WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - THE HEAT DOME Forced Us Home

Yep, this is our "Turnaround Day" that's definitely time to head north. The temperatures are creeping up closer and closer to the predicted "Heat Dome" that is going to hover over Texas and Oklahoma as well as the rest of the South for a week or more. We just can't take that kind of heat. 

We left Platter Flats Corps of Engineers Park in Oklahoma with a pretty strong wind blowing at our backside.  We were traveling in a Northeast direction and the wind was blasting us from the southwest. It made for some pretty good fuel mileage, we did 14.4 miles per gallon in this stretch!

The scenery was pretty but everything was stormy and turbulent as we were driving along.

With such unsettling weather, it's hard to know for sure if we should keep going or batten the hatches and hide out for the night?

Back home, our kids security camera at their cabin in Northeast Wisconsin was showing the extent of Blizzard Elsa wreaking havoc in just 24 short hours. That rectangle is their picnic table, and that string of lights is at head height. 

Records were broken all over Northeast Wisconsin...

We saw this cute graphic online. It really makes sense with what's happening across the country.

We decided to pull off at Belle Starr Corps of Engineers Park on Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma.  

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233424

We were able to get a site up in the trees and away from the blasting winds. We were somewhat protected as the winds raged throughout the day and night.

All of the sites that were open were pretty level and concrete pull throughs. Large portions of the park were closed and it was too windy to explore anywhere else. We got set up on our site and enjoyed seeing some deer prance through the park at sunset through the trees in the distance.

We know the storm front was going to be blowing in the beginning of the "Heat Dome" that was forecast to envelope the entire Southwest. Our brother is camping over in northern Arizona and already suffering with over 100° Heat. 

We were going to go to Enid, Oklahoma to visit with our son-in-law's parents. But the temperatures there were just going to be unbearable. We just can't handle this type of heat, nor can the motorhome stay cool enough with the roof air conditioning on full blast. It's definitely time to move north.

We stayed at Belle Star overnight and then took off in the morning to make tracks North.  We made it up as far as Lebanon, Missouri and decided to take a break for the evening. It was already getting hot and I didn't feel like cooking. Steve suggested we Google around and check if there is a Godfather's Pizza nearby. Yesss!!! We found one. Easy peasy cooking supper plus enough left over to put in the freezer.

We love Godfather's Pizza, and it's a chain in the midwest that has somewhat disappeared. We do have a new Godfathers Express one that recently opened up about 50 miles from our home in Wisconsin.

We were planning on boondocking in the Walmart parking lot. Although there were not any signs prohibiting it, some of the reviews on our RV parking app said that RVs have been asked to move next door to the Lowe's parking lot. So we moved over there after picking up a few groceries and eating our pizza.

We sat there for a little while but it was quite warm and uncomfortable on the blacktop pavement. The heat just radiates upwards. Since we were boondocking we weren't running the air conditioner, and we would have to fire up the generator to get cool.

Steve decided since it was probably our last night of camping that we would really be extravagant and treat ourselves to a KOA campground! We NEVER stay at a KOA, we find them quite expensive.  But he said let's splurge and do it...  We got the directions to the one just out of Lebanon a few miles from town. It was $56 for the night! Oh my! We never pay that much money for a campsite...

We found our way there for the night and the host had pre-registered us and left the tag hanging in a yellow box. All we had to do was submit our cash back in the envelope and it was all taken care of. We got the very last site in a row of other rvs. We were right next door to their on-site bar and grill! This time of year it was not open, nor was the pool.  I bet during the seasonal summer months this is a busy place. 

The sites were really nice and some were set up for longer-term rentals. The KOA was neat and clean, but we never did go into the office or the little camp store to check them out. 

Steve chatted with the next door neighbors in the morning and then we all hooked up and headed on out again. Back on the road...  So much for $56. 

Driving now into the middle of Missouri, we were enjoying the scenery and change of terrain. Gone were the wide open stretches of Texas and Oklahoma. Gone were the flat grassy fields. Now we were seeing hills and rocks and hardwood trees. Things were getting to look more familiar and "Midwester-y" to our eyes.

