by The drive from Oklahoma (412 miles) was interesting in a couple of ways. To start, I got some cute pictures of Rowdy being a watchful co-pilot and Abby enjoying the dashboard views. We were pleasantly surprised that we got to drive a small portion of Route 66. We had to stop on the highway because two arms/blades of a wind turbine had to make a turn in front of us; it was so neat to see the drivers and crew maneuver the 120 ft blades. A little while later, we passed two pieces of the base driving in the same direction as the arms. Finally, we saw Clay Walker’s tour bus. After looking at his tour schedule, he was coming from Mississippi and heading toward Iowa.
Once in Dodge City, we realized there are two substantial meatpacking plants (Cargill and National Beef) as you enter the town. The pungent aroma of the soon-to-be steak luckily died down before we found our campground. Other than Dodge City having multiple meatpacking plants, the history was fascinating to learn about. There were many gunfights, saloons, gambling halls, and brothels once upon a time in Dodge City.
After a long driving day and three loads of laundry, we decided to hit the Boot Hill Casino for dinner. After playing a few dollars in the penny slots (that’s how we roll), we enjoyed a prime rib dinner at Firesides. Next comes the exciting part, so. We got the casino’s club card because you get $10 free playing credit and $10 in free food credit. Well, when we asked our waiter if we could use both cards (Rob’s and mine), he said: “yes and no.” We looked at him in confusion. He said, “yes, you can use both of them, but someone has paid for your meal.” We were perplexed. Us, why us? The waiter went and confirmed that a couple a few tables down had covered our full dinner. After doing some googling, Rob thinks the couple was Shawn Ellington from the show Street Outlaws and his wife. He and Rob made eye contact a couple of times. We still don’t know why, and we don’t know if the couple paid for other meals or just ours, so that may stay a mystery. Our bellies and wallets are full, not from winning but from saving the cost of the meal. Still, in disbelief, we left the casino with our leftovers and my to-go bread pudding and headed back to the RV to settle in for the night. The only things on the agenda were to make some campground reservations for our next few stops and post another blog.
In the morning, we “Got the hell out of Dodge” (origin is from the cowboy and western films made in Dodge City during the mid-1900s) and headed 351 miles toward Strasburg, Colorado (Denver suburb).
