A Trip to the Great Plains to
Attend FMCA Convention

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Spring 2001
Page 4

Saturday 3-31

T here was no rush to get up and around to start the day. We had a shorter distance to drive on this day than the day before. Also, before leaving California I had taken the precaution of reserving two campsites for us where we would end our last day before going into the FMCA convention.

Before hooking the car up for towing, we all went into town. The women wanted to go to K-mart to do some shopping. After dropping them off, Kevin drove me to the gas station/tire store. I found the attendant and told him what size and load range of tire I needed. I was taken to a storage locker to look at the tires available.

There was a pair of tires that would fit my motorhome, unfortunately they were one load range short of what I needed. Even though I was assured that the tires would work on my RV, I decided I wanted the full load capacity tires on the front of our rig. We went back to pick up the women who were still shopping. After a short wait we were all headed back to our motorhomes.

When we returned to the campground it didn’t take long for us to get on the road. We were on our way at about 10:00 MST. Shortly after getting on the freeway, we saw a white over pink class A motorhome. It looked as if it was a shiny new rig with a color of paint like I’ve never seen on a motorhome before.

While driving we would often talk between motorhomes on the CB radio. We used a channel that wasn’t commonly used by others. Occasionally I would hear people speaking in Spanish, but this wasn’t often. As we drove toward the Texas panhandle I began to here a couple of men talking in a language I couldn’t quite figure out.

At first the voices were breaking up, but the signal began to get stronger and the voices became clearer. I finally figured out the men were speaking a language from the country of India. The fact that the signal level was increasing meant that the men were in vehicles going the same direction as we were traveling. I was able to guess which vehicles they were in by the occasional English word they would use in their conversation.

The two men talking were driving a couple of eighteen-wheelers. It has become more common for us to see drivers from India wearing full beards and turbans. I’ve noticed some of the big rigs they drive are licensed in Canada. On a previous trip we saw one of these drivers at a rest stop wearing the style of clothing common in India even down to a small curved knife in a scabbard on the drivers rope belt.

The drivers from India were traveling at a faster speed than our little RV caravan. They caught up with us and passed us by as they chattered away. I could see them as they drove by our motorhome. The sign on the cab of their rigs read, "Singh Express." It was awhile longer until there signal weakened, broke up and finally disappeared leaving us with a quiet CB channel once again.

By now we were approaching the New Mexico-Texas border. When we crossed the border we lost another hour as we entered the Central Time Zone. Out in the panhandle the land began to get very flat. There were a few gentle rises and shallow dips in the highway, but for all intents and purposes, we were in the Great Plains of America. Even though it was unperceptible, we were generally still traveling downhill.

Our plan was to get to Amarillo to fill the fuel tanks of our motorhomes and to get something to eat for lunch. As we drove toward Amarillo a series of signs showed up at fairly regular intervals. Each sign was offering a free 72 ounce steak. We’ve seen these signs on previous trips and found out what wasn’t mentioned on the signs. The huge 72 ounce steak was free only if one person consumed the whole thing in less than an hour.

I was telling this story to Kevin on the CB radio. I mentioned that many years ago I heard that the price of the steak was $39. It was then that a woman spoke up on the CB to tell us that the current price of the 72 ounce steak is $60. Then she said, "That is four and a half pounds of meat."

Our fuel stop would be at the Flying J on the east side of Amarillo. The Flying J did not sell tires, but there was a tire store not far away. I walked over to see if I could find what I needed. When I walked into the store I could tell I was in the wrong place. It looked as if the smallest tire in the store was twice the diameter of the tires on our motorhome. One of the men in the store gave me directions to another tire store.

While Kay and I went on our search for tires, Kevin and Tina looked for a truck wash for their motorhome. Kay and I found our way to a Wal-Mart store about 2 and a half miles back into town. After standing in line for 20 minutes, I was told that there were no tires available to fit my needs. So, on to the next tire store on the list. A familiar story, right size, wrong load range. A man in the tire store was very helpful, he called other stores in town only to find that there was no tires of the correct load range available.

By now, Kevin and Tina had caught up with us. They were unsuccessful at finding a truck wash without a line. They would’ve had to wait too long to get their motorhome washed. It was decided that we had spent enough time in Amarillo and we should be on our way. We spent 2 1/2 hours looking for tires. Fortunately we didn’t have to worry about finding a place to stay for the night, I had already reserved our campsites for the night.


The cross near Groom, Texas
The Numbers of the Cross:

Height: 190 feet (19 stories)
Width: 110 feet
Weight: 2 1/2 Million Pounds (1250 tons)
Cross Section 12 feet by 12 feet

Steel Tubular Frame Construction
16" X 16" X 5/8" Thick Wall Tubing
(Largest square tubing in the world)
7" diameter pins 300 pounds each

Foundation:
65 truckloads of concrete delivered and poured in one day
80,000 pounds of 1 1/4" diameter rebar

Again we were heading east traveling across the remainder of the Texas panhandle. On our way to Oklahoma we came to the huge cross next to the highway near Groom, Texas. Kay and I have passed this interesting looking structure on many trips in the past. This time I wanted to finally stop and get a close-up look at the big cross.

We pulled into the "Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ" parking lot where we found plenty of room for both our RVs. The huge cross dominated the immediate area. We all took a tour around the grounds and took a few pictures. While we were looking around a man approached and asked if we had any questions. He ended up telling us the story of the construction of the cross as well as all the statues.


Mickey seems to think the life size figures are real


Mickey approaches with caution

There is a collection of statues around the base of the cross that depict the stations of the cross. The bronze figures are life size and apparently looked very real to Tina’s dog Mickey. One of the sculptures shows Jesus being nailed to the cross by a Roman soldier. Mickey with great caution, slowly approached the figure of Jesus lying on the ground. Suddenly Mickey lunged forward and nipped at the hair of Jesus. It was interesting to see Mickey’s actions.


Getting more information about the cross

Tina got more information about the cross before we left to continue on our way to Oklahoma. From Groom, we had only a short distance to the Elk City KOA campground where we would spend our last night before going into the FMCA convention in Oklahoma City.


Another overturned vehicle in the median strip

The drive to Oklahoma was uneventful with one exception, we saw the results of an accident. There was a car that had flipped over and was resting on its roof in the median strip. There was only one car so it appeared as if the driver may have lost control of the vehicle.


We made it to the campground just before sunset

We arrived at the campground shortly before sunset which also was just before the office closed. So, we made it just in time to register for our reserved campsites. When we found our way to our campsites Kevin performed his usual task of locating the satellite for TV viewing. We had traveled far enough east that the TV transmitting spacecraft was located due south rather than in the southeast as was the norm in California.

We visited for a short time after dinner. Even though we had a shorter drive on this day, it had been a long day with the fruitless search for tires and the visit to the big cross. So, when we called it a day, I was ready to get some sleep. It had been another interesting day.


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