Monday, May 1

We rolled into an Oklahoma Welcome Center to use the restroom. When I came out, the woman running the counter asked if I would sign the guest book. Why not? As I am signing the book she comments that it looks like a beautiful day outside. I agreed that it was but it was super windy and we were getting blown all over the highway. Her reply, “We’re sorry ‘bout that” in a sincere voice. Man, could Oklahomans be any nicer? Nope!

We came to OK City to visit my cousin, Elizabeth, her husband, Casey and their two girls Katie and Abby. They put us up in their AirBNB house across the street from their house. We’re never leaving. This house is AMAZING. If we were to build a house of our own, I think we would build this house only a micro version of it. It has some great wood work, it’s modern and slightly manly. I love it! 

Modern comfort. We may have gotten to used to it.

So having clean laundry is great. Who knew? And not homemade laundry bucket clean laundry, real washing machine clean laundry. You know what else is great? Showers. Showers are great. 

Elizabeth and Casey have a robot lawn mower. We may have watched it cut grass for a couple hours today. It is very entertaining. Every night from 9pm to 5am the robot leaves “home” and heads out the trim the grass. He works like a ROOMBA vacuum goes around until he bumps into something, then turns another direction and does the same. When his battery is running low and he needs a recharge, he follows a wire along the the edge of the lawn and puts himself to bed for awhile. When recharged, goes back out on duty. Mind blown. 

70 degrees and sunny today, breezy but gorgeous!

Tuesday, May 2

Katie, almost 9, made us breakfast this morning. They have a toaster/egg combo maker. Eggs can be hard boiled or poached. Just add a certain amount of water, put your egg and toast in and just wait. The egg poaches and the toast toasts and they finish at the same time. Mind blown again! 

Elizabeth and the girls brought us to Martin Park Nature Center for some exploring. There were so many turtles! Turtles are creatures you just don’t see a lot of back home in NH. They were so cute some swimming around, some perched on logs sunning. There were some very large Koi fish, an assortment of birds and Elizabeth has even seen some deer there. It’s nice that even in a large city, you can still connect with nature in a place like this.

"I like turtles!"

For lunch we headed to POPS on famous Route 66. Not pops like dad or grandpa pop, but like soda pop. Floor to ceiling of every single “pop” ever known. There was even a cooler labeled as “Sodasgusting” which contained sodas like Kitty Piddle that looked like lemonade, Pimple Pop, Peanut Butter N Jelly, Cucumber, Bacon and Maple Syrup, and some other very questionable favors. They also brewed their own soda there and offered unlimited cups for $2.19. Hence the reason I am still awake at 11:25pm. Too much root beer. 

Outside Pops with the girls!

MMMMMMM

Ryan welded the camper today!!! The bumper is back in action, ready to take on the bicycles again. Phew! We’ve considering just leaving those things behind somewhere so we didn’t have to shlep them around anymore. Good job Ry Beaw! 

Cooper wants to eat Chester and Joey, the cats. They do not seem to be enjoying his company. Cooper sniffed under the closed door they were behind and one of them spit at him and threw a paw out from under the door. Cooper stood there awkwardly with feet spread apart, back hunched and pointed tail for a good 5 minutes until another paw came out from under the door. He went ballistic, pretty sure the cats are deaf now. 

Wednesday, May 3

We spent the afternoon in Downtown OK City. We finally found some good beer! Bricktown Brewery! (Emily switched beers on me! - Ryan) They also had some great food. We walked the riverwalk where you can also ride on a little canal boat but they we closed. Too cool today I suppose. As we rounded the corner to make our way back, Elizabeth noticed a dude hiding in the bushes under the bridge! He was wearing a white bowler hat and was crutching down so we wouldn’t see him. She waited until we were past him to tell us. We stopped and stared for awhile, Ryan saw him pop up for a quick second. So creepy. We warned a couple girls about him and looked for a security officer but didn’t see any.

Ryan's Hoptometrist Double IPA, which I later stole from him.

The Bombing Memorial was quite pretty. I’m sure everyone recalls Timothy McVeigh using a truck bomb to blow up a federal building? That was 22 years ago! There was a beautiful tree that they call the Survivor Tree involved in the bombing but you would never know, as it stands tall and green. 

Tiles sent to OKC by children around the country, after the bombing.

Chairs for each casualty. Each chair has a name.

Elizabeth took me to get a pedicure today for my birthday! Boy did it feel good to get pampered for awhile. A glass of wine, a massage chair and cheese grater to the feet was just what I needed.

Casey just realized last night that we are basically camping for 6 months. Maybe I just realized that too! I guess we aren’t exactly looking forward to getting back in the truck and camper and moving along. It’s been so great to sleep in a real bed, take real showers, do real laundry. Elizabeth and Casey, thank you so much for your hospitality! It has been greatly appreciated. Maybe we’ll stay one more day!

We’re off to Texas (Amarillo area) to camp on the shores of Lake Meredith! (They have showers, too!)