Last Chance for a Sighting - Elk City, OK

Here we are in the lowlands again, in Elk City, Oklahoma. We had another huge day of driving, and cut short of OK City. We also thought if they were brazen enough to name the town Elk City, well maybe they'd have one tied to a tree beside the highway for us...

We started out fairly early in the morning from the KOA in lovely Grants, NM. Since we got to the Kampground the previous night in the dark, I couldn't fully appreciate their collapsed lava bubble... it basically looked like a DOT mistake, a huge dump of asphalt. In the morning, after having read their lil' info piece, I checked it out. Here's a picture, it doesn't do it justice.

We beat it out of Grants, after getting some fuel, first thing:
396 miles - all the day before
47.992 gallons
$136.25
2.839/gallon
8.25 mpg - not too shabby

Heading East from Grants, you go right through El Malpais - that's so funny, pretty much north of here in the Dakotas the French called them "la mauvaises terres" [the Badlands] and the Spanish down here, "El Malpais". Same difference; supervisor and overseer.

El Malpais, however, are quite different; down here it's a lot of lava flows and collapsed lava tubes and bubbles. Very weird and dramatic. We didn't go through the actual National Parks part, but it borders the road for a piece and we got to enjoy it.

I think I spotted the future home of Team America World Police Secret Headquarters; I'm sure we could only see it because today was the autumnal equinox, it wasn't long before a swarm of black-ops helicopters chased us away...

That's alright, because today's ethic was to drive - we had over 500 miles to go, so not a lot of stopping. Marge did have one call, so we stopped at a Stuckey's - what a childhood memory.

I did not have a Pecan Log, but they are still for sale (as in I believe the same ones that I saw when I was 8 are still for sale). I did buy Jendan their Road Prize, and got another fridge magnet as well.

We saw an incredible star-spangled and bannered tri-colored cutout of a cow that said SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS. We were flying by too fast to grab a picture, I do apologize.

It does seem, though, that here in the Southwest, everyone is patriotic and super-religious as well...

Drove through another wonderful mountain pass where today's warning signage was: FALLING ROCKS - GUSTY WINDS - 6% GRADE and MOWING. Yes, on top of all that, they thought they needed to cut the grass. Nice.

We just drove and drove and drove... out of the mountains, into the foothills, onto the prairie. Now, here we are in breezy and cool (Marge thought we were in for a tornado last night) Elk City. We didn't get in until after dark, but we had called ahead and the nice folks had us all set up. I give it up to KOA for overall pretty satisfying service, and as you all know, I can be really bitchy about that!

We couldn't drive 500 miles without getting fuel; we also had crossed 4K total miles just shy of the Texas border. How weird to be in the panhandle for 179 miles...

Fuel stop 2:
324 miles
35.215 gallons
$88.00
2.499/gallons - this is the lowest I remember paying.
9.20 mpg! This is definitely our top performance, it was gusty as shit, but we did go downhill or flat almost all day...

Roadkill:
Dog
Porcupine - many
Coyote
Rabbit
Possum
Racoon - many
Deer

Live:
I've completely neglected along the way to say how many wildflowers we've seen. Everywhere we've been in the last week has had rain and has lots of beautiful blooms peeking out.
Burros
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Red-tailed Hawk

Vanity Plates:
JLYNNT2
GOVOLS1
666LAP
SCIANNI

Tracks that worked:
We listened to a lot of radio, and a lot of classic rock worked for me
Streets of Laredo by New Riders in the Sky
Funkytown by LIPPS, Inc.
Can't Find My Way Home and Godamn the Sun by the Swans

Harve