Today we left Amarillo. The accommodation was probably the worst we have experienced. Initially the facility wanted nearly $50 more than the price we agreed to on booking. I had to get onto booking.com who sorted it out very quickly. While breakfast is included in the price it was a case of first in first served and if it ran out those that followed missed out, this morning there was no bread for toast! The cutlery and plates where all plastic disposables. It comes across as tacky and cheap! The room was also not great either - obviously quite nice some time ago - there was no ventilation in the bathroom, sections of the carpet were clearly dirty/grubby such that I was not inclined to walk barefoot. All in all quite sad.
Anyhow leaving Amarillo behind the trip today took
us north east for a while passing through Panhandle and Pampa before turning
east into Oklahoma through Sweetwater and Elk City to Oklahoma City. Elevation has finally started to drop to levels we understand with Oklahoma City at approximately 1,500 feet. The weather has turned much cooler - I had to pull out a jacket today and it rained all day.
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| Oklahoma State line |
Oklahoma City is
the biggest city we have visited so far and we were both very thankful for the
GPS without which we would have probably found navigating the myriad for Interstate
Highways almost impossible. Even with GPS we managed a few miss-turns, mainly
caused by the driver, with cars entering and leaving the Highway and the posted
60mph speed limit "appearing" to be the minimum not the maximum, a very high level of
concentration was required.
To back track a
little, the journey today started through very flat farming country with the occasional
huge feed lot (intensive beef farming). The land then became slightly undulating as we approached Oklahoma.
We also encountered a large number of oil and gas extraction plants in the
area.
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| One of the oil pumps we passed |
Once in Oklahoma
City we had the good fortune to be staying near the Visitor Information Centre
so this was our first stop. The a particularly helpful gentleman who advised us on the
best way to see some of the high lights of the city although advising us we probably needed four weeks not one and a half days to explore the city properly.
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| A rather unique road sign on route |
Late in the
afternoon we visited Stockyard City, a small retail district set up in the
original city stockyards with some of the buildings preserved and re-used. There
was even a horse and carriage available to take people from the hotel car park
to the front of main street.
After a couple of miss try’s we eventually made it
back to our Motel for an early dinner in the next door "diner".
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| The Oklahoma City skyscrapers shrouded in cloud and mist - their "fall" is starting |
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