Expedition USA (and eventually Canada)

[Intentional Wanderer]

Well, that time has come. My work schedule for the next month or so has been set, so I am off to see the wilds of Central America... to be more specific, the Central United States.

My wife and I are leaving Tucson today, headed to Denver for two days work. It is then on to Oklahoma City, Dallas... back to Oklahoma City... (with a couple of days in Jacksonville, Florida thrown in, but the "expedition vehicle" taking us there will be large, silver and have a big "American" on its side)... then back to Dallas...

Along the way, we are going to be taking the slowest route possible that will still get me to the work site on time. I generally work Tuesday - Thursday, with travel days on Monday and Friday, so every weekend shapes up to be a long one. During the week, we live in hotels near the work site, but it is the weekends we are after! We are going to look for those out-of-the-way state parks, national forest camp grounds...and just nice undiscovered (to us) gems of middle America. The schedule will allow us to even venture as far as Big Bend National Park one weekend.

I grew up in Dallas, so my knowledge of the area is somewhat up to speed. However, I would love to hear from folks as to where to go, eat, do... For instance, I know about great little state parks like Turner Falls (OMG don't go there on a weekend, but during the week - quite nice), but I have never heard of Little Sahara - a place we intend to check out. The heat should not be so bad at Palo Duro, so we may head west in search of Charlie Goodnight's longhorns.

Any insight and or tips would be greatly appreciated!!!

June is shaping up to have us in Waterloo, Ontario (or maybe Florida!?!?!), so look forward to that transition.

We flew enough last year to make Executive Platinum (100,000+ airline miles in 1 calendar year) on American Airlines - as well as A+ (32+ flights) on Southwest. We spent 250 nights in hotels and over 300 rental days in cars. This year, we are going to do as much as possible of that travel in our Discovery, taking things at a much slower pace than before. I am consciously trying to schedule my work so that this is possible, however we have thought about just leaving the LR at a nicely placed airport....say, Moab or Bozeman or ???... and just flying back there on Friday...having a good weekend wherever... and then back to reality on Monday.

We even thought about leaving it at our friend's house in Mazatlan, but the Mexican temporary importation laws do not allow you to leave and return without your vehicle. I do have a gig coming up in Mexico City, but I am hesitant to take the Discovery to The District. Mazatlan, yes... D.F., not so much.

The only thing we do know is that at some point, we have to go to Boston to pick up our two ocean kayaks that have been freezing in my wife's aunt's barn. They are fully decked out for fishing and will be making the move from Cape Cod to the Sea of Cortez.

(Oh, and we paid up the AAA thorugh next March... not the I am a pessimist...)

The bottom line is that this summer is going to be one long road trip... with someone else paying for the gas. How perfect is that?

 

[JEFFSGTP]

I think You will like little Sahara...definitely need to balloon your tires out though...Chris and I have found the 15-20psi range seems to work best although firmer would suffice if the sand is wet due to rain. About the only decent place to eat breakfast is the restaurant next to the Gas Station on the way into town. for other meals...obviously we recommend little sahara Pizza. As always with Sand Dunes...make sure you know whats on the other side before you go romping it up and over one only to find its a 50+ft drop on the other side 0_0. Oh and you will need a flag on a pole sticking up I think its 16ft (IIRC) to go out on the dunes...they can be purchased at the gas station (pole and flag) as well as other places. we just bought a flag since Chris's CB antenna reaches well above the requirement. Just wanted you to be aware of that so you could think of some mounting options for it. The will not allow you out on the dunes without it as its a Safety requirement. Enjoy your trip and if you find yourself wandering through Wichita Falls shoot one of us a P.M. on the forum...would love to get together if were off work.

 

[SeaRubi]

kermit sand dunes in west texas - is it still open?

spent many a summer day at turner falls as a kid. my favorite park probably is sulfer springs. i'll have to do some thinkin' - it's been a long while. obviously there's a lot to do around lake eufala, and on over into arkansas. superlift ORV comes to mind, as does the Disney area in eastern OK.

cheers
-ike

 

[lwg]

Funny, I grew up in Oklahoma... If you have the chance make it down to the Wichita Mountains in the SW part of the state down by Lawton. You will be pleasantly surprised. There is a Massive herd of Buffalo down there that is worth seeing, the camping is great and the bouldering isn't too bad either. Finish up the day at Mears just outside of the park and have a Mears burger along with their freshly squeezed lemonade. To this day I have still yet to find a burger as good as their. They serve them on the aluminum pie plates, delicious!

