Oklahoma City

This morning first thing Ken called Ken Ulmer to get his recommendations and approval for getting our brakes checked and repaired. He suggested calling a local repair shop. We looked for Dexter service in Oklahoma and found a place in Oklahoma City, on our route to Texas. We called OKC Trailer Marketing and talked with their service department. They suggested we plan to spend the night parked outside their gate. The service department opens at 8:00 a.m., and they thought they would be able to take care of our problems tomorrow.

We hiked out to another small lake. Fortunately, the trails have dried up considerably, so we didn't get any red mud on our shoes today. The little lake was muddy, and the water level was low, but it was still a good short hike. We passed a small canyon on the way and enjoyed the view from a hilltop.

Next we drove to the nearby town of Depew, where we had our mail forwarded to General Delivery. The post office was closed for lunch from 12:00 to 1:30. We arrived around 1:15 p.m. so we had time to look around the town. Fifteen minutes was more than enough. Downtown Depew is pretty much a ghost town, it seems to us, with a proud history. It's located on historic Route 66.

Most of Depew appears to be closed businesses and demolished buildings. One small cafe, an oil well service company, the town hall and police station, and the post office were all we found open as we walked up and down Main Street. The town hall included a small informal paperback library and a row of church pew type benches that made up the courtroom. The postal worker handed us our mail cheerfully when he opened for business after his lunch break, and we were on our way.

We drove to Oklahoma City, first along Route 66 and then on the turnpike and freeway. We found our repair place and jockeyed the trailer into position outside their gate, as they had suggested. About that time a man from the adjacent Freddy's Tires came over to offer us the use of their parking lot if we wanted. He also mentioned that the state fairgrounds just across the street had an RV park. We decided to stay where we were. It was fortunately level, so we didn't have to unhitch, and it will be very convenient to pull into the service area when they open in the morning.


On our walk this evening we went over to the fairgrounds to look around. The RV parking area is similar to others we've seen before. The charge for 30 amp electricity and water is $20; for 50 amp it's $25.

We are still getting used to managing our electricity off the grid. I forgot and turned the microwave on full power, and within 30 seconds the power management system shut down the power. We started the generator. On either inverter or generator, we can use the microwave at 70% power, but not 100%.