Adventure 245: Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center/ Shawnee, OK

We navigated old school today.

The morning sun peeked through trees this morning at Caddo Lake State Park, but it was the squawking of the birds that brought me out of my slumber. I'm sure I saw a giant mosquito with black boots and silver spurs riding a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, but for sure birds were squawking like they were being ridden hard. Speaking of Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, I won the morning cribbage game which gave me claim to all of the sapsuckers in the area. We pulled out of Caddo about eight-thirty and readied ourselves for another six hour drive. We left the Texas piney woods and before we knew it, we were on the plains of Oklahoma. Given the terrain, I turned to the radio dial to pass the time. My choices ranged from Jan and Dean singing the oldies to Christian Radio, to rabid right wing talk show hosts ranting about how "they" (The left) are out and out attacking everything right about America to a myriad of country music. It takes just about one minute of listening to Rushbo, who admits to tying half his brain behind his back to figure what he will "ditto" for the next three hours. I already consider myself saved, and the oldies are my contemporaries, so I like to listen to country when I'm there. Two favorite lines I can remember: "They call me crazy, but it keeps me from going insane." And "I didn't think it could get any hotter until I got home to the farmer's daughter." Mostly, we turn the radio off and jibber-jabber like newlyweds. It's nice to travel well with my bunny. Our drive was uneventful, and we arrived at the Heart of Oklahoma Conference Center's RV Park about three. The park has about three hundred sites. We're here with three of our newest friends (I'm sure it's different if an event is in town). After we set up, we took a walk around the expo grounds. Happily, we discovered a bike path, so we unloaded the tandem and rode for about an hour. On the way we passed Oklahoma Baptist University. I don't know much about the place, but the football team was working hard (Spring practice) and there was a tennis match going on. We caught a little of the last match between two young women. They were excellent players. It would have been nice to see more of the team match. We enjoyed a nice dinner (From the freezer) of tamales and Chile Verde (Left over from the batch we made at the Kral's). We've eaten some fine food on this trip, and some of it we've made ourselves. Right now it's partly cloudy and pretty hot (eighty-five), but there are severe thunder warnings for Central Oklahoma. As we speak, not very far South of here softball sized hail is pummeling the area and we're just beginning to hear the rumble of thunder. Stay tuned. At the very least, we're in for rain. Prayerfully, the severe weather will pass us by. If so, we'll head to Newton tomorrow for a visit with Judy's sister and her husband Wilbur. On the way, we'll stopover in Wichita to see Kel's sister Jan and her husband Tom. If we're granted traveling mercies, we'll be in Newton by supper time. Though we're sad to leave Texas, it's nice to turn the corner for home, and without doubt, life is good, especially today (Even in the face of scary thunder).

 Did you see that mosquito riding that Yellow Bellied Sapsucker?

 So long, Texas; Hello Okie Benokie.

 This is where the radio came in handy.

 Shawnee, Oklahoma.

 The RV park is mostly empty; no event is scheduled.

 Stumpy, ready to ride.

 This trail circumnavigated a local airport. We rode around in circles for an hour. It was good.

 The Campus of Oklahoma Baptist University.

 This rig was working, pumping the black gold.

 The thunderheads building in the South. The thunder is starting to rumble now.

 The view from our front window.

Fric and Frac hunkered down. According to the predictions, the tornado chance is low. Let's hope.

Home made Chile Verde, home made tamale, orange slices, and a lonely radiman. Yum!