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!!! 

83 miles traveled today 

1,393 miles traveled so far