Thought I'd post about the 3 day weekend adventure we had weekend before last.
We left out early Friday morning. As we live in western Oklahoma, we decided to take the scenic route to our destination, which was southern Oklahoma, the Chickasaw National Recreation Area near Sulphur, Oklahoma.
It was a beautiful morning with tolerable wind, which can get pretty intense sometimes in our area. Decided to go through the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge, which was one way we could go that provided things to look at. Buffalo was among them, much to Hotrod's delight. (Hotrod being the beloved doggy of bf's) Many barks ensued. Imagine big doggy with paws up on the console so he can stare down the buffalo, lol. It was hilarious. My lil doggy, Chevy, was kind of bored with that nonsense, instead opting to lounge on the couch.
We hit a supposed local favorite, Meers, OK. The were purported to have the best burgers around, or so I've been hearing for 20+ years. Having never been there, was not sure what to expect. And I must say... it is kind of a weird feeling to be peeing while going down the road amid twists and turns and shade hitting the skylights making the bathroom feel like there is strobe lighting in the ceiling. Just saying... Anyways, the place is a real neat set up and the atmosphere is cool as heck! The burgers.. well.. hmm... the use grain fed local longhorn beef, but... hardly any fat on them which, to me, equals, um.. no flavor!!! Give me a greasy juicy burger any day over that dry flavorless meat, argh!! The bf's estimation of it was much of the same.
So anyways, food eaten and on the road again. Scenery was still nice, passed some lakes and beautiful foliage. Got to one of the major highways for an hour or two which was more boring than the back roads, imo.
Were trucking along and chatting when I smelled something. Let me just clarify, I have a nose for motor smells. Dunno what it is. Anyways, I smelled something and remarked on it, no sooner it out my mouth then 'WHOOSH!'... followed by the thump thump thump that people dread hearing. Pulled over.. it was an inner dually tire on the drivers back side. Crap. Spied a little town less than a mile and limped it there. No luck finding a tire place there, the town was tiny. Called the next town over that was bigger, it was 17 miles away. When found a safe place to sit, saw that the outer tire was starting to go down. Double crap.
Let me just say, that dude impressed the HECK out of us!! From hanging up the phone, and him being 17 miles away, he was there, rig jacked up, tires off (and yes, I had to pee again in the midst of getting a tire change, shhhhh... no one was the wiser), broke down both tires by hand, two new tires back on and we were rolling again within an hour. An hour!! And he drove the 17 miles of that to boot. Dang!!
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So, off again. The rest of the trip passed without incident. Found the place. Well.. never mind, there was a few incidents. Let's start off with #1. we went into the information center there at the recreational area. Standing at the front desk talking to the ranger to get info and I look down the counter and what am I standing right by?? A dang tarantula in a glass container. OMG!! Okay, I know it was contained, but I have a severe. fear. of. spiders.!! I vacated the area immediately. #2. Bf took a wrong turn and we wound up having to backtrack. No big deal, but he decided to make his turn into a parking lot with a big hill, SCRAAAAPE!! Thank goodness my rig comes with a dandy welded on metal bumper with rollers that protected the back end. But boy did it leave a couple deep gouges in the pavement, eek!
Beautiful spot found and settle in. We had to check out the lake first and let the doggies do their thing with peeing on every tree and big rock. Even my lil pooch, who is female and intimidated by the bigger male doggy, had to hike up her leg on some to show how tough she was. Lake was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous, the trees in full color. Doggies chased rocks and tree limbs and were happy.
So there we were, making camp, everything easily accessible for the outside from the many storage bins on the outside of the rig. While gathering wood for a campfire, we noticed a family had pulled up to the spot next to us. As they were kind of downhill from us, we kind of had a front row view. The family was in an SUV only, which meant, tent campers. Our firewood gathered and campfire going, we sat in the chairs and played with doggies, all the while watching what turned out to be a huge event from our neighboring campers.
