GOD’S MONUMENTS = BIG ROCKS!

One of Dave's Panoramas of Monument Valley

Arriving in Monument Valley just after lunch, we entered the Navajo Park and thought we’d “knock out” the 17 mile loop and then have the rest of the day to explore.   After less than 3 miles, we decided the guided tour was looking better and better!  The road was rutted and our little truck was shaking our bones!!!  We abandoned the road and decided to drive up to Valley of the Gods.  The roads were much improved and the scenery was amazing.  There’s really no way to describe this beautiful, yet baron and hostile country.  Photos help, but do not convey the vastness:

Back at camp, we made arrangements for a guide on Saturday.  Saturday morning began with a video call to Abbie and Ella.  We told Abbie that we were playing in red sand and how it had rained mud.  At 9:30 we met Frank, after having to insist on the closed car (versus an open truck with even bouncier seats than ours and much dust) we were off.  Frank told us about the rock formations we were seeing and how  they were formed when the sea receded and erosion took over.  He took us into some parts of the park that weren’t on the 17 mile loop and we saw arches, petroglyphs, and the Sun’s Eye and God’s Ear.  At The Big Hogan he played as haunting Navajo flute for us while we lay on the cool shaded rocks (well Dave took video!!) (Go to Dave's blog to see the video and hear the flute - Frank and his brother have taken their flutes to Europe twice!).  The natural acoustics of the amphitheatre amplified the flute perfectly.  We learned about hogans and how the Navajo culture is very matriarchal, with the Grandmother being the main decision maker and holder of the cultural string (so watch out Abbie and Ella!).  After 3 hours on rocky roads we returned to the RV where we both crashed until  it was time for dinner and a movie in the RV Park.  We segwayed up the hill and toured the Goulding Museum and John Wayne’s cabin and then saw Stagecoach where the scenery behind the movie was the places we had explored the last 2 days. By the way, the cactus are imported for the movies, there are no cacti in Monument Valley, especially no Sonoran ones with the arms....lol  Frank said, they brought in both cacti and snow!

Arch in restricted area of Monument Valley

Hole in "Big Hogan"  more of the restricted area

Deb and Dave in Arch

Before marriage males live in Teepee Hogans...

...and women live in octagon Hogans and then 
invite the males in after marriage - they
cannot visit their Mother-in-law's Hogan
until after they are married.

Petroglyphs from 700 AD

The Sun's Eye

A field of wildflowers - it was really even more colorful

PS... Becky Van Dyke Wins!! North Dakota will be my last lisence plate...

 I just saw Montana and Wyoming in the RV Park at Page!!

A SHOWER OF MUD

Note:  For regular readers, I posted 3 blog entries today.... read on down!

After the Petrified Forest, it was a LONG HAUL to reach Canyon de Chelley.  Fortunately we had our friends Mary Lou and Dick Kuklentz waiting for us on the other end complete with a steak dinner.  Doesn’t get any better than that!!  The terrain began to change to high desert plateaus and  it often looked like we could be on the moon.  During dinner we caught each other up on our travels and Dave and Dick began to plot our excursion the next day. This was our first experience at “dry camping” and the RV performed very well.  I can’t say that with all our batteries and generator, we were really roughing it.

After one of Dave’s great campfire breakfasts, we packed a picnic and set out for Spider Rock.  Remember the commercial several years ago with the Chevy on top of this awesome rock?  I think this was it.  Down in the valley of the canyon, two rocks rise to dizzying heights.  We had fun at the overlooks trying to spy ancient ruins and horses grazing on the canyon floor. 

Spider Rock

Realizing that rain might be coming and that no bathrooms were at any of the viewing areas, we decided to picnic back at the campground and regroup.  As we were driving back, we noticed both dark gray clouds with lightening and brown ones.  Brown?  We suddenly realized that we were about to experience a dust storm combined with a shower.  It literally rained mud!!!  The rain stopped, but the dust continued for several hours.  We holed up in our RV and Mary Lou and Deb got their revenge at bridge.  Except for 2 trips into town for parts for the Kuklentz RV/tow system, we were done for the day and just enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.  On one of the trips into town, Mary Lou and Deb had Dick drop us off at the “Navajo Glass Factory and Gallery”… it was a l-o-n-g 45 minutes or so until Dick picked us back up!  They guy’s glass was mediocre at best, and the other art in the small room did not merit the prices he was commanding.  After he figured out we weren’t buying, he politely locked us out in the dust storm (though we were under a fairly protected porch}.  We were really glad to see Dick and Mary Lou’s now mud colored van.  Dick reported that the visibility in town was less than 50 feet.  Luckily, the wind died down near dusk and Dave was able to grill the brats we had bought for supper.  Dick and Mary Lou then taught us a new card game similar to canasta, but played with 5 decks:  Hand and Foot. 

