Not sure I'm ready, though I'm excited about being in Utah but apprehensive about getting to Utah--tornadoes and flooding in the midwest, snow and freezing night-time temperatures in Bryce and the price of fuel all present elements of uncertainty and concern.
The plan is to leave tomorrow at 8 AM and spend the night west of Nashville, TN, about 390 miles for the day. We have our fingers crossed for calm weather and light traffic.
