Atkins, AK to Shamrock, TX
We wasted no time getting up and on the road. We left by 7am after a terrible night of humidity, mosquitoes, and sweat. Everything was wet from the rain the day before, we were miserable and quiet and just wanted to move onto the next place.
Jason drove for about an hour and then we stopped to get office at a small place right off the highway. Nothing I could eat here, not even fruit, so I grabbed our coffees and got the almond milk from the camper to add to it. Jason grabbed himself and the dogs a sandwich- spoiled little things- and met me back at the truck.
After many days of only Jason driving, today was the day I would be taking the helm. The roads were flat, straight, and wide so it would be an easy first towing experience for me. Or so we thought.
About 20 minutes into my first time pulling a camper this large, we see the storms come in. Come on man. Well I’m not one to give up easy and Jason was tired from all of the driving so I was determined to deal with the rain. The best part about driving out here is that the 18 wheelers are your driving buddies. They seem like they should be the scary part, but this is what they do and what they are good at, so I will always trust a semi before I will trust a car. Cars don’t realize that it’s going to take towing vehicles longer to stop or slow down and they do stupid things. I prepared myself and got behind an 18 wheeler right before the downpour started. The truck handled it better than I thought and it was over in less than an hour. Jason had asked me a day or so ago what would my road handle would be. The trucks apparently have handles that they use with each other. I said I couldn’t name myself until I drove. Well, you’re looking at Sweaty Paws on the wheel today. I don’t think I could’ve gripped that steering wheel any tighter at times. I would grip the wheel then need to put my paws up to dry them off on the AC vents and then start over again. A lot of self talk and encouragement from Jason and I made it through. Most of this was in my head. Jason wouldn’t have let me be unsafe with the things I love the most in the car. And if you remember from our last road trip when it monsooned and the 18 wheeler lost traction and came backwards toward us, I was able to maneuver around that with the Subaru. All in all trial by fire is probably the best way for me to have learned that I can do this. Afterwards, I mastered passing and on/off ramps, and the thing I was most worried about- gas stations. I drove for about two hours and then we switched again. Very thrilling and fun!
Today we actually had to fill in time between the two stops since we left so early and couldn’t check in until after 4pm where we are staying in Shamrock, TX. We found an area that had several hikes side by side so we took a detour to check it out.
Red Rocks Canyon in Oklahoma was beautiful. We had to pay $10 to park but that seemed reasonable for what we were doing. There was a VERY windy road we had to navigate to get down into the canyon but Jason was loving it.
The humidity hit us hard. Whoa was it hot here! We drove through and found a place to park near the trail we wanted to do. Instantly when we got out of the car the dogs were panting hard. These guys usually want to run, but they were dragging behind us. We did maybe .4 miles and Bear just sat down. We gave them water and turned around back to the car. On the way back Jason found a creek and let them off leash down to it. The both ran down and laid in the water. They didn’t move. They just laid there. My poor little ones! Jason and I weren’t in much better shape but we knew how far back we had to go so mentally we were okay. They stayed in the water for about 5 minutes and then Jason called them up. Patch came running of course but Bear wasn’t trusting us and stayed a little longer to cool off.
We stopped to get some pictures of the RPod in front of the canyon. I love the red rocks!
It was Sweaty Paws turn to drive again so after Jason got us out of the canyon (yeah I’m not even close to ready to do that!) I drove us on into Texas.
We passed through many Native American tribal lands and we took the time to read and learn about the various cultures. There is no doubt that when you travel the country you are going to have moments where you realize what other cultures lost so that the people of the past could progress towards something different. I wonder if things could’ve been done differently so that we could’ve learned to live side by side. A lot of feelings were drummed up and I didn’t want to let them just pass through. Sometimes you need to stay in it.
We crossed over into Texas around 4:00 and our exit wasn’t far away- 17 miles in. We are staying at the Texas Route 66 RV park in Shamrock. Jason wanted to explore and drive on Rt 66 so I figured this would be a good start. Route 66 goes from Chicago, IL all the way to California. We intersected it right after Oklahoma City.
The RV park was up and coming. The owners had it for only a few years and they had been renovating it ever since. The LARGE RV in front of us at check in had Hawaii plates! I had a lot of questions….
We were the first Rhode Islanders to stay here! Maybe 15 minutes after setting up, a camper van pulls in next to us from Massachusetts! Go figure haha.
What I love about Texas is very few things. In the last blog you knew I never wanted to come back here because of all of the steer yards. The conditions the animals live in are terrible and I cried each time I passed by one. But what I like about this area is that you can see for miles ahead. So we could see for about an hour or so that a storm was coming through. I was able to capture some great pictures.
One of the upgrades to the RV park is a storm shelter. I thought it was an outhouse but Jason later explained it’s true purpose. They also have sheep and goats and donkeys that mow the grass as they said. They seemed okay and they liked the little pats on the head I was giving while the dogs ran around in the dog park.
Jason went outside to play his Woodrow while I made dinner. Since we were attached to power and it was too hot to truly cook, microwaved meals it was! Chana Masala and red lentil Dal with coconut jasmine rice. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be.
The storm started around 7:30 and lasted into the night. The winds were the worst part of it but the rains did flood the driveways around us. We played some Farkle, our go to game, in an attempt to distract me from the storm. Then we researched where to stay in NM since our plan was to be there for awhile. Our friends Kevin and Chris sent us some suggestions and we were on the hunt. Most places we needed to call instead of book online so we had to wait til morning. Tomorrow we will be in New Mexico!
Vegan On the Rhode 