Rolling On To Ooooooooooklahoma...

....where the wind really does come sweeping down the plain!!  After a border patrol stop, some heavy traffic in the Austin and Dallas/Ft Worth area and 2 stops for gas we arrived at our destination...a Cracker Barrel parking lot in Waco, TX at about 7pm.

No need to "pat me down" at the border patrol stop.
I must have had an honest face.

 

What the heck is that ahead?

 

It's a huge refinery (I don't remember where).

 

Who the heck figures out all these highways??

 

 

And so much construction!!

  Hard to believe that after traveling 8 hrs we are STILL in Texas!! But I will say that Texas has the best road systems!  There is a road called Frontage Rd that runs parallel to most of the major highways.  You can enter from there several places along the way. But the neatest part is that when you come to an intersection with traffic signals, you can make a left turn/U turn without going into the intersection to enter the highway and go the other direction.  It makes it so easy and there aren't any of those dangerous entrances and exits on top of each other!!

The speed limit helps you get to your destination
quicker.
 

And their overpasses are very pretty, too.

Notice the close up below of the cut out of Texas.

These are imprinted on many of the overpass columns,
 but most of them are much prettier than this one.

The iron railings are beautiful.

The imprints of road names are even neat!

Nevermind my tootsies on the dash, but isn't the red
brick and cream colored cement railing pretty?!?

 I talked with Mom on the way and she and Dad are doing well although Dad did fall out of bed last night.  He has a cut on his hand from his ring and a few more black and blue marks, but he just laughed about it...has no idea why it happened.  All the flu quarantines have been lifted so they can visit with each other now.   We had a delicious supper at Cracker Barrel and then went back to Harvey to check on the weather.  Being in "tornado alley" John has been following the predictions of turbulent weather for our area tonight.  We even considered leaving and driving farther east, but our fear was that it might hit us while driving.  We decided that would be even worse, so we made the decision to stay.  We closely monitored the radar and, by the grace of God, the northern cell stayed to the north and the one coming eastward stayed just to the south of us.  We barely got any rain!  We certainly dodged that bullet because the southern one produced tennis sized hail.  WHEW!!  Later that evening I looked out the window and there was a horse in the parking lot!  Turns out a trailer had pulled in and they took the horse out to put a blanket on it for the night.  But I don't think the temp got below 60.  We played cards...I'm now up 28-25...and then went to bed.
    Monday morning we ate a small breakfast and hit the road at 7am.  It was overcast and hazy and the temperature was slowly dropping.  Harvey's odometer turned over 20,000 miles just shortly after we left.  It seems like we travelled more miles than that the last 3&1/2 years. 

McLane Stadium at Baylor Univ in Waco

 

This bank was HUGE!!

About an hour into the trip we saw a lot of thick black smoke up ahead.  A big equipment trailer being pulled by a truck was engulfed in flames.  Luckily it looked like the driver got out OK.  We called the CG at Tinker AFB to check on a site (they don't take reservations because they can't get any signal there for computer/internet service).  Linda told us she had no spots at the moment but expected 2 to leave by 12:00.  But she also said they might change their minds about leaving because of the weather predictions.  She told us to call closer to 12:00.  At 9:30 after travelling 580 miles since Sunday we finally left Texas and entered Oklahoma.  WOW...Texas is a big state!! 

Yea!!  We thought we would never get out of Texas!!

We stopped at a Flying J for gas.  It was great.  They had RV lanes and propane right there.  It makes it so easy when the gas stations are equipped like that!!

Some of the great scenery along the way.

Maybe these account for all the tornadoes.  There were
lots of them and they were huge!

Loved this part of the road cut thru the mountain.

  I called the CG again at 12:00 and there was 1 spot, but they are first come, first served, so we were keeping our fingers (and toes) crossed.  We arrived about 12:30 and there were 2 spots open.  Thank goodness!  The CG at AFB's are called Fam Camps and we have a membership in a program that gives you one night free if you stay for 3 nights.  So we only had to pay $38 for 3 nights.  Hey, gotta save where you can! 

The pond...

...the quiet resident turtles...

...and the noisy resident aircraft.  The bubble on
the top is a radar surveillance camera.

After setting up we checked the weather.  Guess what...our area is right in line for severe storms again on Tuesday evening with possible tornadoes and golf ball sized hail.  Again, we thought about leaving, but we would have to go pretty far north or south since the storms were headed east.  No one else in the CG seemed too concerned, so we decided to stay.  And...there is a shelter on site.  Linda told us to pack food and beer and we'll be just fine.  Hope it doesn't come to that. 

The shelter outside...

...and inside.  Looks like fun, huh?!?

We did our laundry...the washers and dryers are only $.50...visited a bit with one of our neighbors, and then went to the Px.  I was able to put my shorts back on because it was sunny and 72 degrees.  We had some leftovers for supper and then I watched The Voice inside while John watched TV outside.  Arlena and TW called to let us know that she had her ultrasound this morning and we will be grandparents to another little boy.  The pregnancy is going just as it is supposed to except she is having some severe back pain.  They decided on "Weston Matthew" as a name for the little guy.  We played cards before we went to bed.   We are now at 29-27.   The one place we wanted to see while in Oklahoma City is the National Memorial and Museum pertaining to the bombing of the Federal Bldg.  So, on Tuesday morning, after a cooked breakfast we headed out at 11:00. 

But first we had to add our 18th State!!

The Memorial/Museum was very well done and beautifully touching.  We both wiped tears away at several of the exhibits.  We spent almost 4 hrs there!  It was quite a tribute to those who perished, those who survived, and those who responded to the rescue efforts!!
 