Before the Dust Storm

Ponies in the Valley de Chelly

Ruins in the Rocks

Driving through the Navajo Nation is awe inspiring.  The desert is sometimes desolate, but the high plateaus, rocks and canyons are majestic.  I am glad the lands are being preserved and protected.  However as a people who revere the land, the Navajo’s do not seem to have any pride in their buildings, homes or other structures.  I know that they do not “own” their property, and I know that poverty plays a big part in it, but the trailers and shanties were so unkempt.  Dave and I have decided to perhaps go on a Navajo guided tour in Gouldings (Monument Valley and Valley of the Gods), or to at least spend more time in the visitor’s centers and museums so that we can understand and appreciate the Navajo culture more.

We are about to pass the 3000 mile mark and we only need 3 more license plates  to have seen all 50 states.  Anyone want o take bets on what our last one will be?  (Hint:  we’ve already seen 3 or more Alaskas and Hawaiis)

DAVID GETS PETRIFIED AND PAINTS THE DESERT

Petrified Log

The Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest were a 50 mile side trip on our way to meet the Kuklentz.  Wow! What different terrain.  The Red Rocks gave way to a rainbow of colors and wide high prairies that are probably as green as they get any time of year (which is only slightly green!).  They said in the movie at the visitor’s center that they estimate that even with the inspections and signs, they lose about 1 ton of petrified wood a year.  How sad.  I hope Dave’s pictures come out, but there is no way you can grasp the vastness of this area without being here. 

A Field of Petrified Logs

The Painted Desert

The Chariot in the Painted Desert

BUSTING THE ART BUDGET IN SEDONA

The drive to Sedona was an easy one, and as we dropped off the main road into the camp ground area, Deb exclaimed, “Thank you God for trees!”  It was one of the nicest places we have stayed.  They had 2 or 3 VERY FRIENDLY cats (one got in our RV one night and wanted on the bed with Deb!) and even friendly raccoons and skunks!  I’m serious!  The first night Deb was down at the office borrowing a movie (ok it wasn’t perfect, no TV reception and spotty cell phone), and the lady said, “I guess it’s time to feed the critters”…. She got a large cup of cat food and went out to this gnarly tree trunk and threw it and about a dozen coons and 2 skunks came out and began feeding.  It was amazing to see them suddenly appear!  She said the skunks only sprayed a “little bit” when they fought with the coons for the food!  LOL We were so glad to be out of the heat, we just settled into camp and grilled hamburgers and enjoyed a fire.  The couple beside us had their 2 year old grandson with them and Deb had a good time playing with him and his trucks.

After settling in we drove into Jerome.  We were really disappointed.  The last time we were there the town was an Artist's Haven.  Now it was a chotsky jungle.  We only saw about 4 or 5 artists there and bought nothing.   But we had fun riding up and down the hills on our segways.

The Red Rocks of Sedona are truly breath-taking and David enjoyed playing with his new camera at several overlooks as we drove around Sedona.  But they had major competition at the art galleries.  We arrived in town about 10:30 after driving through the State Park and Dave “camped out” at the Men’s Day Care Center (ie. Brewery) and worked the phones and email for Design Strategies, while Deb explored the galleries.  About an hour later David called and said, “Come down the hill, there’s more galleries down here and I’ve found some stuff you’ll like”… I was saying the same about the galleries “up the hill”… LOL…. We joined up and by 3 pm we were hungry and “broke” and still had only scratched the surface.  Though we didn’t purchase any more of their work, it was fun reconnecting with some of the artists in our meager collection.  The Eisenharts have a gallery in Sedona.  She did the masks presently in our dining room.  Andrew Carson had about a dozen “wind divas” in the parking lot and on the grounds  of the Galleries at Hillside (“up the hill”).    We passed on many more pieces than we purchased, but we learned that there IS art that we can definitely agree on!!  There were MANY pieces that we both liked.  At the end of the day, we came home with 2 pieces by Geisel, otherwise known As Dr. Seuss, one quite provocative and NOT in his books!  The other is Sam-I-Am with a picture from the book, framed beside his concept drawing complete with notes, and ANOTHER triptych, for which we have special plans.  Let us know if you want to be invited to the “unveiling” party!! LOL It was odd… on our last visit, we felt like Sedona was chotsky and Jerome had the “real” artists, this time we came away with the opposite opinion.