In and out they went into the back of their SUV. Arms reaching inside, arm load of stuff removed and dumped to a cleared off space on the ground. On and on it went.. in for stuff, arm load of stuff, unload stuff. As it was dinner time I hopped inside to whip up a quick dinner. Easy hamburger helper with already cooked frozen burger (don't judge). Just tossed it all in pot and let it simmer til done, easy peasy camping meal. When dinner done we ate inside the rig at the dining table. Left the door open as it was nice out and doggies could see us. We could also see our neighbors. At that point they had unloaded their huge amounts of stuff and were commencing to setting up the tent. It was getting close to sunset.
I remarked to bf "They are probably looking at us and saying 'That ain't camping!', and all I can think as I look at all they are having to do is 'That is too much work to have fun camping!'.". He couldn't stop laughing.
Stayed by the campfire pretty late, the weather was great but chilly, the stars were pretty that peeked through the trees, and the moon was full. We lucked out by not having any rowdy campers anywhere near us. Settled in for sleep, this was pretty much how the doggies were:
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Yep, they have taken over the couch. Okay by us, we never sit on it. They were nice enough to share with each other, at least. That's Chevy on the left, and Hotrod on the right. I have my spot picked out on the dining table, bf is opposite, neither one cares for the couch, doggies love it, it is all theirs. I did later on think it would be wise to cover it with a blanket, it's on there now.
Slept very good with my sound machine and bed that is awesome. The next day, pancakes and bacon, yum!! More firewood gathering. It got to be a routing... gather the wood, burn the wood, go get more wood, burn more wood.. haha. Bf's family showed up and it was just a really good day. The weather was beautiful, the park was beautiful. Sunday we took our time loading up and took a leisurely drive home, stopping on the way to visit a sick relative in the hospital and stopping for awesome steak in OKC.
So if anyone is in the area to visit Chickasaw National Recreation Area, I give it a thumbs up. If you do need camping hookups it was reasonable, about $22 per night. All of the parking pads were level. The bathrooms were big, clean and had showers. The park rangers made patrolled and the area was kept clean. Even if it was Oklahoma, was a very nice place. I recommend.
We left out early Friday morning. As we live in western Oklahoma, we decided to take the scenic route to our destination, which was southern Oklahoma, the Chickasaw National Recreation Area near Sulphur, Oklahoma.
It was a beautiful morning with tolerable wind, which can get pretty intense sometimes in our area. Decided to go through the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge, which was one way we could go that provided things to look at. Buffalo was among them, much to Hotrod's delight. (Hotrod being the beloved doggy of bf's) Many barks ensued. Imagine big doggy with paws up on the console so he can stare down the buffalo, lol. It was hilarious. My lil doggy, Chevy, was kind of bored with that nonsense, instead opting to lounge on the couch.
We hit a supposed local favorite, Meers, OK. The were purported to have the best burgers around, or so I've been hearing for 20+ years. Having never been there, was not sure what to expect. And I must say... it is kind of a weird feeling to be peeing while going down the road amid twists and turns and shade hitting the skylights making the bathroom feel like there is strobe lighting in the ceiling. Just saying... Anyways, the place is a real neat set up and the atmosphere is cool as heck! The burgers.. well.. hmm... the use grain fed local longhorn beef, but... hardly any fat on them which, to me, equals, um.. no flavor!!! Give me a greasy juicy burger any day over that dry flavorless meat, argh!! The bf's estimation of it was much of the same.
So anyways, food eaten and on the road again. Scenery was still nice, passed some lakes and beautiful foliage. Got to one of the major highways for an hour or two which was more boring than the back roads, imo.
Were trucking along and chatting when I smelled something. Let me just clarify, I have a nose for motor smells. Dunno what it is. Anyways, I smelled something and remarked on it, no sooner it out my mouth then 'WHOOSH!'... followed by the thump thump thump that people dread hearing. Pulled over.. it was an inner dually tire on the drivers back side. Crap. Spied a little town less than a mile and limped it there. No luck finding a tire place there, the town was tiny. Called the next town over that was bigger, it was 17 miles away. When found a safe place to sit, saw that the outer tire was starting to go down. Double crap.
