2 RV's to Rancho Cucamonga CA

... spending the night at Dalhart TX

Slept better, not great.

Breakfast. Down at 7 AM, lots of people at the same time. 'Hot food' was nuke your own sandwich, BB had one. I had yogurt. Someone this AM was not understanding the 'grab and go' breakfast bags. The idea is that no one else has touched what you grab. But this person was looking inside each one to see what was in them ???

We are not in NYC. When I got up this AM I could see a four lane highway out my window, but no cars. Finally saw a car, on the freeway in KS on a Sunday AM. Pretty quite.

Nice sunrise this AM for a few minutes. Just a narrow batch of blue sky before the clouds. Had a little rain this AM but then the clouds cleared out.

Saw two cops in the first mile this AM. But didn't see them up close, thank you.

The motels in Emporia I used to stay at were the Motel 6 and the former Holiday Inn. The Motel 6 no longer has any name on the building and the Holiday Inn building was various names when I stayed there. It is now a Choice Hotel, a Clarion.

Most trips we exit the freeway in Emporia and take the back roads and avoid the tolls. But today it is windy and the less time we spend on the two lane highways the better so we take the toll road. Grad a ticket when you get on, pay when you get off. One time we exited at El Dorado and had issues with the self serv pay. We were out of our RV's and I had to call someone to get the gate to go up. Don't remember what was the actual issue. So we decided to use a 'main' exit this time.

1st stop was just south of El Dorado at the oasis. Fuel was cheaper there than anywhere ahead so we fueled. Saw a truck parked with an OR 008 plate when we pulled in. Ours are OR 007. When I was done fueling, the truck had pulled to the truck fuel islands so I went over to say hi. Then I saw the placards and he drives for our company. We talked about five minutes. This is his first run with our company, it sounds like he has been, and still is, working for another company out of IN. He is on his way to IA.

Back on the toll way and we exit at Witchita. Everything is self serv now. Person ahead of me was taking so long that someone behind started blowing their horn. And it took me a while too, 1, 2, 3 and I was done. BB had a couple of issues but got through also.

Interesting going through these old area's that I traveled a lot 10-15 years ago. All the changes in names on the buildings. Stop lights are gone and it's all express way.

I had thought that by going this way that we would have all four lane highway until just before Pratt. I forgot that there is another stretch of 2 lane between there still.

2nd stop, Arby's in Pratt. It's warm, we can still eat outside. BB doesn't like it though, she made a mess on herself instead of on a table ...

Motels are changing here too. There used to be a Days Inn and a Super 8 across from each other right here. Now one is a Oyo and the other is a no-name/ma-pa place. I didn't notice any other motel changes in this town.

Mostly two lane from here to Tucumcarri with some four lane and a few passing lanes. We spend the better part of the day driving 60 mph because of the wind. In BB's RV the cruise keeps kicking off with the wind gusts. Haven't had that issue even once with mine. But mine, if I set the cruise at 65 mph it tac's out at 3,000 rpms. If I set the cruise at 64 mph, it will mostly run at 61 mph but sometimes will tac out at 3,000 rpms to get the speed back up to 64 mph. Headwind.

3rd stop was Mullinville just for a stop. A stretch stop, we didn't even use the restrooms. It was just an hour down the road after mostly white knuckle driving. We had been driving 60 mph and a semi had just caught up to us. The lanes split just before the turn and a left turn lane is added. As soon as there was the new lane we get over into the turn lane and the semi follows and blows his horn. ??? My guess is that he didn't realize it was the turn lane, he thought were were going to drive 60 in the left lane ?

Greensburg never did come back after the tornado a few years ago. The car dealer did rebuild but they are now gone. The bank is now just an ATM. Most of the north side of the highway is just slabs of concrete where buildings used to stand.

When we were pulling out of Arby's back in Pratt, there was a driveaway RV at the light, but it wasn't one of ours. When we go through Greensburg that same RV is at the fuel pumps.

Lots of crops in piles. I don't ever remember seeing this many piles of corn, beans and sorghum. Lots of Sorghum and cotton still in the fields. The other crops seem to be done.

4th stop. Loves in Liberal KS. Windy everywhere we stop. Luckily I parked far enough away from the pumps because the wind caught my door and blew it all the way open. Don't need a yellow dent in the door, that would be on me. When we were leaving there were two transporter cement trucks pulling in. Center drive. No thank you.

Saw my 1st two Oyo hotels that used to be man-pa hotels. Before this all the ones I had seen had been Motel 6, Super 8, Red Roof, etc hotels. Multi-level buildings.

Also saw a few reclaimed motels. Ones that had been sitting vacant for years that have now been cleaned up and re-opened.

OK, Hooker, Guyman.

Going through Guyman we see where a new Hutch's is going up. There are a couple of those down on I-40. They are a local truckstop. For a big town, there are not any major truckstops in or near Guyman. There is a Loves, but it is a 'car-stop.' It does have a Godfathers, Chesters and a sub shop. A few years ago we walked a couple of miles to this Loves as it was a holiday and this was the only food place open in town. Must have been Thanksgiving?

Ahh. Learned something new today. The smaller Loves used to have their own Love's Subs. Today I saw a new sign saying 'Big Boss Subs.' Looked online and found that Big Boss is a subdivision of GodFathers.

Somewhere today we had about 10 trucks, cars and RV's following us. But none were too eager to pass. At one point a semi was going to get a jump on us as we pulled out of town until he saw the cops and backed off.

Later there was a semi with round bales that pulled in ahead of me. I tried to stay way back. I know of an extended family member who was hauling those bales when something happened and one fell off and killed someone. Luckily I was behind him less than an hour.

5th and final stop. Best Western in Dalhart. We park on the street as their lot is small. We usually walk down to a buffet, that is out for us. We also look at a BBQ and Mexican place that are both closed on Sundays.

We start to walk to the DQ, but I knew there used to be a taco something across the street in the truckstop. But nothing was showing on the maps. It is now a WhichWitch. We went there instead. BB only plans on going again if it is the only thing in town. Mine was not too bad. Chicken salad sandwich was not too bad, could have used more mayo but good. The carrot cake I got was really bad, BB and I both had one bite and threw it. Tasted more like cleaner than any kind of desert.

Tomorrow we have to call in for our NM and AZ permits before we can leave. So it will be after 8 AM before we can call. Likely after 9 AM before we get our NM. AZ usually takes longer so we may have to pick that one up down the road when it comes in.

IF we get going and can make it to Holbrook, we can make it to Rancho Cucamonga. IF we could make it past Holbrook to Wenslow 30 miles further, hotels are half the price. I don't think that will be an option.