Heading towards New Mexico

With the motorcycle safely stored in Dave's garage until our return in July, we were heading off to Santa Fe. We knew we were facing 2 or 3 long days of driving. Our goal was to make good time but to avoid highway driving at 70 MPH the entire way. We headed west out of Fort Payne on Route 35 for about 40 miles. Crossing over the Tennessee River into Scottsboro we saw the twin stacks from a nuclear plant producing electricity. Here we picked up Route 72. This was a beautiful, lightly traveled, mostly 4 lane divided highway with a 60/65 MPH limit.

In Huntsville we passed by large rockets and a space camp. They produce many of the rockets used by NASA. Route 72 was clear sailing across Alabama and all the way through Mississippi too.

On the western end of MS we headed north a few miles skirting Memphis, TN and jumping onto Interstate Route 40. Route 40 brought us through Arkansas, Oklahoma and beyond Amarillo, TX. Around 7:00 PM we were heading through Russellville, AR only 80 miles from Oklahoma. We decided it was the perfect place to stop for the night. CrackerBarrel had a restaurant just off the highway. They generally have long spaces for RV's in the back and allow overnight parking. We had a very quiet restful night in their lot.

In the morning it was back on Route 40 heading to Oklahoma City (OKC) I found a reference to a historical marker for the Chisholm Trail just west of the city center. It was off Garth Brooks Blvd. We decided to combine a little sight-seeing with a gas stop. It was a reminder of what a wild and untamed area this was just over 100 years ago. The trail crossing was at the site of an important watering hole (Cowboy Camp Springs) used by drovers as they passed through this area on the way to the railheads in Kansas. Created by the confluence of two natural springs, it had been used for hundreds of years by Indians, buffalo and other wildlife. The pure, clean water made a perfect location for Cowboy campsites, the cattle themselves were watered nearby on the North Canadian River just to the north. We stopped in Amarillo, TX at another CrackerBarrel Campground. We had an early evening meal and another quiet restful night.