The whole front third of the building was destroyed
by the bomb that went off in the Ryder rental truck
parked out front.

 

This is a part of the wooden frame holding a
 stained glass window that was blown out of the
church in the background that was 2 blocks away.

 

Lots of personal items scattered thru the rubble.

 

This was hard to look at!

 

This was a 300 lb bronze medallion that hung on the Federal Bldg.
See how warped it is and how many holes are in it from flying schrapnel.
 

 

This is a close up of a screw and washer imbedded
in the medallion.  Imagine the power of the bomb!

 

Some of the many pairs of glasses that were found.

 

This was the only rescuer that lost their life.
She sustained a head injury and died at the hospital.

 

This woman's leg was pinned under rubble.  The only
way to get her out was to amputate her leg at the knee.
An right handed orthopedic surgeon had to use his left
hand to operate because of the way the woman was positioned.
There was no anesthesia used but he gave her a pain killer
and a med that causes amnesia.  He ended up using his own
pocket knife to do the final cut to free the leg.  See
what he used below.

 

 

These items were used by Tonya, the search dog.
After hearing that the dogs were cutting their feet
on debris, someone donated doggie booties. 

 

Remember these grueling photos of little Miss Baylee
Almon.  She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Her mother died in the blast also.

 

 

This is the license plate from the Ryder truck.

 

And the get a way car used by Timothy McVeigh.

 

This is the T-shirt Timothy McVeigh was wearing
when he was arrested and the story behind it.

 

 

This was sad!

 

This is the view from the museum to the memorial monuments.
The Federal Bldg originally sat in the grassy area beyond the water.

 

 

 

A close up of the "field of empty chairs" that symbolizes a lost life.
There are a total of 187 with 19 of them being smaller
representing the children that were killed.  Arranged in 9 rows,
one for each if the nine floors of the building, they are placed accd'g to
the floor on which those killed were working or visiting.  Each
bronze and stone chair rests on a glass base etched with the name of a victim.
By day the chairs seem to float above their translucent bases.
By night the glass bases illuminate as beacons of hope.
The perimeter of the field is lined by granite that was salvaged from the Federal Bldg.

This is the original fence that was erected around
the bombing scene and moved to the museum.

 

Then we decided to have a late lunch at a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive ins and Dives called Nic's Place.  But it only served breakfast and lunch and we were too late.  So we headed to another featured one called Leo's Barbecue.  But on the way we passed Tuckers which is famous for their onion burgers, so we stopped there.  It reminded us a lot of Five Guys except they smother the burger with onions before they fry it.  It was pretty good except some of the onions get burned while frying.  We are going to try Leo's tomorrow.  Then we stopped at Walmart to get a splitter for the hose.  John left ours at VP by accident.  And he decided to get an emergency weather radio for tonight.  Then back to Harvey.  John took a nap while I worked on the blog.  By 6:00 it started to get windy and the sky got black.  We packed up 2 "ready bags" just in case the alarm sounded and we had to go to the shelter.  That was kind of creepy!  Then I watched The Voice while John did some reading.  By 9:00 it started to pour and we had just a bit of small hail. Just southeast of us they were getting 90 MPH winds that toppled tractor trailers.  Unfortunately, one driver was killed. We were spared again!!  We played cards and we are now at 30-29.  We were up until about 12:30 because the pouring rain was so loud on the roof of Harvey that we knew we wouldn't be able to sleep anyway.  But right after we laid down the rain stopped.  We really have been fortunate!!  What a blessing...praise God!!   Wednesday morning we woke to overcast skies, but no rain.  The temp was about 58.  Paul and Vicki called to make sure we made it thru the bad weather and then I called Arlena to let her know we were all right.  John made omelets for breakfast.  He got a shower then took a walk and some pics around the CG.

Heeeeere's Harvey.

The pond is overflowing its banks after all the rain.

This is looking down part of our row.  There's only
one other row in the park.

  I put all the stuff away from the "ready bags" and then worked on the blog.  John took a nap.  We played cards again and now John is up 31-30.  I think he hides wild cards on his lap :)  We left for Leo's Barbecue at 3:00 after watching several episodes of Law and Order and The Rifleman. (ok, ok, no ragging on us because we like old westerns!)  We arrived at Leo's but had to make sure it was the right place because it WAS definitely a DIVE!

Barely looks like an eatery, does it?!?

When we walked in there was an unattended counter.  We waited a few minutes and a woman asked us if it was eat in or take out.  When we said eat in she said, "Just grab a table."  There was only 3 other people there so seating was not a problem.  And the smell of smoke made your eyes water.  We ordered and had our food in just a few minutes.  The menu was very limited, so I got pork ribs and John got brisket.

See what I mean about a limited menu.

 

 The food was good, especially the meat.  And Charlie, the owner (so who's Leo?) came to our table and talked with us for a while.  He was a big, black, jolly guy. That was fun!  And when we went out to the counter to pay he came out and put his arms around both of us and thanked us again for coming.  It was a neat experience, but I probably wouldn't go back again just because of the smoke.  We had to wash our clothes and jackets and take showers when we got back to Harvey, the smell was so bad. 

We took these pix when we got back on base.
The clouds are pretty awesome.

It is very windy today.  Can that be caused by these type of clouds??

Or are the clouds caused by the wind??

John took these sunset pix on the way back from the laundry.

How beautiful is that?!?

I talked to Heather and Cooper and then Bonnie called to check on us.  We finished up the laundry and then played some more 5 Crowns.  John is now up 33-30 :(  I don't want to talk about it!  We are off to Little Rock, Arkansas in the morning.