Greeted this morning by a wet start, very misty, hardly any visibility. Put on the TV to watch The Weather Channel and heard the following: potential flash flooding and heavy thunder storms in West Texas and Oklahoma over the next 3 days. Up to 6 inches of rain forecast over the weekend. Serious risk of tornados the in that area as well!
Did we contemplate delaying moving on? Maybe stay a couple of extra days in Oaklahoma to ride out the storm? Of course not, we're British and used to a bit of bad weather!!!!!!
After a brief breakfast, room was too small for all the people, we set of for Amarillo. Wipers, lights and windscreen blower on we made our way down R66. First inkling as to how bad things could get was when we drove past a lake some 20 mins into our journey and the water was almost over the banks.
Still we carried on. Rain wasn't too bad and R66 was easy to follow so all was looking good. Had a couple of stops for coffee and toilet breaks, came to a section near a town called Calumet when the instructions said turn left at the house. We all went ????????????
Anyway, along the road we went, saw the house, saw the road so down it we went. I say road, it was more like a dirt road. We carried on, the dirt track got worse and worse, no signs of life and it looked like it carried on for miles! The earth in Oklahoma is very red in colour and as we went down this dirt road in the rain the mud splashed up the side of the van and turned it from white to red!
The road was getting muddier and muddier and more remote. Eventually we came to a 4 way junction with a slightly better road surface. We turned right hoping that we would come out close to the town of Calumet. The road turned into a dirt track after about 100 yards and was worse than the one we had just left. Being British we soldiered on, of course we did!
Eventually we came to a "proper road", one with Tarmac! We turned left and picked up a highway, good old "Rand" had come to or rescue. After some 6 miles we picked up R66 again and carried on. We planned to stop at Elk City to look at the National R66 museum. The sky was getting darker and
darker, the rain was getting heavier, the wind was getting stronger and as we travelled along old R66 the puddles were getting wider and deeper!
Suddenly, it looked like night time although it was only 11am. With that the skies opened and the rain
came down in torrents. It was so fierce that the wipers on fast speed hardly cleared the windscreen of water.
We decided to abandon R66 and go on the Interstate to Elk City. Traffic was slow and the spray was bad, visibility down to about 20 yards, but we managed to make good progress. We saw the turn off for Elk City and took it, as we turned off we noticed that the road was more like a river! Water was gushing down the road, unable to go anywhere and forming puddles across the highway. As we got closer to the town centre the puddles started to join up from either side of the road, so it looked more
like a river. Fields were flooded, sidewalks couldn't be seen and if we travelled over 5 mph we sprayed water everywhere.
We finally reached the R66 museum car park, but couldn't get out as the car park was under 4 inches
of running water. The rain was torrential, so no sign of it stopping. As is the case in all emergencies
like this we do the only thing possible......... Turn to food. There was a KFC opposite, so we went
there to get something to eat and wait a while. The front part of the restaurant was slightly flooded.
We went to order food and I asked the way back to I44. The staff said that the roads out of town were
closed due to flash floods! Have just posted a video of the flooding on Facebook. A customer said
there was still access to I44 but a staff member said that the police had advised her that access to I44 had been shut.
We had noticed the police had closed the road we entered town on, so things had got worse in the space of 15mins.
When asked when the roads would reopen, a staff member said 15-16 hours, the rain was forecast to last for 3 days!
With that we decided to try to get to I44 and drive to Amarillo. Off we set, rain still lashing down but the road was a little better than the previous one. Eventually we made it to I44 and carried on our way.
The next thing was the thunder and lightning, the skies got darker, the rain got heavier, but we carried on! Slowly but surely the rain eased, the skies brightened and the driving got easier. In fact as we
crossed the Texas State line the rain stopped!
We made good progress, stopping at the Welcome centre for a comfort break. There were 3 guys on
Harley's drying their stuff out, wouldn't have wanted to have been on those during that storm. I'm
sure Billy Connolly would have given up faced with those conditions.
We saw the aftermath of the storm all the way into Amarillo and in fact we noticed something really dark in the distance. It was a mass of rain clouds and as soon as we hit the city limits the heavens opened. We found our hotel with not too much difficulty, Sandra and Lel went to check us I in. After what seemed ages, out they came. Apparently the hotel couldn't find our booking. Eventually got checked in, room is a good size, massive bed, sofa, table and desk. Bathroom a bit small though. The
hotel is undergoing renovation (another one!)' a bit naughty that it isn't on Booking .com website. We went to get something to eat, but the hotel diner was playing music so loud we couldn't hear ourselves talk. We left and went a block down to the Olive Garden where we had a great big blowout!
We went back to our hotel, had a freshen up, and Lel and Pat joined us for a few drinks. After the day we had I don't think any of us fancied too late a night.
We planned our next week's journey, we are going to Four Corners Monument, the only site in the U.S. where 4 states come together. We will also visit the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and eventually make our way to Las Vegas here we'll stay 3 nights in the Bellagio. Sarnie cannot wait!
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