On to Oklahoma (Tues.)

We pulled out of Branson about 9:15, leaving the forests and rolling hills of Missouri behind.  We took 65 south to 412 into Springdale and picked up I-540 there (which originates in Bentonville [home of Walmart], so I'm assuming Walmart had something to do with the building of this short interstate, or maybe converting what looks like US 71 into an interstate from Bentonville to Ft. Smith).  We connected with I-40 in Ft. Smith, and headed west.  It was cloudy when we started out, in the 70s, and we were able to drive with the windows open for a while, but the temperature kept creeping up, so we had to turn on the A/C. 

Joe found a convenience store to pull off at for his soda, and there was a pick-up selling melons next to it, so I walked over and picked us up a cantaloupe and a little watermelon.  Across the street was a chain-saw carving shop, so while Joe was still inside making friends, I walked over there.  It reminded me of the town in Canada, Chetwynd, where they hold the Chetwynd International Chainsaw Carving Championship every year.  This shop had a wonderful mushroom carving, as well as a few other interesting ones. 

 And beside it was a concrete art shop (for lack of a better word).

We are in Razorback country here, and there is a little one on top of this birdbath (I guess that makes it a hog-bath).









We stopped in Salisaw, OK to fuel ($3.339), next to Walmart, so I picked up some groceries while Joe had a little rest.  It has really heated up now, and we are missing that beautiful Ft. Wayne weather we enjoyed there. 

We saw lots of dead armadillos along the highways in Missouri, which surprised me.  I didn't know they were that far north, so I looked it up.  Apparently they have invaded Missouri.  We saw some dead ones in Oklahoma too, so they are spreading out all over, probably heading to Arizona for our dry heat.  As many as we have seen, though, I don't think they are doing too well up here.

I have added a new animal to our traveling zoo, in honor of our hitchhiking frog in Tampa.  I've named this one "Camaro" because a camaro exactly this color passed us today, and it was so bright it caught my attention.  We haven't added to our zoo for quite a while and we are a little behind.  We really need an armadillo because we finally did see a live one in Louisiana two years ago, but I haven't found a good one yet (I saw a nice one in the gift shop at Big Bend National Park in Texas (same trip but before we got to Louisiana, but I didn't buy it because we had not yet seen a live armadillo at that time). 

We stayed in Shawnee, OK at the Grand Casino, about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City.  This campground offers free camping (20 spaces), and has electric and water hook-ups.  We had stayed here before, so we were hoping we could get in (their sites are first-come, first-served).  We got off the road about 3:30; Joe put in another hard day, 309 miles.  It was about 100 degrees when we stopped, so we were happy to call it a day.  Of course, I went over and checked out the casino while Joe rested for a while, then I came back and fixed dinner.  We finished off our Indiana corn-on-the cob, which was delicious.  After dinner, I persuaded Joe to go back with me to the casino, and he was the lucky one.  No big wins but he came out ahead enough to cover my losses and still be up $15.  This casino has Mazie's favorite machines, Bombs Away, so I told her to tell Dave to start driving.  They are already in Amarillo and we will hook up with them today (Wed.).