We did travel through some agricultural areas and saw some interesting terrain and farmlands. Clustered around some areas were grain bins and railroad tracks to ship their products to other parts of the country.

Our sights were set on a tiny colony town called Bethel, Missouri. 

https://historicbethel.org/

Bethel, Missouri, is a small village in Shelby County, founded in 1844 as a utopian religious communal colony by German-American preacher Wilhelm Keil, known for its shared property and labor, handicrafts, and music. Though Keil led many followers to Oregon in 1855, the community continued, and today it preserves its unique history through events, a museum, and historic buildings, many on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our dear friend Rosie has a cute little farmette on the edge of town. She has beautiful pastures that up until recently housed her beloved llamas and alpacas. She graciously let us "mooch-dock" in her driveway for a few days.  We got all settled in after big hugs all around and joined her in the pleasant sunshine out on her deck. I have been daydreaming for months of getting back to visit with her and sitting on her deck.

The hours fly by and we always pick up right where we left off. We have online daily hours-long conversations that go back and forth with our third dear friend Linda in Tennessee. We keep a running Facebook Messenger chat box going. We check in with each other every morning and we chat on and off throughout the day until bedtime when we sign off.  We post whenever we have a thought to share, project to photograph, or just chatting with each other. We three together are pretty important friends to each other and rely on our caring and thoughtful and loving messages. All three of us are weavers and that's how we met. And now we are all best of friends.

I love this dear lady with all my heart. She is facing a major surgery next week in the big city of St Louis. A nearby neighbor is bringing her who is so kind and thoughtful to accompany her and stay there with a nearby relative until Rosie is released. We will gladly accept any thoughtful prayers for her healthy outcome and healing afterwards.

While we women yak and yak and yak, Steve gets to work finding a few projects around the house that Rosie could use a hand with. She had expressed a desire for some water barrels at the end of two of her rain gutter downspouts. She had all the materials ready, she just needed someone to get up on the roof and make sure the gutters were cleared out and free-flowing. Steve is her man for the job!

Once he got the downspouts and rain gutters figured out, Rosie located the spigots and fittings for him to create her two beautiful blue rain barrels. This will make it a lot easier to water her flowers and plants. Wrestling with a hose is one thing, but putting City treated water on her plants is also undesirable. Now she will have fresh clear rainwater for all of her blossoms. 

Another thing that needed a little attention was replacing her shower hose with a new sturdier detachable metal one. Rosie is very capable and sensible and wanted to do it herself. But the previous one was on just way too tight. For Steve, it was only a 10-minute job because he had the strength in his hands to take care of it.  Now she can enjoy her new shower hose with various settings and a shut off knob.

Rosie's property is located on the edge of a beautiful pond right behind her barn. Each morning we were waking up to the sounds of birds and seeing flocks of geese stop by the pond on their trek back North.  

Many years ago, 16 to be exact, Steve had made up some bottles of cherry wine from his cherry tree when we lived out on the Oconto River. He had gifted Rosie with a bottle back then. She had set it aside in her refrigerator all of these years. She was waiting for a perfect occasion to pop the cork! Over the years, my computer printed label for his bottle was a little worse for the wear. But the cork was sealed tight. Rosie suggested that we share a glass of wine together.

How fitting that Steve was able to pop the cork on the last remaining bottle from that batch of wine he had made. He was quite honored. We only wanted little samples, so Rosie broke out her fine crystal stemware!  LOL!

WE LET STEVE BE THE GUINEA PIG!!! He took the first sip and said it was quite good. Then we each took our samples and it really was good! I laughingly told him it tasted like Cherry NyQuil. But I was teasing. It was very good. It was also very strong. So we only each had a little bit or else we would be tipsy --- right off the end of that deck...

The next morning we awoke to the beautiful songs of the birds, singing like a cacophony of a symphony in the trees. None of us were hungover from the wine, so I guess it was pretty good.

This beautiful little colony town has a lot of brick buildings. Rosie's home is located next to the old school. Somebody has purchased it now and has stacks of bricks staged and doing some of the repair work. It will be interesting to see what they do with the building once it is reconstructed.

