Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hinton, Oklahoma 🠊 Crystal Springs, Arkansas

We left Hinton, Oklahoma, and headed towards Warner to visit with family before continuing on to Arkansas. Going through Oklahoma City one of our three gallon water jugs fell from the shelf of the kitchenette and broke a small piece from the bottom, which resulted in a lot of water rushing towards the front of the bus. Luckily, we were able to corral a lot of it and push it out the front door. Picture this, we are driving a school bus through Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, while three gallons of water is steadily pouring from the front doors of the bus. I can't imagine what the other cars around us, or behind us were thinking. It wasn't fun at the time, but now we laugh about it. No one honked, or did anything, so hopefully it wasn't as bad coming out the doors as we thought.☺

Hardy was enjoying the sun laying on the dash of the bus. He stayed on the dash until we reached Warner, and then again as we arrived at my parent's house in Arkansas.

It was neat seeing all of the Solar Eclipse billboards and signs. It made us feel like they were put up just for us and our trip.

Once we got close to Warner, Oklahoma, I called my "Aunt" Paula and had her meet us to show us exactly where to go. What's funny is, my Uncle Paul had asked us to call him when we got close so he could tell us where to go, but with our planning, we were able to surprise them and make them think we weren't there yet. It was a great plan, and we were grateful Paula was leading our way, because these backroads we might have gotten turned around.

There farm was just as I had remembered when I was young. We stayed a few hours and visited with them and my Aunt Paula (who is really my cousin, but she was a lot older than us, so she's always been called "Aunt" Paula). I love this side of my family so much. They are down-to-earth, kind, and they love us for us. I am so happy we were able to fit them into our trip, because I sure do miss them. On our way back we have plans to spend more time with them. Once we left Warner/Porum, Oklahoma, we were back on the road headed towards Arkansas.

We crossed the Arkansas state line around 5:00 p.m. We were right on time to reach my parent's house before it got dark. We were on the homestretch. I was excited to see everyone already and was still teary-eyed from leaving Oklahoma.

Once we went through Mansfield, Arkansas, we all started getting anxious. Anxious to see family, anxious to get off the bus, and anxious to take a hot shower.☺

We came over the mountain and we were there. My mom was standing near the driveway as we came around the corner to their driveway. She helped Jeff get the bus up the driveway and then was thrilled to see us and hear about our trip. My dad and my sister had gone on a short bike ride to kill some time until we got there, but they came shortly after we parked and situated. It was such a wonderful evening, catching up and telling them all about our travels. My mom immediately loved the bus!🚍

Santa Rosa, New Mexico 🠊 Hinton, Oklahoma

We boondocked it again once we got to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. The best part of this trip is the "not knowing" of how we are going to spend the night. Jeff drove for a long time on some days to try and get us as far as we could before needing to sleep or take a break. Skylar and I would take turns sitting up front with him, especially at night, to help keep him focused. We ended up making it as far as a Travel America. We woke up the following morning and took showers, made breakfast, and cleaned up the bus. We also were finally able to get rid of our trash, which we don't have a lot when we travel, but it's always nice to get rid of things that take up space. Every inch in a skoolie matters. We refreshed the duck's pens and let them get out of the bus for a time. Letting them get sun, and splash around in the water basin we brought always makes them feel better. They have been great travel buddies. At night they make noise, but it's not too bad. We got back on the road around 9:30 a.m. and headed towards Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Tucumcari was a cool, but sad place. I loved all of the Route 66 signs and displays, but you can see throughout how much the town has suffered because of the interstate. A lot of the times on our trip it made me long for the times when all of these places were popping with activity and entertainment. Route 66 is a cool drive, but I wish we could have seen it in its heydays.

While we were in Tucumcari, I made sure Skylar's eye was okay from when he ran into the sign in Idaho. It left him with a bruise, but we were glad to see it didn't hit his actually eye. He said it was still sore, but it looked better than the day before. We had him put ice on it right away and that helped a great deal with the swelling.

After Tucumcari we left New Mexico and crossed the state line into Texas. At that same time a lot was going on with the area we were in. State line crossing, leaving New Mexico and entering Texas, as well as the change in time zone, too. We finally reached the Central Time Zone and were a bit closer to Arkansas.

The amount of windmills in Texas were impressive. I read a few years ago that Texas was the windmill capital of the United States because of how the wind flows through the state. It was quite windy in the area where we were and every windmill was moving at a good speed. It's incredible how windy it was. The wind was fighting against us while we were driving and it didn't let up.

We made it to Amarillo, Texas, around 1:30 p.m. and she was windy. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch and were happy there weren't a lot of people, but once we stepped off the bus we knew why. The wind was incredible! We fought the wind so much walking towards the Cadillacs, but Skylar wanted some spray paint to leave our mark on the area. He tagged our bus Instagram page and his cartoon he started last year, Hank the Snake. As we were walking back to the bus the wind really picked up and started hitting our legs with rocks. Rocks started being picked up by the wind at one point and started hitting us in the face. We started hurrying back to the bus, but not before one of the rocks hit me in the forehead. There is a little mark there, but hopefully, it fades. We couldn't believe it!

The layers of paint on these cars was incredible.

Hank the Snake.

If you do visit Cadillac Ranch, be sure to wear gloves when you paint. It is a mess!

We bought the paint here and also some stickers to add to the back of the bus. The guy running the vendor trailer asked where we were from. We told him Oregon and he said, "You're the first today from Oregon." We also told him that we traveled there in a converted school bus and he said, "You're the first from Oregon in a converted bus this week." So that was cool to hear.☺

We left Cadillac Ranch around 2:30 p.m. and crossed into the Oklahoma state line about six hours later. Jeff was exhausted at this point from driving and fighting the wind. The winds through Texas and into Oklahoma were rough, especially in the bus. We made our way to Hinton, Oklahoma, to get some sleep and rest the bus a bit before heading onto the Warner/Porum, Oklahoma, to visit family. We are hoping to get to Arkansas by the Seventh of April, so hopefully we can get moving along and the wind is on our side after we leave family's house. Day seven of our trip was a success. I am excited to see what day eight holds for us. Onward!🚍