HitchHiker is home in Chanute, KS

Today's plan was to go to the Cherryvale COE park.  But on the way we decided to continue on to Chanute where we have a service appointment next Tuesday.  It was only a few more miles and we like Chanute & know we'll see some RV friends in the city campground.  We arrived and set up then visited with a RV forum friend, Brutus Driver, before heading out to a late lunch.  This evening we sat behind the trailer and watched a softball game behind us.  Fortunately there were no foul balls bouncing off our home.

We got our kicks on Route 66 & returned to the Coleman Theater in Miami, OK

Today we rode 25 miles north to Miami, OK to return to the Coleman Theater.  It a very fancy restored 1929 theater we visited a couple years ago.  This afternoon they had a professional Wurlitzer player in from NYC along with a singer plus they showed 4 silent movies.  Of course the Wurlitzer provided the music for the Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy and third film.

After the show we rode a couple miles outside of Miami to the old Route 66 which still has some of the old pavement visible under the current layer of gravel.

Alpaca ranch

Judy was getting bored so she found something to do, we visited a nearby alpaca ranch that has 51 of these South American critters.  They look like a small llama and this family raises them for their fiber.  You can eat them but a normal person doesn't eat their pets.  Each one has it's own name and personality.  The young lady who gave us the tour has had them since her grandparents got two (and a baby one for her) when she was a young child.

They are very friendly critters.  The owners have taken them to hospitals (inside and up the elevators!) to visit patients as a way to relax and calm patients.  When the young girl was a child she would watch cartoons on TV with one of her pet alpacas and share her popcorn with her pet in the house.  The have padded feet like cats & dogs.  I think Randy & Kristi need a couple for Devyn.

Grove, OK

Today we made the 90 mile trip up to Grove, OK.  We have been here 2 or 3 times before becasue this is one of our membership parks which cost zero to stay here.  We'll be here for one week relaxing.  We have already explored this area so don't look for anything earth shattering on the blog for the next week.

Moms Day, cats, Sam & Ellas, and goodbye Tahalquah

                                               Judy & her Mothers Day flowers from Jody.

Patches on the steps of Jeff & Susan's HitchHiker, & their cat IHOP.  They both like to hiss at each other when they are nose to nose.

Here we all are at Sam & Ella's Chicken palace.  They have one the best pizza's in this country.  No chicken unless it's on a pizza.
Here we are below with our HitchHiker in the foreground and Jeff & Susan's behind us.  It was a better RV park than I expected, neat, tidy & well maintained BUT there was a bar behind us & it took a little time getting use to the music (I think that is what is is called) until 1:30am.  After the second night we could sleep OK.

The last picture was of the Tahlaquah farmers market.  Just was looking for some strawberries but we ended up with radishes.  Later Saturday we went to Wes & Tonia's, he smoked some brisket & ribs and Judy make German potato salad.  She made 5 pounds so there would be leftovers for Wes.

This WWII memorial is in Gainsville, TX at a Texas welcome center.  It honors the 103 Infantry Division which trained at Camp Howze which was located at this location.  The unit left from New York for France in October 1944.  There were engaged in 34 battles before the end of WWII.

Yesterday we drove to Gene Autry, OK to visit the Gene Autry Museum of Oklahoma.  It was interesting, lots of Gene singing through the museum, movie posters and pictures up the ying yang, no admission charge just donations, & surprisingly for a museum sharing an old school building with the post office in the middle of nowhere it had several folks visiting it.  It's listed as the best & largest "B" cowboy movie museum.
Today we watched it rain (yea!) and cool down.   In the afternoon we drove to Gainsville for lunch one more time at Chicken Express, some shopping at Wal-Mart (not our favorite store) and fueling up as they had a good price on diesel, $3.75/gallon. In the evening we washed the truck that got dirty on today's drive!

Thackerville, OK meeting boating friends & a storm

Thursday we made the 126 mike trip up to Thackerville, OK (right on the TX border).  It is hot.....in the low 90s and we have no sand burrs like we have seen here in the past but there are ant hills (one whopper) all over.  After setting up & cooling down we went back to Gainsville, TX and Chicken Express for some chow.  We found this place a couple years ago, didn't like the one in Glen Rose, but this place has some GOOD fried chicken.  We'll return again before we pull out.
Friday afternoon we noticed a red GMC pulling a boat a couple rows over......we have some HitchHiker friends who just parked their HH for the summer in the Rio Grande Valley, hooked up their boat, and are headed NW to the Washington Canadian border for the summer. He'll captain a whale watching tourist boat for the season.  Yup....it was Jim & Joan so we had a nice visit (inside the air conditioning!) with them.
Later that evening, at dusk, a nice thunderstorm blew in.  It was a lulu with 60 & 70 mph straight line winds, lots of rain & even some hail.  We were rocking inside our HitchHiker more that ever before but it was interesting.  Wonder what Jim & Joan experienced in their boat on the trailer?  Good thing we took the flag & both antennas down.  In the morning we scouted the area and lots of small limbs down but no big damage other than a couple canopies torn down.