Denver , CO to Shawnee, OK off the beaten path

• Lroff's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Shawnee, OK

Trip Start Mar 14, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End Mar 15, 2007 Next
Entry

  Shawnee, OK, United States
Saturday, April 15, 2006

I Left Denver about 7:30 for a long drive towards Oklahoma City. I decided, on the advice of a trucker at a travel centre, to take the US40 from Limon to Kit Carson and then wind my way down to the OK border via SR 287 (I think it was SR). One of the truckers told me that - "if ya cut the corners off, the drive is a lot shorter".

With apologies to cornhuskers everywhere, I avoided Kansas and went through south eastern Colorado. The road conditions are quite variable. Some are just slabs of concrete (bump, bump, bump), others not bad and still others with heaves in the road, potholes and dips which force the steering and wheels badly. It made for interesting and shaky driving; however, I wondered if it was my car that was causing some of the problem.

For the most part the roads were flat also with some interesting rock formations cropping up every now and again. Further along I found more grass and prairie land. Looked like cornfields before the corn is growing there. Fields and farms and silos and older model windmills. And the weather reports were warning of severe thunderstorms in the area. The sky was grey and threatening; however, did not get any rain.

After Lamar I wound my way down SR 285 to highway 3 and Boise City. By this time I was climbing up to high plains area, past red, red soil and extraordinary landscapes in parts and then coming down into the winding North Canadian (wonder why it is named that) river valley. Continuing along highway 270 the weather reports said severe weather and thunderstorms in Dewey County heading into Kingfisher County which was - eeeekkkk - right where I was.

An additional problem was that at some point in the day my "check engine light" came on in the car. A bit of a worry as I was overdue a servicing and had been noticing for some time (since California) that my steering was a bit bumpy, seem to be pulling and the wheels seemed to be correcting for each other like driving on ice. Either the steering and alignment need to be checked or the roads were not in good shape. Could be as easily one as the other I'd say.

Just about that point I was pulled over by the Highway Patrol for speeding. I was concentrating more on what I thought was the scary weather reports than my speed. The officer wanted to know if Canada used miles or kilometers. I told him kilometers but that I had been in the US for long enough to know where on the speedometer 65 MPH was even though it is not marked as such. I was apparently going 77 in a 65 zone. However, as he'd pulled over 2 others besides me, fortunately I was only given a warning and not a ticket. Heading at a somewhat more conservative rate down SR270 I made it to the I-40 about 2 hours west of OK City. By 9pm I had made it to Shawnee, about 40 Miles east of OK City. Had a speedy dinner at Denny's and hit the hay. I do believe I fueled up about 4 times today and I was one tired camper. It was more than a little humid and I had the air conditioner on all night.

Slideshow Share

Previous Entry Next Entry