We had an easy drive, found some 4 lane roads that were straight. Out plans were to stop just south of Pawhuska, OK(Pioneer Woman) at another COE park. We pulled in and found out the park had a major power failure and since it was the end of the season it would not be fixed. We were welcome to stay there but would need to depend on our solar and generator. Elected to go to Plan B(always have Plan B) and go past Pawhuska to another COE. I have no idea where Tom had the GPS going but the campground for Plan B never appeared. We stumbled into Plan C(also called dumb luck), a small COE campground near Ponca City, OK. Only 14 sites but only 3 were occupied.
The major reason we stopped here was to pick up mail and visit the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve which has 2500 buffalo. The post office was closed for the weekend so we knew we would need to stay until Tuesday AM.
We needed replace the cable from the car to the motor home and decided we would need to drive into Tulsa to a big RV store but would call first. Tulsa is 1.5 hours away. I looked up the store on the Internet and they weren't open on Sunday. Oh well, no part. Ordered the part from Amazon for delivery to our next stop. Tom worked on the old cable and managed to get it to work again, at least temporarily.
On Sunday we headed off to the Preserve, after 40 miles or so on dirt roads we arrived and immediately saw Buffalo. We had driven through beautiful country, rolling hills, all fields, cattle and horses. Exactly what I had imagined Oklahoma should look like. We spent time at the Preserve, did the Bison Loop and saw some more Buffalo, up close and personal. There are 2500 free-ranging Buffalo in the Preserve. The Nature Conservancy manages the Preserve and it is the largest expanse of Tallgrass left in the US.
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| Our welcome to the preserve |
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| All open range |
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| My car will neve be the same!!! |
We took the main road back, just about 10 miles of dirt before pavement. This road took us to Pawhuska so we decided to eat at the Mercantile. It was Sunday and the Mercantile was closed. Actually, pretty much everything was closed except for Buffalo Joe and he closed at 2.
Buffalo Joe had excellent food. Tom thinks it was the best Chicken Fried Steak he ever had and their homemade meatloaf was wonderful. Totally unexpected. A good end to a good day.
One strange sound in the campground were sirens, lots of sirens, in a distance but way too many to make any sense. The other campers didn't know the answer either. Luck prevailed, the Ranger came by. He explained that the lake had a bit too much water so whenever the water was released or the volume changed the siren sounded. Feel better with an explanation.
On Monday the weather was cloudy and rain was in the forecast. We ran into town to pick up our mail and do laundry. Decided to do some exploring and ended up taking a back road into Ponca City. Knocked off little odds and ends. Gas for the car, dropped ink cartridges off at Staples. Walmart stop and lunch. We didn't realize Ponca City was so big. Probably the largest town we have visited in several weeks.
When we finally came back to the campground we were the last ones there except for 2 cats. Both cats acted like they had been abandoned at the campground. We tried to all the Ranger and tell him but no answer so we put a note in the Iron Ranger and hope he checks it before the bad weather sets in.
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| A lonely cat |
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| And our lonely camper |
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