Interesting day on the Turnpike

Kind of a long day today yesterday. Just didn’t feel like doing this last night.

Left the campground in Lebanon, MO at 9:15. Was not a pleasant night for sleeping. Too close to the Interstate and right where trucks going both directions had to shift. Long loud night. Stopped for breakfast right after leaving the campground at another TA. The weather remained cool and somewhat windy most of the day. Blue skies and trees with a little color still on them

Except for stopping for gas – which was ONLY $2.98 in Claremont, OK. Then didn’t stop for the day until about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City at 4:30. Did not plan on it. It just happened that way. Around 370 miles. I hate days like that.
Once on the toll road from Joplin through Tulsa and on into Oklahoma City (cost us about $22 in tolls – not counting the one we missed paying!) there just aren’t many campgrounds along that route. Not quick on and off overnight ones any way.
Why isn’t this something you see on the interstates more often. It is a stop with gas stations and a big McDonalds that spans the road. Easy to stop there. We saw a lot of restaurants and stations over the highways in Europe. Appears to be a really good idea. Come on people lets do it.

This year I wanted to make sure we got the Turnpike around Oklahoma City – last year I missed it. Caught it this year and wish we hadn’t. About 23 of the 25 mile route was under construction!!!! Really thrilled The Driver. Heard a few mumbles coming from him. Suddenly there was a toll booth –"right lane" “exact change only”?!?! –how are we supposed to know the exact change? Didn’t really make a difference as we were in the AutoPass lane and just blew threw. Kept waiting for a siren behind or in front of us but didn’t happen. Did find the next one and pulled up to it. Paying was by axel – and had to be in change. Were we 2 axels or 4 axels – 4 I guess. That would be $2.30 so we had to dig around for change – went into the laundry money for quarters. Threw it into the tray and as we passed over I heard all kinds of whistles going off. Guess we did something wrong. That’s the last time for the turnpike in Ok City.
Don’t usually make political comments but this is bothering me. Today we passed a couple of Feed the Children trucks on the road. And first thing we heard on TV was that OVER TWO BILLION dollars have been spent on this election. For a job that pays $400,000 plus expenses a year. Come on people. How many children could that amount feed?
I moved my Shout Box back to the bottom of the blog, with it on the side I couldn't get into the controls for it. It is kind of fun reading comments in it.
Didn't fix dinner last night - Bill had a big salad and I used our last frozen TV dinner. 
We are making progress west - too much progress. Now have to decide where we are going - and if we are going to spend some time any where before heading into Mexico.
Watching the weather channel - hope everyone we know on the East Coast is taking precautions and hunkering in. Sure hope it isn't as bad as it looks.