The Winds of Texas Are Upon You (Oklahoma Too)

Sunday 5-29-11

After seeing the start of the Monaco Grand Prix we leave the house at 7 AM heading east on I-40. There were 4 bikes and 8 people, all except Linda and I were from Utah. Doug & Patsi and Wayne & Calleen on Harleys and Terry & Joyce on a Goldwing. All of us were pulling a trailer behind our bikes. 4 bikes with trailers completely filled the garage. Today is supposed to be a very windy day in New Mexico and unfortunately the weatherman was right. But the wind was behind us and we were getting very good gas mileage until we got to Texas. Then the wind was from the south and it was very strong even for Texas. We had stopped in Santa Rosa,NM for breakfast where Calleen was introduced to Huevos Rancheros. Just before Amarillo, TX we stopped to see the Cadillacs buried nose first in the ground. You could walk south to see them from the road but that would be against the wind and the sandstorm so we decided not to make the walk. By the time we reached Oklahoma we were tired from fighting the wind which continuously became stronger. We were going to a campground about 125 miles into Oklahoma but when we reached one only 50 miles into the state everyone decided that it was time to stop. The lady at the campground gave us a spot for our tents that was supposed to be sheltered against the wind. NOT! It was difficult to set up the tents in the wind and we all had to help each other by holding the tent against the wind while the others put it together. I opened my trailer to get the tent out and the wind caught the lid of the trailer and snapped one of the steel brackets that act as a hinge. I will have to have that welded when we reach Missouri. Of course the wind would die down during the night. NOT! It never stopped all night long. The tents would be flattened and then pop back up only to repeat the process all night long. Finally Terry & Joyce's tent decided not to pop back up. None of us got much sleep that night. This was my third time at this campground and I had forgotten that the highway traffic was very loud and of course the wind was blowing it right to us.