July 24, 2012 - Elk City, OK - Motel

The weather was cool when we left Albuquerque.  We were able to get on the road by 7:00AM.  We gassed up and headed east on I-40.  We knew the forecast was rain for eastern NM and windy conditions for Amarillo and east.

It didn’t really warm up until about noon or so, and we had no rain.  The wind began picking up about 50 miles west of Amarillo.  We endured it, and the up-to-35MPH gusts. 

We breezed through Amarillo (no pun intended), and even considered stopping in OKC, because of the excellent progress we were making.  Then the heat hit us.  Shortly after Amarillo, it got really hot. 

I was able to pick up a radio station from Elk City and heard the temp was currently 101 degrees.  It was about 125 miles from Amarillo to Elk City. 

We stopped at an Oklahoma visitors center to check on lodging ahead.  The gentleman gave us some good tips. 

We pulled off at the Elk City exit with many hotels.  By this time it was 103 degrees and we had no intention of camping.  The first motel we stopped at was booked.  They were kind enough to tell us all the motels at this exit were booked for some convention.

We took the road through town, gassed up, got some drinks and found another cluster of motels, basically at the next exit.  We both wanted a pool to cool of in, but the motel we were looking for couldn’t be found.  We stopped at another and they had a pool and rooms available. 

What luck…the pool is closed for major repairs, so we just went into the room, turned the A/C on MAX and had a few adult beverages. 

There were a few restaurants close by and we choose the Italian one across the street.  What a nice surprise.  It was one of the best mom-and-pop Italian meals we have both had for quite some time. 

We plan to head out early again, stop by the OKC memorial.  I have been there but Don has not.  I was most impressed when JoAnn and I first visited it in 2003 or so.