As to the Little Sahara area, generally they require vehicles to have roll bars to enter the area. That being said I have been in there before with a Range Rover that didn't have a roll bar. I would give them a call prior to heading up there to make sure. It's certainly an interesting site. While your up in that are stop by the Great Salt Plains just outside of Enid and dig for crystals. It is quite a site. My wife grew up around this area and is very familiar with it.

 

[lwg]

kermit sand dunes in west texas - is it still open?

spent many a summer day at turner falls as a kid. my favorite park probably is sulfer springs. i'll have to do some thinkin' - it's been a long while. obviously there's a lot to do around lake eufala, and on over into arkansas. superlift ORV comes to mind, as does the Disney area in eastern OK.

cheers
-ike

Disney stinks like dead fish! The wheeling is OK, lots of rednecks with "questionable" vehicles. However Grand Lake is pretty cool and massive!

Also down around the SE part of Oklahoma there is a really neat area, Robbers Cave is what I think it's called. It's amazing the diversity of geography that Oklahoma has. Most people only think it's flat with wheat everywhere!

 

[JEFFSGTP]

lwg,

I think the Roll Bar rule is for open air vehicles, such as the Polaris Gators, Sand Rails, dune buggy's etc...we talked to the park ranger this last time up there and he had no problems with us going out on the dunes in the L.R. as long as we had the Orange Flag on our antenna. He even complimented the vehicle and joked that it was probably the biggest vehicle that would be out there all weekend.

Your right about the Wichita Mountains...not any 4x4ing to do there but it is an excellent place to visit...oh and you forgot to mention the Prairie Dog "Farm" another worth while sight to see as is the lower part of the Dam.

 

[Intentional Wanderer]

Hit a minor SNAFU and had to delay this by a week. I am flying to Denver tomorrow - dammit (I still have to go to work, even if the Disco isn't taking me!)

We got to Anthem and the Disco started overheating. Not in a normal "oh my God, it's Phoenix... car-must-overheat" kind of way. It was more of a "I'm running a bit on the warm side and trying to climb up the most difficult grade in the Interstate Highway System doesn't seem like a good idea at this point" way. Anyone who has ever driven up the Mogollon Rim knows what I mean.

We turned back to Tucson, where the Disco will once again head to the garage to get a liitle tweak. Since I am going to be gone the whole week, I am also going to get a few things taken care of that I needed to get done, and just didn't have the time to do.. like a valve job... perhaps even change the rear seal on the engine (slight leak) and the oil pan gasket (another slight leak).

...as to our destinations, I am really excited about looking around Lawton. I have gone to Ft. Sill a couple of times, but it was more business than pleasure - if one can call going to Ft. Sill pleasurable in any way. (...and it is only a little ways up the road from Wichita Falls)

As an aside, I went to college with a guy from Windthorst... now who in the hell knows where Windthorst, Texas (pop 50 on a good day) is????

...and I am firming up the dates for the weekend in Big Bend. I am probably not literally going THROUGH Wichita Falls, but... you are more than welcome to join...

 

[SeaRubi]

Windthorst - rolled through there once. world's worst gas station used to be in Snyder. I can only hope the place burned down or was dozed. there are a lot of crazy little towns through west and central texas like that. a good friend of mine is from Borger. I have a bunch of family down in Andrews.

Coalgate used to be a cute little town. Home to some of the biggest owls I've ever seen in my life down there. If you're down there, you might consider getting by Stratford for some of their famous peaches. There are generally some excellent fruit stands along the highways during early summer to load up on fresh foods.

you might do some googling on "arbuckles". kind of difficult to say if there are any dirt routes worth pursuing anymore. really the best things to do in the state are with a bass rigged fishing rod and some short hikes.

oh - way up north there's the old Marland mansion (the marlands you might know better as Conoco) in Ponca city. my grandmother is from Kaw city before they flooded it in with the lake. on a clear day you used to be able to see the river running through the lake from the dam.

alot of the small towns there in OK sprang up with the oil boom and receded just as fast. some are nearly deserted, leaving old 2~4 story buildings and Main Streets of various sizes just empty and barren. Lots of "almost" ghost-towns to roll through on all those crazy 2-lane highways. I remember the state as being a place of great sadness in the 70's and 80's. Between the trail of tears and the oil boom (and bust) there is certainly a lot of history there if you look for it.