As with any tiny community, everyone is looking out for Rosie during this time of needing her surgery. Friends stopped by, and others were calling on and off all day wishing her the very best.

I took care of all of our meals and made extra portions for her to set aside in the freezer. That way she has a few extra treats for when she gets back home from the hospital.

One of her kitties, YB, which is Yellow Bee, commands all of the attention on her lap and holds reign over the deck conversations.

He was willing to let Nicholas sniff him carefully, but I know the claws would have come out if Nick made any rapid moves. Nick was very careful. He learned respect of cats 2 years ago. While he was on the run (right before we rescued him), he was trying to snitch food from the feral cat feeding station in our town. He had to do battle several times with big mean tom cats. We saw him on surveillance cameras. So he learned his lesson and decided to be curious and careful and very, very slow moving to get in a sniff of YB.

Such a gracious hostess, we enjoyed our time while parked in Rosie's driveway. Steve got the rainbarrels assembled and into place, while we were enjoying our visiting every single day.

But soon our eyes turned to the weather forecast. By Friday it was getting so hot in the driveway, that even running the generator for hours on end to keep the air conditioner going, we could not get the motor home below 84°. It was becoming unbearable. The next few days it was going to be into the 90s! 

So we cut our visit a little shorter than we had planned. Besides, Rosie needed a few days to gather her things and get arrangements made for her pets, etc before leaving for St Louis. With hugs all around and a few tears, we hit the road early in the morning before it got too hot.

We headed north of Missouri, up through Iowa. There aren't any campgrounds that are open that are readily accessible for us. It would still be too hot to boondock at a Walmart. We decided to keep on going the entire 500 Miles back HOME to Northeast Wisconsin.  Yup, 500 MILES IN ONE DAY!!! 

(We usually don't do over 200 a day)

We saw such pretty scenery, and quite a few red barns were coming to view. We knew we were getting closer and closer to Wisconsin.

Just before Madison, this Mustang passed us with the top down. Oh my, both young ladies inside were wearing thin strapped tank tops with bare shoulders and hair flying in the wind. What fun. But I can just imagine the sunburns they are both going to have by evening.

They must have stopped somewhere along the way because within an hour or so, they passed us again! Still with the top down in their hair flying in the wind. Looks like fun...

Since we were coming home earlier than planned, we contacted our neighbor to possibly remove some of the snow from our driveway. Remember? We had about 3 ft of snow sitting there. We were hoping maybe he could get over there and pull some out so we could at least get into the end of the driveway for the night. 

It turns out that he himself had been snowed in up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and had just gotten home himself. He was working hard to get the snow out of his own driveway. What a wonderful guy, he dropped everything and went over with a tractor and a back blade to push the snow out of the way enough so we would have access.  We could see him quickly working on our surveillance camera as we were nearing closer and closer to our home.

He had pushed enough out of the way, by the time we pulled into the yard. What a guy! Then he decided to finish doing more snow plowing and shoveling for us rather than finish his own.

There was quite a bit of snow drifted up here and we worked our way across the plowed out area to reach our own door. It felt so good to be HOME!!!!

He and Steve both pushed their way into the backyard. They tried using the snowblower to reach our basement entrance. We needed to get in there to turn on our water in the house. The snowblower just could not chew through the 3 ft of solid snow. So both of them had to grab shovels and work their way down through the layers, until they could actually open up the doors.  Now we could turn on our water.

The top surface of the snow was crusty and hard. Because it had blown so much during the blizzard it was very solid. This wasn't the soft fluffy snow that you see in movies. Nope. This was solid and hard and very very heavy. The guys worked mightily just to get that area cleared.  Our neighbor worked for 2-3 hours on our yard, them back to work on his own after dark. 

Nick seemed quite surprised that we had white stuff again. Just the day before, he was laying up in the shade and panting with all of his heavy fur in 90° heat.

It sure felt good. 

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Here is the You Tube that goes along with those blog post: 

129 miles traveled to Belle Star, Eufaula, Oklahoma 

then 299 miles traveled to Lebanon, Missouri

Then 189 miles traveled to Bethel, Missouri 

Then 512 miles traveled to HOME!!  

