As a way to keep up with my travels, I've always relied on my wife to write journal entries or Facebook posts to friends. After a disastrous trial with hackers a few years back, I broke away from Facebook and no longer give it much thought. But to be fair, I wanted to be sure all the friends I had re-found over the years would still have some way to find me there. I'm next to Never on Facebook and posted there as such but I will on rare occasions check in.
Recently I realized several friends and associates who were now Retired Like Me, were writing blogs to keep up with their activities. I've always been too busy to make such an attempt but now that retirement is finally taking hold, AND I'm beginning to enjoy the more relaxed pace, I'm going to give it a shot. We recently purchased our RV in February and have taken several short jaunts not far from home getting accustomed to the drive and developing a sense of what we would need to make our trips both comfortable and reasonably economical. Hopefully, This will become something I keep up with on our travels, but we'll just have to wait and see.
May 2023
We began our trip on Friday, planned for an easy 4 to 5 hour journey to our first overnight stop near Oklahoma City. I'm trying to get used to the idea that I don't need to drive 80 MPH (especially in an RV) just to make time. As fate would have it, the weather was cool with a light drizzle that turned to rain the further west we went. Somewhere between Tulsa and OK City, the clouds got darker and the wind made driving a bit more tenuous and I decided to stop at a service area for a short break to let the storm pass.
Being in the middle of tornado alley makes you give just a little bit more consideration to the weather than would normally be the case. Although, I guess I didn't give it quite enough consideration before opening the door on the RV to step out for a smoke as the wind tore the door from my hand and snapped the end off of the gas/spring cylinder on the door. OK I thought, I need to see if I can get a replacement for that.
In less than half an hour, the worst of the storm was now south of us and we were back under way. Not much further to go till our first stop in Choctaw, Oklahoma at a Loves RV Stop. We've noticed a few of these popping up and since we only wanted an overnight spot, decided this was a nice alternative to the usual RV spots. Wow, I guess I underestimated it. What we had seen previously were just an additional section of the parking area with spaces assigned for RV's with hook-ups. The surprise here was a large area separated completely from the rest of the Loves truck stop with a gated entrance, laundry facilities, Wi-Fi, Full Hook-ups, Picnic tables, and fresh laid sod.
All of the sites had level concrete pads. There were several trash receptacles located around the area and a nice footpath across the site back over to the truck stop.
I'll have to remember this one, Very nice.
From here we were able to find a Camping World location just 4 miles away where I could get that Gas spring for the door that snapped off in the wind.
Of course, as luck would have it, Interstate 40 Was shut down for Bridge replacement in Oklahoma City for the weekend and so instead we took a 10 mile roundabout trip to Camping world. Not far from there we were able to get back on the highway and travel to our First Destination on this trip which was Childress, Texas. I had heard of Childress before but can honestly say I had never been. My wife Lynn had been in contact with a childhood friend who was living here and made this our first destination so they could meet up. They hadn't seen each other in almost 50 years other than online social media so this made for an opportune break in the trip.
Childress Texas is a small town community that appears to be pretty active. We arrived Saturday afternoon and were quite please to find a few RV sites available at the Childress Fair Park. It was bustling with activity children's ball games, live music, and other events going on. The High school graduation had happened the night before here at the park and I'm just assuming much of the goings on were extended weekend celebrations for many of the student grads.
We had made plans to stay at another RV park here but on our way in, noticed it was a bit of an UnComfortable feeling as we arrived and promptly made our way back to the highway to ponder our alternatives. The city park was something we had noted weeks earlier when planning but didn't give it nearly as much attention as it deserved. There are only 5 spaces available on a first come-first served basis. Water and Electric hook-ups but no sewer or dump station. As busy as it was, it was still quite peaceful and comfortable.
It's obvious the City of Childress has put a lot of time into this park, There are plenty of paved walking trails, A lake with a fountain, All the recreational facilities the community could want including a football stadium, baseball field, swimming pool, auditorium, tennis courts, playground, and of course the RV spots.
We'll be staying here for the remainder of the weekend, Lynn is spending the day with her friend right now, and it gave me the perfect opportunity to put this blog post together. I'm not entirely certain how well I'll be able to keep this up, but my plan is to make this an ongoing journal of my experience both as a New Retiree and as an RV'er. At this point, Only a few close friends will even know this is here but, maybe it will attract the attention of a few more recent retirees looking for some inspiration.
