Summer 2009

We were out of the RV Park in Santa Fe at about 6:15 am at a temperature of 50 degrees. We left early this morning because the run to Oklahoma City is one of the longer ones we have. Also, Oklahoma City is in the Central time zone so we lose an hour and we wanted to get in at a reasonable time. Leaving the campground, we traveled on US-285 about 50 miles to Clines Corner, NM where we picked up I-40. The rest of the trip was on I-40, which will be our route until Asheville, North Carolina. Traveling on US-285 we drop about 2,000 feet in elevation by the time we reach Clines Corner. This was an easy run with only a few vehicles on the road. Once we hit I-40, the wind picked up and the temperature rose as we worked our way out of the Rockies down to the Plains. By the time we crossed the border into Texas, the temperature had reached the mid 80s and the wind picked up some more and we encountered some pretty strong gusts. At the beginning, the wind hit us broadside but, aside from holding the steering wheel tight, it did not present too much of a problem. As we continued east of Amarillo, the wind increased and its direction changed and we started getting more resistance. Other than the winds, there were no other issues, like traffic, until we got to Oklahoma City. By then we had only a few miles to go and we didn't care. By the time we reached Oklahoma City the temperature reached 95 degrees.

There is not much more to say about the trip. It was uneventful and the scenery barely changed. There is only one major city on this route of 500+ miles between Santa Fe and Oklahoma City and that is Amarillo, TX. Once you cross into Texas and start into the Plains, nothing changes. It is flat with small towns every few miles. And, yes, as Rogers and Hammerstein wrote, "the wind does come whipping down the Plains."