2,536 miles traveled in total for the entire Winter Getaway 2026! 

WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - Platter Flats COE in Oklahoma before the Heat Dome Hits!

Now that we are traveling a little more in a westward direction across northern Texas and southern Oklahoma border, things are looking a little more "Western".

We are seeing the cattle out grazing on the open prairie, and things are looking more like the movie sets that you see of Out West in Texas. LOL. It's very tranquil and peaceful as we look at the countryside. We try to drive on the back roads as much as possible and avoid the interstates. Things are greening up, and I bet that those cattle are enjoying the fresh green new spring grass.

We went a bit north of the border of Texas into Oklahoma. There's a large lake there called Lake Texoma. We found a Corps of Engineer Park called Platter Flats. It was a beautiful day with blue sky and wonderful temperatures. The "Heat Dome" had not yet come to this area, but it was on it's way. The weather forecaster said there would be a heavy duty windstorm ahead of it at the edge of the front. But we had a day or so to maybe relax before it started.

We drove in and looked at the available sites that were listed online at Recreation.gov. We found a really nice site that was level and had a gorgeous view down over a small bay of the huge lake and the boat landing area. Again, we had a nice green grassy lawn for Nick to play on with his fetching toys on the long hundred foot rope.

The only problem was a really messy campsite right across the road. The people looked to be in the process of packing up so we decided to park anyhow and get set up ourselves before finalizing our official reservation online. We watched them packing up and throwing things in the back of their truck. They had quite a disaster left behind as they finally pulled out their trailer.

We aren't talking average camping gear, this was piles and piles of stuff that maybe they were kicked out of an apartment or something somewhere and were living in the campground? Not sure.

But the big problem was they had two dogs that were barking furiously all of the while while they were throwing things in their truck. It looked like tempers were flaring between the husband and the wife and the young teenage son. So the dogs were feeding off that negative energy and just going nuts. There was a beautiful German Shepherd tied to a tree. He was barking pretty ferociously and looked a little scary to be honest. He was lunging and dashing from side to side on his short rope. There was a beagle type dog howling and bellowing tied up to the truck. We thought this was going to be a little crazy???

But then, as they left in the truck with the second batch of junk, they took the beagle with them. And the German Shepherd just sat right down and was so pleasant. He was looking around, quiet and calm, and watching everything around him with great interest. He looked to be a beautiful well-trained dog when his people weren't around! 

As we finished setting up our things, he watched us quietly and didn't even make a noise when we had Nick outside. He just laid there and watched us, while tied to the tree. How strange is that? 

We watched their truck come back and hook up their trailer and pull it away. But did it leave the park? No no no. It went across the lake from us to the other side and pulled in over there and unhooked. So they were just moving from one site to another. They came back for two more loads of all of their gear, and the dog. Once everything was gone off of their site, it became quiet again. Here is where they moved to:

So now we went online and we actually paid for our campsite for two nights. We weren't sure about the upcoming storm forecast for the next night. But for now we would really enjoy this nice campsite now that the neighborhood kind of "got quieter".

It was going to be a little warm for the afternoon, so we thought we would cook outside. I bring along my Insta-pot and we hooked it up outside and set it on our little folding table. I popped in a pork tenderloin roast and added some Andria's basting steak sauce over the top of it. I set it to slow cook for a couple hours on the slow cooker mode.

We sat out in our lawn chairs enjoying the peace and quiet. It was getting a little warm so we took a nap with the air conditioning on. Later we peeled carrots and potatoes and added them to the Insta-pot and cranked it up as a pressure cooker mode for 15 minutes.  Yummmmmmm it smelled wonderful and made for a delicious dinner.

Someone thinks he needs to go outside and see what smells so good in that crock pot! 

It sure was!

We were quite happy with this campground, the only drawback is the water has not yet been turned on for the season. Neither were the flush toilets or the shower building open. Only outhouses were available. So we would have to be a little more careful with our water consumption. 

