As we headed east, the southwest dune colored landscape gave way to a greener landscape with more gently rolling hills. Our travel day was pleasant and uneventful until we arrived at our planned stop, Henrietta. 

At Henrietta, OK, we took the first exit and immediately found a motel. However, that was the ONLY thing in sight. With no place to get gas or dinner, we decided to take Business 62 rather getting back in Interstate 40/US 62 in search of more options. That was our first mistake. The road was blocked at a railroad crossing with a 3 engine train that was not moving and looked like it had no intention of moving any time this week. I decided to try and find a way  around it. What we got was a small tour of a very depressed town and no sign of another motel or eatery.

We decided to get back on I40/US 62 to the next town,  Checotah, that had a number of lodgings listed. The first place we came to was an RV park/Inn right off the exit. (We don’t have an RV, and the inn was unappealing.) The other place was about 2 miles away so we headed off in the opposite direction of our itinerary. We soon realized that most of the “Checotah” hotels/motels listed on Google were about 10 miles away at Lake Eufaula. So we decided to reverse course and check out the next closest motel. That seemed like a good plan, but the motel was on the other side of I40 and the other side of I69. I could have gotten there easily if I had gotten onto I40, But I thought there would be a shorter way through “town”. BIG mistake. Since there didn’t seem to be a straightforward way to get there, we decided to follow the “lady in the box”. (Mistake # 2.) She took us about 5 miles on rural gravel and dirt roads and landed us at a gate across a farmer’s field. We finally found our way back to I40 and with a couple more missed turns, we arrived at the Walnut Inn just before they closed the office and some 2 hours after arriving in Henrietta.

The road to oblivion

By that time, we were so bushed that we didn’t even have the energy to go out to dinner. So dinner was snacks of cheese, crackers and mandarin oranges. I unwound with a libation of Knob Creek while Peggy killed the last of the wine from the previous night.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be an uneventful trip.

Best to all,
Wayne & Peggy