April 12, 1997
Slept in late this morning, awoke around 0800. The cabin has become quite snug with the duct tape over all the door and window seams, and the two portable electric heaters. The heater fans are not quite turning the same speed; as a result, their respective droning wax and wane out of phase... hypnotic.
Ray is still asleep laying on his back with his mouth gaping wide open. He has funny little foam things stuck in his ears. When he does wake up, I'm sure he'll berate me for sawing logs in the cabin again... I didn't hear anything.
Man! Was it ever cold outside. I grabbed my towel and douce kit then scampered across the frozen ground toward the head 50 yards away. The instant I stepped into the men's head, my glasses fogged over due to the hot moisture from the showers. Several men were slashing about, shaving or emulating Rodin's "The Thinker" on their own alabaster base.
I washed up, brushed my teeth, then headed out on a search and abscond coffee mission.While on this mission inside the KOA office, I met Chris H., son of the KOA site owners, Tim and Bobbi H. Chris is an avid flyer with aspirations to become a corporate pilot. Chris flies the Cessna 152 and 172. We swapped several stories regarding flight and played with metal puzzles on display just left of the front counter.
The coffee was hot and strong...On the way back to the cabin, I spotted Bill sitting in the front seat of the Trickle Truck smoking a cigarette... see, Shirley (Squirrel) Higbee won't allow any smoking in the camper. She's not here, so we could puff even cigars in the camper with impunity. But that day would come when we'd have to face the Squirrel; better to abide by that one rule for this trip.
The leftover ribs from last night had been left on our freezer shelf, the front porch swing. These ribs had frozen solid over night. The temperature got down to 17 degrees again.
By 0900, all of the Dickel Brothers had gained consciousness and had staggered in for coffee at the KOA office. We shoved off for the Country Barn for brunch arriving a little after 1000.
Bill was upset because the Country Barn had no eggs... he grumbled for over an hour. Ray had a taco salad, Higbee a plate of barbequed pork, Bill and I had hot apple pie. We argued over what calf fries meant on the menu. I held my ground that they were mountain oysters, Higbee thought they were something else. We ordered an appetizer plate of them to settle the matter...they were, indeed, mountain oysters.
If you've never tried them, they taste much like chicken gizzards. They were good. All of us scarfed them down, dipping the deep fried goodies in a hot, dark sauce provided with the plate.
Off to Wal*mart to have the oil and filter changed in the Chase Truck. Higbee suggested putting in a quart of Slick 50 for good measure. Glad we did; the engine ran smoother and cooler than before. We can still here a clicking sound though. Sounds like either a lifter, or more like a compression ring pinging. Oh, well... we did what we could.
Ray suggested replacing the stiff wipers as every weather map we have seen as of late, shows rain in our near future.
Higbee wandered off in the Wal*mart produce section for veggies and fruit. This is the first Walmart I have seen with a grocery department.
I found some heavy duty hand and skin lotion on sale and snatched it up. All of us are developing dry skin here and there due to the dry air and cold chapping wind.
Returned to basecamp with our booty. Ray pulled up his shirt and smeared the skin cream all over his midsection where he's chapping pretty badly. I stuck my right thumb in the jar of hand cream to soften a cracked callous. Bill and Higbee huddled in the Trickle Truck next to the floor heater.
While resting in camp, we called all of the media contacts to let them know we were in town and anchored at the KOA right on Historic Route 66: Tom A. at the Amarillo Globe, a daily newspaper, Stephie D. of KVII-TV (7), Ev A. of KAMR-TV (4), and Tony S. of KFDA-TV (10). All set a tentative arrival time for tomorrow at 1300.
This would be a kick back day to rest and catch up on maintenance and paperwork. Oscar needs a battery charge so we plugged him in to a portable charger we had with us. Bill looked for a flat rockto soak up warm sun out of the breeze, and Ray and Higbee went off to explore the area.
When they returned several hours later, they told us of a set of beige apartment buildings to our north that has a very secure perimeter. It has a very high chain link fence with razor wire coils laced around the top of the fence running between tall towers. In each tower, security guards with guns watchover the place with powerful lights. Must be an exclusive apartment complex.
While online uploading the daily update and sending E-mail, someone popped up on a chat window...??? We had a very brief chat as the line I was using is also the credit card verification line for the KOA. Whoever "ETT2" is out there, "hello" again. We got bumped due to someone purchasing a box of Pampers and three Butterfinger candy bars with a credit card.
Chris H., the son of the KOA owners, said he would bring down his computer for tomorrow. We would be able to see the Dickel website for the first time.
MISSTUDE and Arctic_Char of MSN dropped us E-mail. MISSTUDE is from Hayward, CA and Arctic_Char is from Anchorage, AK. Good to hear from net buddies on the road.
Speaking of net buddies, Calculating Mom of Oklahoma City, OK... we'll be at Tinker, AFB probably Monday afternoon.
Weather a big factor right now. We plan to stop in Shamrock, TX and Clinton, OK as planned but not for the night. It's still too cold for us old folks to spend a night in a tent next to the TrickleTruck.
After E-mail and updates, we headed out for pizza at the Pizza Hut on Grand. The wind had died down by the time we left the Pizza Hut and arrived back at basecamp.
Higbee's thermometer, wedged between slats of the wooden campsite table outside, registered 20 degrees.
We all gathered into the Trickle Truck camper like canned mackerel in tomato sauce to view the video Ray has recorded since the beginning of the trip. Turned out really well, Ray's a natural photo journalist... "Good stuff." as Thom Smith of United Distillers would say.
To finish off the video, we stepped outside to shoot the comet. It had already set, so Ray shot the moon, then Mars that was hanging overhead as a red dot of light in the sky.
On the way to our cabin, I thought about our wives back home. Lord, what great gals we have to allow the four of us on this trip. It's good to have home support for such an adventure; thank you, girls.
Back into the wooden cave with the two droning, electric heaters. We had planned on sacking out early, but somehow time escaped us again. There are just not enough minutes and hours in a day. It's after midnight now, and we're just getting ready for bed.