At most Army Corps of Engineers Parks, water spigots are located at each site near the power posts. For some reason this one had not yet had water started up for the season. It was plenty warm enough. Perhaps there was a problem within the parks water lines. There was potable water available at the entrance by the dump station. 

But we had come with a full tank so we were okay. If we run short, we have two collapsible 2.5 gallon carrying tanks that we can use to add to our freshwater tank on the motorhome.

We had the door open and this friendly little bird hopped on our door frame and sang us a little song. 

This really turned out to be a nice camping spot. The sites were far enough apart that you really weren't next to each other but some of the sounds did carry across the bowl type terrain of the water in front of us. We could still hear the messy neighbor's dogs barking off in the distance. I feel sorry for the folks in the sites surrounding them on the other side of the bay.

By evening, the temperature had cooled off a little bit and we were outside relaxing. I would venture to say we've spent more time relaxing on this trip than we have on any other. Although we have had to dodge some storms during the last week or so, this was going to be a pretty nice place for at least one to two nights. But we knew the "Heat Dome" was coming and the storms ahead of it were going to be pretty windy.

We had our campfire wood that Steve had cut up back at Lake Hugo. It was a beautiful calm evening so we decided to start up our campfire. Relaxing back in the green grass with our chairs and having a flickering campfire to watch is the epitome of camping.

Just look at those beautiful mesmerizing flames. I knew that we needed to have a couple campfires during this trip, and this was actually the first one so far.

The sun was setting, creating beautiful pink and purple streaks across the sky. Looking out at the horizon over our flickering campfire was just completely relaxing and the picture of contentment.

Pretty soon the sky was bursting into more intense colors of bright oranges and deep pinks. I walked over past a couple other campsites to snap this view on the western horizon. Some of the other campsites were now filling up and soon the campground would be completely filled for the weekend.

What can be more fitting than having some tasty s'mores around the campfire in the evening...

We watch a YouTube channel called My Wild Holm 

https://youtube.com/@mywildholm?si=uKwmBPuknP-Xo-HS

The wife, Melodie, showed these really delicious graham crackers called Schar. They are actually in the gluten-free department, and can even be found at Walmart. We aren't gluten-free eaters, but they were raving so much about the flavor, texture and taste of these crackers, we just had to try some.

They are lightweight and a bit crumbly, so you have to be careful when you squish together the s'more. But they are delicious!  They are a nice alternative to traditional graham crackers. They almost have a grainy taste but yet are a texture similar to a graham cracker crust on a cheesecake pie. That is about the best that I can describe them.

The next day, we were running a little low on water. We both taken showers plus doing dishes, flushing the toilet, and filtering water for our water bottles as well as Nick's dish. Steve thought maybe we could benefit by having an extra five gallons put into our freshwater tank. The nearest water faucet was way over by the dump station, but he carried the collapsible water jugs back to our site and I helped him pour them into the fresh water tank. Now we were set for one more night.

Oh boy, What a night it was! The wind started kicking up. We were warned they would be 30 to 40 miles an hour with gusts even at 50! We were getting blasted and hammered but at least it was mostly from the front of the motorhome. That part is made to face into the wind as you drive down the highway. But it was really whining and howling all night long. 

We felt really sorry for our neighbors that had joined us in the next site over that evening. They were a family with three kids in this tall teepee type tent. They were just getting blasted and hammered as well. It was billowing and flopping all around them. In the morning they said they were packing up and heading home even though they were rented for one more night. I can see why.

So here it comes, the front before the dreaded "Heat Dome" that was going to lay siege over the entire Southwest for a week or more. Just look at these temperatures!

There is no way that our rooftop air conditioner can keep up with this. The area up over the bunk is dark painted fiberglass and has less insulation in it than the rest of the ceiling. Even if you get the interior of the motorhome to cool down somewhat with the air conditioning, the moment you turn it off, the heat radiates back inwards from the heated up exterior. 

It's like sitting in a dark car parked in a parking lot in the sunshine on a hot day. 

No thank you. 

It's time to head North!!! 

Here's the YouTube video that goes along with today's blog:

83 miles traveled today 

1,393 miles traveled so far