Road Trip Day 3
Day 3 (Wednesday, December 03, 2003)
8:54 am — 2.4 miles: We are on our way out of the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, having just encountered some of the wildlife being refuged. First we came across some deer, which took off in an amazing show of athletic prowess, bounding away over many shrubberies. Then we came to a roadblock of buffalo. Slowly we made our way past them, making sure never to get between a young one and its guardian. Last night, we did indeed find campground the AAA book talked about. We looked around some to make sure we had the right place and then we found nice campsite, set up camp, and made ourselves macaroni and cheese, which was nice and hot and very good. We slept pretty good and I, Ryan, woke up about 8:15 and started breaking down camp. Scott got up about fifteen minutes later we finished breaking camp, and we started driving about 8:50. We thought we would be going oer 1000 miles yesterday, but because of the more efficient route discovered, we ended up at a “mere” 993 miles for the day.
9:17 am — 12.8 miles: Scott seems to be getting worse with the stick shift instead of better. We just refueled in Canton, Kansas at the Phillips 66 station. Now we are headed back to I-135 to get into Oklahoma.
10:08 am — 69.7 miles: Listening to Pearl Jam, we enter Wichita, Kansas. There is construction and the speed limit drops to 45 for a while. The construction is on the other side of a six foot wide, four foot high solid cement barricade. It seems to us to be a little bit of overkill. Kansas seems to have a high number of people with less-than-admirable driving skills.
10:15 am — 76.2 miles: Along I-135 here in Wichita is a huge channel between the two directions of the highway. It has water in it and looks to be pretty awesome. We officially like Wichita. Unfortunately for us, I-35 is a turnpike, a toll road. However, it looks like we’ll only be paying about $1.35 to get to Oklahoma City from here, so its really not that bad. The traffic on the turnpike is very light, making Scott and I think that the speed limit of 70 is a bit low, especially since we are paying. Dumb government involvement.
11:01 am — 128.0 miles: We are several miles Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City is a mere 107 miles away. Now all I need is a woman with which to share an Oklahoma greeting.
11:40 am — 173.4 miles: Switch drivers, Ryan takes the controls. Onward toward Oklahoma City.
3:46 pm — 384.9 miles: After stopping at Sallisaw to refuel and check oil, which was low again — we filled it up with the last of the oil from Laramie and bought some new oil, but the new oil looked funny so we didn’t put much in — its some sort of detergent-free oil. We will inquire about the meaning of that when we have a chance. The car seems to be burning about a quart of oil every 1000 miles. We have so far gone 2212 miles, and it is looking like, due to a later than normal start, we won’t be getting into Little Rock until 5:30 or 6:00pm. Cell phone reception has been fairly steady since we got to I-135 in Kansas. The south is well covered by Cingular. Earlier today we received a call from Jim Chatterly, my mom’s cousin, who we hoped would be our contact in the Los Angeles area. He seemed pleased with the idea and made me promise to keep a good trip journal. I hope this is good enough.
6:23 pm: We arrive at Brennan’s house; she and her parents are very welcoming. Brennan drives us to a fabulous Mexican restaurant, where her parents buy us the first real food we’ve had in a few days. We then return to their home where Scott and I clean up. I get online to upload this (though my cell phone, 8kpbs, thus no pictures until later) because I am a nerd, and later we will do something else fun.