Let me just say, that dude impressed the HECK out of us!! From hanging up the phone, and him being 17 miles away, he was there, rig jacked up, tires off (and yes, I had to pee again in the midst of getting a tire change, shhhhh... no one was the wiser), broke down both tires by hand, two new tires back on and we were rolling again within an hour. An hour!! And he drove the 17 miles of that to boot. Dang!!
So, off again. The rest of the trip passed without incident. Found the place. Well.. never mind, there was a few incidents. Let's start off with #1. we went into the information center there at the recreational area. Standing at the front desk talking to the ranger to get info and I look down the counter and what am I standing right by?? A dang tarantula in a glass container. OMG!! Okay, I know it was contained, but I have a severe. fear. of. spiders.!! I vacated the area immediately. #2. Bf took a wrong turn and we wound up having to backtrack. No big deal, but he decided to make his turn into a parking lot with a big hill, SCRAAAAPE!! Thank goodness my rig comes with a dandy welded on metal bumper with rollers that protected the back end. But boy did it leave a couple deep gouges in the pavement, eek!
Beautiful spot found and settle in. We had to check out the lake first and let the doggies do their thing with peeing on every tree and big rock. Even my lil pooch, who is female and intimidated by the bigger male doggy, had to hike up her leg on some to show how tough she was. Lake was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous, the trees in full color. Doggies chased rocks and tree limbs and were happy.
So there we were, making camp, everything easily accessible for the outside from the many storage bins on the outside of the rig. While gathering wood for a campfire, we noticed a family had pulled up to the spot next to us. As they were kind of downhill from us, we kind of had a front row view. The family was in an SUV only, which meant, tent campers. Our firewood gathered and campfire going, we sat in the chairs and played with doggies, all the while watching what turned out to be a huge event from our neighboring campers.
In and out they went into the back of their SUV. Arms reaching inside, arm load of stuff removed and dumped to a cleared off space on the ground. On and on it went.. in for stuff, arm load of stuff, unload stuff. As it was dinner time I hopped inside to whip up a quick dinner. Easy hamburger helper with already cooked frozen burger (don't judge). Just tossed it all in pot and let it simmer til done, easy peasy camping meal. When dinner done we ate inside the rig at the dining table. Left the door open as it was nice out and doggies could see us. We could also see our neighbors. At that point they had unloaded their huge amounts of stuff and were commencing to setting up the tent. It was getting close to sunset.
I remarked to bf "They are probably looking at us and saying 'That ain't camping!', and all I can think as I look at all they are having to do is 'That is too much work to have fun camping!'.". He couldn't stop laughing.
Stayed by the campfire pretty late, the weather was great but chilly, the stars were pretty that peeked through the trees, and the moon was full. We lucked out by not having any rowdy campers anywhere near us. Settled in for sleep, this was pretty much how the doggies were:
Yep, they have taken over the couch. Okay by us, we never sit on it. They were nice enough to share with each other, at least. That's Chevy on the left, and Hotrod on the right. I have my spot picked out on the dining table, bf is opposite, neither one cares for the couch, doggies love it, it is all theirs. I did later on think it would be wise to cover it with a blanket, it's on there now.
Slept very good with my sound machine and bed that is awesome. The next day, pancakes and bacon, yum!! More firewood gathering. It got to be a routing... gather the wood, burn the wood, go get more wood, burn more wood.. haha. Bf's family showed up and it was just a really good day. The weather was beautiful, the park was beautiful. Sunday we took our time loading up and took a leisurely drive home, stopping on the way to visit a sick relative in the hospital and stopping for awesome steak in OKC.
So if anyone is in the area to visit Chickasaw National Recreation Area, I give it a thumbs up. If you do need camping hookups it was reasonable, about $22 per night. All of the parking pads were level. The bathrooms were big, clean and had showers. The park rangers made patrolled and the area was kept clean. Even if it was Oklahoma, was a very nice place. I recommend.
