We didn’t have a great sleep last night, but it’s a great camp site.
I have to say, I liked the appearance and feel of Oklahoma City. Pop. 650,000. Brick is strongly featured.
As Jen said, the entry into the city from the east was short and easy. The exit out was the opposite. It’s a sprawling city on the western side. There are endless upmarket residential housing developments. The presence of Oil industry related business also, is massive. A little further out past the city limits, you can see why. Oil fields under development or already pumping the black gold. Tankers loading out from remote tanks and pipelines being put in. It’s pumping, you might say. No wonder Oklahomans are so pleased to have Trump in the White House. Whether its the best thing for the planet is controversial but the philosophy here seems to be, who gives a damn!!
To balance that, the horizon was covered with windmill power generators. I think the biggest field I have seen. The windmills were widely spaced over a large area, which seemed to reduce the concentration and give harmony to the landscape.
The countryside is changing rapidly as we head west. Far fewer towns. Less vegetation, and it’s getting hotter. Dominating the entrance to the town of Sayre is an imposing building. Atop a huge brick building, a capitol Hill, Washington looking dome. It’s the Courthouse. The building is on a hill to accentuate the effect and the road goes around it. Just before entering the town we passed a grim looking, razor wire surrounded Correctional Facility. Inmates shuffling between buildings in orange overalls.
Sayre, pop 4,500 is a mixture of commercial decay and prosperity. We stopped mainly to find a food shop and had some lovely interaction with several shoppers and staff, at a small supermarket. One of the shoppers had a daughter who lived near us, in Tauranga and had visited Rotorua. He also knew the meaning of a Kiwi and a Pom.
Crossing from Oklahoma to Texas bought a change in farming methods. We passed what I initially thought was a cattle herding facility for auctioning cattle. Not so. It’s a series of massive grassless fields packed with cattle. Coming from NZ where cattle roam over largely green pasture, this is a different system of farming. A little further on the same thing only the cattle were Buffalo. Fields of crops nearby obviously to feed the farm. Industrial farming on a huge scale. Unfortunately the photo’s don’t reflect the scale.
Our intention leaving Oklahoma City, was was to drive through to Amarillo 265 miles away. However, with a late start, several stops to get supplies, lunch and chat with people we meet, by 5.30pm with about 60 miles to get to Amarillo, we decided to call it quits for the day in the town of Pampa. Population 17,500. Our motel is on the budget side but the room we were given is clean and has all the facilities and cheaper than many of the camp sites we have stayed in.
I like the roadside historical notices. Here are two.
Subject of a Bob Marley song. 
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Until you reach somewhere cooler then it might be prudent to spend every other night in air-conditioned comfort. We don’t want you falling asleep at the wheel! Alternatively you’ll have to reconfigure the Land Rover’s room to provide sleeping space.
Hi John, yes, we are doing that, in fact every night at the moment. Big accident on the I40 today. Trucks backed up for more than 30 miles!!! Jen wont let me go to sleep at the wheel…:)