Oklahoma!

We set out for downtown Pawhuska yesterday afternoon.  In case you're wondering how to pronounce Pawhuska, we asked at lunch.  It's Paw-hus(short u sound)ka.  Kevin called the downtown police to ask if it was ok to park the RV in an abandoned shopping center.  The police advised that we could park right behind their station!  And there was already another RV there too.  Originally we were going to bike from the campground, but it was 90 at 9a, so we chose life.

We went shopping first because the line was pretty long, and it was hot outside.  Finally Kevin and Logan went to get in line while the girls kept shopping.  We joined them and listened to the talk in line about where everyone was from. The people behind us were from Wichita, Kansas.  The people behind them were from down the road and had never been to her restaurant but had met her.  We waited for about a half hour before we got sat.  I think Kevin and Logan waiting for 15 more minutes than that.  

Luckily our waitress was kind and kept asking the kitchen staff questions for me.  They couldn't serve the bacon and eggs that I was going to request because that was breakfast.  I decided on steak, but then had to request that it was cooked in olive oil with only salt, and the kale with olive oil, garlic, and salt.  I got a side of bacon to go with the kale.  It was delicious, and I have leftovers for today!  We waited pretty long for our food probably because of the question and answer session beforehand.  Afterwards, we went back to the store to shop.  I got a purse that has a shoulder purse in it.  First, it was cheap and second, I need a shoulder bag while traveling.  It's easier than carrying around my huge purse.  After we bought a couple of things, we headed out to explore other stores on the strip.

We arrived back to the campground around 230p, and Kevin suggested we just get on the road then.  We had a 10 hour drive planned for today, but if we left early, we could break it up.  We headed out at 330p thinking we could make it to Amarillo by 930p.  On our drive we noticed a storm on our right.  We marveled at the lightning strikes in the distance. We took pictures of what it looks like for rain to be falling in the distance.  

We searched for a place to stop, thinking that we would rather hook up at a park then boondock and get the generator out.  I found a good RV park in Sayre, OK.  As we got off the exit for Sayre, we drove into town and it was a ghost town.  It was 730p on a Tuesday, and no one was to be found.  We couldn't find the RV park, so we got back on the road.  Plus, Kaelyn's phone got an alert for a tornado watch, so we figured we'd leave the area.  We got back onto the highway and drove STRAIGHT.INTO.THE.STORM.  I even saw a weather/news truck as we were getting onto the exit, but we couldn't turn around.  Pretty soon, it was hailing.

We pulled over under a bridge with other vehicles.  The hail was huge, and it sounded like the RV was taking a beating.  The wind starting rocking the RV.  It sounded like it was starting to calm down, so we left under the bridge and started on the road again.  We followed other vehicles thinking that they live here and know how to navigate these situations.  It got so bad again, we had to all pull over again.  I got into the back with the kids to try and calm them down.  I grabbed my scapular and started my prayers.  
We kept trying to pull back onto the road following other trucks and having to pull back to the side again.  Eventually, we got to the other side, but the road was blocked due to an 18 wheeler on its side.  We managed to get around it in the shoulder as we watched another truck try to pull a cop car out of the ditch.  He was going to help the truck on it's side but didn't make it.  There was debris and hail everywhere.  We pulled over onto an exit and checked the RV.  All was fine with it which is amazing.  A rainbow let us know we were in the clear.  

After that we decided to keep going to get as far away from that storm as possible.  Amarillo was still another two hours out, so I started looking for other parks.  We stopped at one but couldn't find it.  By this time it was 9p, and we decided to just go the extra hour to Amarillo.  I found an RV park there that had late night envelopes, so we stopped there.  They were completely booked.  We had already called a Walmart in the area, but they said we couldn't park there overnight, so we started to look for anything.  We found a Cracker Barrel and asked if we could stay.  They told us yes, and we parked next to another RV.  We didn't get to sleep until midnight.  It was rough, but we did it.  

We're off today to Gallup, TX.  We're staying at Red Rock RV Park, so we can all take showers and do some exploring.  Driving is fine, but it's nice to be able to just relax and get outside some.  Thanks for all the prayers yesterday from the tornado experience.

On our way to Amarillo, we saw these red lights flashing in the distance.  They turned out to be a windmills or whatever they're called.  Kevin keeps commenting about what a trip this has been so far with adventures and things not going to planned.  I'm hoping we've got it all out of our systems now!