Tragedy in Oklahoma

A tornado tore through the small city of Moore, Oklahoma.  It's
a suburb of Oklahoma City.  We are always worried when we
hear of tornadoes in Oklahoma because we have family that
live there.  In this case, my nephew Matt works at Bob Moore
Ford (noted by the red circle on the map) which was only a
few miles north of the tornado's path.  This particular disaster
reminded me a bit of the earthquake a few years ago in
Christchurch, New Zealand.  Lynn was in the middle of the
Central Business District during the quake and Facebook
became a valuable tool to help find people.  My sister Terri,
who is in Indiana and me were both trying to find out if
Matt was ok and both of us were using Facebook.  Luckily
our friends Marta and Sara (who are originally from Norman)
are in Norman this week and were posting updates on Facebook.
I asked Marta if anyone had heard anything about the area around
Matt's dealership since at that time, we didn't know the path of
the tornado.  A friend of Marta's was able to report that her friend
worked at the same dealership, she had spoken to Matt's boss and
Matt was safe!  It turns out much of the area's cell phone and
internet was down due to the storm and Matt couldn't contact
anyone.  What a small world it is that a friend of a friend of a friend
was able to tell us Matt was ok.  As much as social media can be
a headache...in times like this, it turns out to be a great thing!

Tiny Golden Library

While we were in Altus, visiting Nancy, we stopped by an antique store and
inside one of the cases, I saw a Tiny Golden Book. I hadn't thought about
these in years, and there one was.


When we got back to her house, Nancy pulled out her entire set.
The Tiny Golden Library, still in it's original box. I LOVED reading
these when I was little and they're all in pristine condition. There are
24 of them written and wonderfully illustrated by Dorothy Kunhardt.
The other 12 books are by Walt Disney, way before Disney became
such a commercial behemoth. The books brought back a lot of
great memories for me and I'm glad Nancy still has them.

It's A Miracle!

After a nice visit at Nancy and Greg's, we set off on the rather monotonous
drive across southwest Oklahoma, north Texas and eastern New Mexico.
We're very happy with our Toyota Corrolla. It gets excellent gas mileage
too. Since we left on this trip, we've averaged about 35 miles per gallon.
There is a pretty neat little feature that tells you the "Range" of your fuel.
In other words, it lets you know how many miles you have left in your
tank before you're on empty...or in this case, On Walk! Driving west of
Tucumcari, New Mexico, we started to run low on gas and I nervously
watched the gauge as the mileage available got lower and lower. A few
minutes earlier, I had passed up one station, because it was too expensive.
I regretted that decision as I turned off the air conditioner and tried to
coast down hills on Interstate 40. The only signs I saw for gas noted that
it was 15 miles away. My "range" meter said I had 10 miles left. Uh oh.
But then...on the horizon, we came up to this station, named MILAGRO,
which is Spanish for Miracle. How appropriate! I looked at the "range"
meter and it said 6 miles. In other words, I would have run out of gas
in 6 miles. After we got into the car, I measured the distance to the
previously advertised station, and it would have taken us 9 miles to get
there. In other words, I would have been walking for 3 miles one way to
get a can of gas, and another 3 miles back to fill it up. I promised Lynn
that I wouldn't let it get that low again. Someone was definitely watching
out for us!

Miley and Otis

Nancy and Greg have two pets that they are taking care of. They are my
nephew Josh's pets, but since he lives in a location that doesn't allow pets,
they've taken up residence in Altus. Miley is a cute little ferret and Otis is
a lovable, but very slobbery bulldog. I've never been around a ferret before.
They are great! Miley loves to be played with and is really intelligent.


Otis. Otis is also smart, a good dog and loves to be around people. Maybe
he likes to be around people a bit too much since he absolutely loves
Lynn, following her everywhere. He means well though and is a irreplaceable
member of the family!

Boomer Sooner!

My sister likes to buy Halloween costumes for her little pug, Sadie.
Here is Sadie's newest outfit. Apparently Sadie has aspirations to
become a University of Oklahoma cheerleader!

Driving Back to Colorado

We left Altus before sunrise and had a long day's drive ahead of us.
One of our first stops was in the panhandle of Texas, east of Amarillo.
Most of this country looks exactly like this photo. Miles and miles of...
nothing! Of course, this area is famous for tornadoes, as the bathrooms
at the restrooms double as tornado shelters according to the posted
signs.


Much of the country in the Southern Plains is agricultural and with
it come lots of large grain elevators. I like to photograph elevators...
probably because I grew up near several of them and they always
seem very noble and fortress-like since they are usually surrounded
by miles of open and flat land.


We felt that driving as far north as Denver, fighting the traffic there and
in Colorado Springs, before making the long journey on I-70 through the
mountains wasn't worth the time or effort, so we took a southern route
we hadn't taken before. We travelled on US 50 across south central
Colorado, through Pueblo, Salida, Gunnison and Montrose. We hadn't
traveled part of this route before and we came upon Monarch Pass half
way through. A really pretty area, crossing the Continental Divide.


We also drove past the Dillon Pinnacles overlooking Blue Mesa Reservoir.
Blue Mesa is the largest body of water in Colorado and part of the
Curecanti National Recreation Area. A nice finish to a very long drive.
16 hours in the car today!

Altus

We spent two really nice days at Nancy and Greg's. The weather was
very hot and a little humid, but there was a hot wind blowing most of
the time that made it tolerable. I was taking these pictures of clouds
outside their front door and Nancy told me that I was easily impressed
because they have much nastier weather than these clouds much of the
time.


Nancy and Greg are babysitting Otis, my nephew Josh's bulldog.
A great dog, but he's way too affectionate and slobbers on you
constantly. I'm not a slobber dog person, but he was fun to be
around. Nancy and Greg have four other dogs and a cat as well...


Nellie


Molly


Trixie


Sadie


Scooter


Greg picked up a bushel of peaches that they had ordered previously,
and although the peaches came from Arkansas (who knew that Arkansas
grew peaches?), they made a great peach pie!



Of course, Nancy shook her head as I took pictures of the pie!

Driving to Oklahoma

We left my Mom's pretty early in the morning and set off for
my sister Nancy's house in Altus, Oklahoma. You can make it
in one day, but it's a pretty long drive, so we split it up into two.
We decided to go a bit of a different route from the Chicago area
to southwest Oklahoma via the boot heel of Missouri and through
Arkansas. Instead of crossing the Mississippi River near St. Louis,
we crossed it near Cairo Illinois. We stopped briefly in New Madrid
Missouri and I was very disappointed. New Madrid was the site of
one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. In the early 1800's
it made the Mississippi River run backwards and rang church bells
in Boston. A pretty big deal. However, no mention of it...not even a
sign near the courthouse could be found!


I was very impressed by the rest stops in Arkansas. The buildings
themselves were nothing to write home about but the grounds were
very nicely landscaped, with tons of flowers everywhere. It was very
pretty.


We spent the night in Little Rock and made it there just in time to
see this really pretty sunset as we rounded a bend in the highway.


Today, when entering Oklahoma, we stopped at a visitor center and
they had this painting on the wall. It's a copy of a famous painting of
the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears is a infamous journey made by
the Cherokee as they were forced from their homelands in the east
and sent to Oklahoma. Many died along the way. Descendants of
these same Cherokee live in this area of Oklahoma today.


I am always please that Oklahoma recognizes that it was once
"Indian Territory". This is reflected on it's license plates, state flag,
and even it's rest stops as we enjoyed these picnic areas where we
ate our lunch.