Palo Duro Canyon

Location: Oasis RV Park (el 3,750 ft); Amarillo, Texas

Pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 Cell Phone and Nikon D5100 fancy Camera
Click pictures to enlarge

Current Leg of 2017
Trip

The storms and tornadoes that I missed during the day, came back during the night. Luckily though it was just thunderstorms and wind. They rocked Liberty but I slept through most of it. I did wake up to a bright bolt of lightening followed quickly by a loud clap of thunder. Whew, that was a close one. I laid awake for a little while waiting for the next one before dozing off back to sleep. It seemed just as I went to sleep I heard an electronic "chirp" that woke me up again. It was only once so I figured I was either dreaming or it had something to do with the nearby lightening strike. Concerned the nearby lightening may have affected something inside Liberty, I again stayed awake, listening to the rain on the roof and trying to hear that electronic "chirp" again. No chirp, so off to sleep again. I had wanted to get an early start so I woke up around 7:00, took a shower and started getting things stowed away and tied down inside Liberty. Just as I started to go outside to do the outside work and hitch up, another loud clap of thunder caught my attention. It was another close one. I thought, "that can't be right, all the storms were supposed to have passed on to the northeast". Just as I finished that thought, the wind picked up, large rain started falling and that dang "chirp" sounded again. I caught it this time and knew it was coming from my smoke detector. It's strange it only sounded after nearby lightening strikes. I changed the battery anyhow and no more chirping. The wind was some of the strongest I've felt in a very long time and it was hitting me broadside on my large slide. I have never felt the need to bring my slide in no matter how bad the weather has gotten in the past. But, since I already had everything put away and tied down, I hit the button and brought the big one in. Just as I got it in, another strong gust hit. Nothing to do now but wait. I sat on the stairs and watched the weather on my phone. About 1 1/2 hours later, the rain stopped and the wind dropped in speed to where I could hitch up. I made short work of it so I could move on west and try to get behind this cold front that was creating these storms. Fifteen minutes later I was rolling down I-40 heading west. 

Oasis RV Park, Amarillo, TX

The temperature continued to drop during the 240 mile drive to Amarillo. The entire drive was uphill as I gain about a half a mile in elevation. By the time I got to the campground, the temperature was 55 degrees with about a 10 to 15 mile per hour breeze. Not exactly shorts and t-shirt weather, but it wasn't bad enough for me to put on long pants. I stayed at this campground about a year ago but man what a difference a year makes. Last year, the campground was way less than half full but yesterday when I arrived, it looked almost full. I didn't have reservations because I thought I wouldn't need them but when I asked if they had a site for a two night stay, she "nope, we're all full". I put on my sad looking face, which I've learned from my granddaughter, and asked if they knew of any other campground in the area that might have vacancies. Well, one look at that sad face, and she said "let me see what I can do about getting you in here". She started shifting people around and finally said, "yep, I have a site for you for two nights". I asked if anything was going on in town to bring so many people to the campground. She said they have steadily been having more and more people every day for the last year. Nothing special, just more people. That got me to thinking that I better start making some reservations for on down the road. I paid the lady and left a happy man. After getting Liberty set up, I just sat down and rested. I was plumb wore out (for the Yankees, that means "very tired").

Typical country in the Texas Panhandle

After a good night sleep with one of my heaters running on medium, I woke up to a temperature in Liberty of 55 degrees. I quickly turned my other heater on high and crawled back in bed for another hour. Once it warmed up a little inside, I got a shower and hit the door. I was headed to Palo Duro Canyon. I was there last year and was so impressed, I decided to see it again since it was only about 30 minutes from the campground. It was as good this time as it was last time. I won't go into the history of the canyon since I covered that last year. If you're interested, you can find it and more pictures here >>> http://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2015/10/2nd-largest-canyon-in-us.html

Some of today's pictures were taken at the same spot in the canyon.

A Roadrunner enjoying a meal

Tomorrow is moving day as I head further west. Next stop will be just to the west of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.