After 2 ½  weeks of travel, we decided that we needed a little rest, not only for ourselves, but for the cats as well. We were all getting tired of being in the truck all day or stuck in the bedroom on the quick overnights. We decided to pick a place to stay for a week so we could explore the area more and just take some time to rest.

We chose Oklahoma for this week of rest. We had originally thought about staying a week in Texas, but while we were in Arkansas, I was offered a job in California starting in the beginning of January. Now we had a time limit to our road trip. 

We knew there were places in Arizona and California that we wanted to experience so we had to figure out a rough idea for a route that would take us to the location of my job in the Golden State. We decided that we didn’t have the time to drive down to the parts of Texas that we would have liked to visit, so we decided on Oklahoma because that would allow a more direct route. 

There also seemed to be more hiking trails in Oklahoma that appealed to us. We were interested in exploring the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, so we found an RV resort in Lawton, OK to stay at for a week.

The drive from Arkansas to Oklahoma was easy despite being the day before Thanksgiving. We hadn’t taken the holiday into account, but the morning we were packing up, it had dawned on us that there was potential for a lot of traffic. We had hoped that people would stay home, not just for the sake of decreased traffic, but to also lower the spread of the virus.

Luckily for us, we didn’t experience any traffic along the route, even when we drove through Oklahoma City around noontime. It was great not running into traffic; it definitely made the drive better, but unfortunately, we encountered strong winds throughout the whole trip.

We were driving directly into 20mph winds the whole way from Arkansas to Oklahoma, which was not so great on the gas mileage. We burned through our gas almost twice as quickly as we should have. Thankfully, the gas in Oklahoma was soooo much cheaper. The cost of diesel in OK was $1.89/gallon compared to the $2.79/gallon we had paid in NY or the $2.35-$255/gallon along the rest of the east coast.

This was also our first time driving in stronger winds. We tried to plan our travels around the windy weather, but we couldn’t delay our trip another day because the campsite in Arkansas didn’t have any availability for one more night. I was pleasantly surprised that the wind did not cause any issues with driving other than the fast depletion of the fuel. It helped that we drove into the wind because it wasn’t causing us to swerve on the road.

As we drove from Arkansas to Oklahoma, the scenery did not change a whole lot. The browns and yellows of the landscape continued to surround us. Oklahoma was also a very flat state, which allowed us to see for miles. 

When we arrived in Lawton, we saw the Wichita Mountains. It was an interesting sight. As we drove by, we noticed that many of the mountains were giant piles of rocks. We also thought it was funny because these “mountains” looked so small that we would have classified them more as hills rather than a true mountain. According to my research the highest elevation of the Wichita Mountains is 2,480 feet, which is larger than we thought based on looking at them.

Despite the smaller appearance than what we expected, they were truly an amazing view. The mountains were just so different than any others we have seen. The typical mountains we have seen are more forested, but these have very few trees and the trees that are there are very small, almost like bushes. 

We arrived at Pinnacle Peak RV Resort, where we stayed for a week. From our site, we had a great view of the nearby lake with the mountains behind it. The sunset in this area was amazing to watch.

Because OK is so flat other than the “mountains”, the sun was able to cast its orange rays throughout the whole sky. Every direction that we turned, we could see the combination of dark blue mixed with orange as the sun lowered itself. It was a great view to end the day.

Thanksgiving Day

A beautiful, sunny, 70-degree day. We chose to spend this day outside enjoying the warm weather as it was supposed to be the warmest day of the week in OK. Saturday would be rainy so we planned to make a small Thanksgiving meal then so we could enjoy the sunshine.

We decided to go for a bike ride. We had done a lot of hiking and hadn’t been able to get our bikes out until now, so we were excited to change things up. We found a trail that was marked as “easy” along the Wichita Mountains, so we figured we’d give it a try.

Within the first 30 seconds, I was wary of the trail. We knew going in, it was an unpaved trail, and we don’t have mountain bikes so we were aware that it would be a more difficult terrain than we were used to. We just didn’t expect it to have as much gravel and larger rocks along the trail. There were also a lot of inclines that were coated in sand, which made it extremely difficult to be successful riding uphill. 

I had to walk my bike up several hills because no matter how hard I pedaled, I wasn’t going anywhere. Even walking up the hill with my bike was a tiring workout for the glutes. Ryan was able to make it up most of the inclines without walking, but it was so slow going for him, his legs were not happy with the trying task.

It was a wonderful kick to our egos when we saw an experienced biker fly by on his fancy mountain bike as if he were pedaling on a paved, flat surface. We just stared after him in awe. I asked Ryan if he had a rope that I could tie to myself so the biker could drag me back to the truck. He clearly needed the extra challenge and I wanted a nap.

The downhill sections of the trail were fun, but nerve-racking. We picked up speed quickly on the descents and as we rounded the corners of the trail, there were often times larger stones in the way that we would have to navigate around.

Typically, I am very cautious with situations like this. I had flipped over my bike as a kid, hitting my head on the pavement even though I was wearing a helmet, so I tend to be worried about the potential injuries that could be sustained while riding the bikes.

Normally, I would avoid gravel trails with downhill sections because of the fear of flipping over the bike at a fast speed, but I was actually very proud of myself for being adventurous and being able to stay in the moment of having fun.  

Despite our efforts, we weren’t able to finish the trail. We ended up turning around only a third of the way down the trail because we were getting fatigued from all the inclines, we didn’t know if we would have the energy to ride back to the truck. 

After returning to the truck, we drove to another location within the Wichita Mountains to go for a short hike. The hiking trail was only supposed to be about a mile so, we thought we could handle it despite the fatigue our legs felt.

We spent close to 2 hours exploring and enjoying the views from the Little Baldy Trail. The trail itself was not well marked but it wasn’t hard to follow the general direction as it was just a simple walk over a wide opened area to a rock mountain. We climbed up the small mountain and were rewarded with a beautiful view of the surrounding Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge.

On our way back down the trail, we came across a single long-horned cow. He was preoccupied eating the tall grass, so we were able to spend a while taking pictures and watching him move around looking for food. Because of his dull coloring and hard body structure, he looked like a large rock when his head was near the ground with the horns hidden from sight. He blends in perfectly with his surroundings. It was interesting watching him, slowly make his way through the area.

Spending the day outside exploring was the perfect way to spend the holiday. It would have been nice to be with our family, but we were happy with our adventure. It also helped that we had celebrated Thanksgiving before we left. 

While relaxing at the top of the mountain on the Little Baldy Trail, Ryan and I were hit by the realization that this is our life now. It was an amazing feeling that washed over us as we gazed out over the wildlife refuge. We have such an appreciation for this new way of life that we are so fortunate to experience. It’s a blessing to be able to explore all these new and wonderous places. It is definitely something to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving holiday.