Saturday, March 6, 2021 - Moving to Great Salt Plains SP, Jet, OK

Saturday, March 6, 2021 - Moving to Great Salt Plains SP, Jet, OK

We were not in a big rush to leave this morning, but we did want to get on the road somewhat early.  It was 8:39am when we left our site at Copper Breaks State Park, Quanah, TX for Great Salt Plains State Park in Jet, OK.  We traveled 255 miles today and arrived at Jet, Ok at 2:35pm. It was a nice easy, and enjoyable ride.  Other than a short stint on I-40, we drove state and county roads, where we enjoy the scenery in the towns and countryside.

As we approached the bridge this morning as we left Copper Breaks, one of the park rangers was there shoveling more gravel onto the roadway.  We thought he waved to stop us, so I rolled the window down and he said don't stop...go!  That was a little scary!  With all of the traffic coming into the park after 3:30 or so when they reopened the road, it didn't look near as good as it did last night.  As we headed up the hill after crossing the bridge, we met a tractor with a load of dirt.  I'm sure he was headed to the bridge.  I was going to take a picture but I forgot when he said don't stop...go!

Today is another picture day while we are on the road, along with a few at our new campground.  I hope you enjoy them.

Hardeman County Courthouse in Quanah, TX--as we passed it realized we never made it to downtown Quanah.  Too bad, it looks like we missed several things.

We saw a number of cotton fields that had been harvested.

Hey Patsy, I was surprised when I saw we were crossing over the Canadian River again - it runs quite aways across Oklahoma!  I had to look it up and it runs through Oklahoma, Northern Texas and New Mexico.  Amazing what we learn when we drive the countryside.

So many wide open highways in Oklahoma.  They were all beautiful.

I love these old Pontiac signs.  They remind me of my Papa "Merle" Blackledge who sold Pontiac's for nearly 50 years.

One of my favorite pictures of the day.  

I couldn't pass up this flag out in the middle of nowhere.

My mind always wonders about the families who lived in these old farmhouses.

A great old barn.  I was lucky to get this picture for all the trees.

Wheat fields are growing!

When we arrived at the State Park, we stopped at the office to see if we needed to check in.  She said no, we were good to go.  As we drove toward the park entrance, off to the left we saw the sign with the park name on it.  We turned, then stopped a short distance away at the office.  When we left the office we continued on down the road where we entered, but came to a large parking area long the spillway.  There was an older couple in front of us, and they turned to leave, Dean waved at him to see if he knew where the campground was.  He said it was his first time here too and he didn't know.  We turned around in the lot, then Dean pulled over and I called the park office.  I told the lady that I was just in there, we had gone on down the road from the park office and appeared to be at the spillway.  I told her we've not been here before so we don't know where we need to go.  She told us to go back to the highway where we came in, then turn left, go over the bridge, then make a left turn right past the bridge.  As we neared the road we came in on - there was a sign across the road pointing the way to River Road Campground - except we were looking to the left where the park sign was.  Neither of us ever saw the campground signs.  LOL!

We soon found our campground and parked.  Just a short time later I heard Dean talking to someone, so I walked outside.  The couple we met down by the spillway was stopped and talking to Dean.  I walked over to visit with his wife.  They are from Woodward, OK, west of here.  They recently purchased a motorhome and drove it to Grove, Ok where they stayed for two weeks.  Russell and Marty were looking for a few places to travel that were closer to their home.   Russell is 90 years old (but he didn't look it).  He started a garden years ago, that grew into a 5 acre "garden" where he grew and sold all kinds of vegetables, fruit, etc.  They were the nicest couple and we sure enjoyed visiting with them. 

Our site at Great Salt Plains State Park, Jet, OK

The spillway up river from us.

Our view from our back window.

The view out our door.  Or it was before our neighbor arrived a little later in the day.

We set outside in our lounge chairs behind Bentley and enjoyed watching the river and looking at the landscape, and a bird or two.  We were surprised we didn't see more birds in the area.  Dean wanted to take a drive to see the rest of the park area.  There is a huge lake, salt flats, a selenite crystal digging field (only open April 1-Oct 15), another campground or two, and a few other places.  Tomorrow we'll get out and see more of the area, especially the salt flats.  

As we were leaving the area to head back, a roadrunner ran out in front of us.  It blended in pretty good, and it was in a shaded area.  Hopefully we'll see another one before we leave in a better setting.

Do you see him at the bottom of the picture?