 

Back at the camp (after trips to the grocery store, hardware store, and home depot!), we settled into laundry and preparing for dry camping the next 2 days.  Deb met a family from New Zealand and enjoyed reading to their children while their parents finished fixing their supper.  (The “3” books she bought Abbie are coming in handy for “meeting peoples”)  Later with laundry complete, and kids in bed, we enjoyed several bottles of beer and wine by the campfire.  He is a pilot for New Zealand Air and regularly flies to LA and wanted to bring the family over to show them the USA.  They had rented an RV and had already done the mandatory visit to Disney and were taking the children to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Napa:  all within about a month.  We shared tales of our similar trip with Emily and Clay and even invited them into our bathroom to show off the poster of the kids in the Grand Canyon!  We had fun learning about their cattle farm on the North Island, and comparing NZ and Australian Shiraz to American Zins and Cabs.  We encouraged them to visit the Russian River Valley and fondly recounted our afternoon on Robert and Carlene Rue’s patio.  Their kids didn’t like American bread (too sweet) and they were amazed (and maybe a little appalled) at the size of portions in America.  In NZ, their children are encouraged to climb trees at school on the playground and they laughed at our unnecessary obsession with safety when their children were reprimanded for climbing on the cuing rails at Disney.  We chalked it up to our litigious society.  LOL   The next morning, we all said good bye with slight hangovers!

As I write this we are seeing a small patch of snow on mountains around Flagstaff and what we originally thought was fog in the distance is smoke from a controlled burn.

HEAVEN AND HELL IN PHOENIX!

Note:  This blog post only has a few pix... you'll have to wait to see the art and David's new duds!!

Phoenix is hot as Hell!  At 5 pm it is 102 and we baking in the sun and I see 58 and rain in Charlotte on my phone! But despite the heat, we are still having fun.  (Dave keeps asking me,”Are you having fun yet?”  YES! I’m having fun and despite what he thinks, I’m doing this willingly!  LOL… and yes, I miss our friends and grandchildren!.... as does he!)

 We were a little disappointed at the RV site in Phoenix, so since the office was closed for lunch, we took the truck and visited 2 others and figured out that NOTHING in Phoenix has trees and the original site had the best amenities… in other words, after checking out the competition, the first site looked better!  After a quick set up, we headed out to Scotsdale to some of our favorite art galleries, for we were afraid they might be closed Sunday or Monday.  The first guy “remembered us” (after a sneak peak at his computer I’m sure) and really tried to sell us some Miro’s that we had admired 8 years earlier (and were still there with higher prices!), even placing them in a private room for us, etc.  And we were sorely tempted.  But as we walked around some of the other galleries to think about it, we fell in love with some fused glass art.  As we talked to the gallery manager, she encouraged us to have the local artist do exactly what we wanted as a commission so that we could get the size and colors we wanted.  The price on 3 of these (done as a triptych) was what 1 of the Miro’s would have cost (and we were looking at 3 of them too…. 3 seems to be a theme in my life lately!) and we both agreed that we would smile at these every time we walked down the stairs.  For those of you familiar with our house, they will replace the masks in the dining room (Clay just called with the measurements to make sure) and those will find a new home… probably in the stairwell.  Watch for an unveiling party sometime in June or July.  So Deb has more glass, and Dave STILL doesn’t have his canvas art, but these are “glass canvases”… compromise is the germ of a happy marriage.

We finished the day in a VERY upscale “fashion mall”…. It had a Louis Voutin AND  a Jimmy Choo store.  But since this was the “Wife-Eye-for the-Straight-Hubby” tour, Deb only window shopped!  We bought Dave a linen (complete with wrinkles!) jacket, and 2 “tie-less” shirts to go with it for Kate’s wedding!

Well the day wasn’t completely finished!   All that shopping and spending had worked up a thirst, so Papago’s Brewery truly completed the day.  They had their “own” contracted beer on tap with some others and a terrific selection, a la Common Market, of bottle beer.  It was so good we went back for lunch after church on Sunday…. Really, it was that good!  Of course picking up the credit card we left behind “encouraged” our choice just a little!

Glass, copper and wood Baptismal FOUNTAIN

Glass cross with quilted paraments

THE HEAVEN PART…This will not surprise many of you, but after church at All Saints Lutheran, David and I looked at each other and said, “What are we doing?  WE ARE LUTHERAN!!”  If felt SO GOOD to be in an amazing sanctuary, with just the right blend of Contemporary and Traditional music and liturgy.  By the last hymn, an Easter version of Earth Wind and Stars, we were both actually tearing up… ok… Dave was glistening and I was balling!  The setting from the Red Book, had a slightly Latin feel and they alternated between piano with percussion and organ.  The art in the sanctuary was done by local church member and I’ve never seen such a Baptismal font…. Right in the middle of the Sanctuary where it should be!!  Needless to say, we gushed our thanks to the music director and pastor.  I thought his comment back to us interesting when we complimented on the “spot on” mix of traditional and contemporary.  He said that they had been working hard on the “mix” for about 5 years… and that it seemed only visitors noticed!  I guess it is true what they say about a prophet in his own country…. LOL  David and I vowed to make another round of visiting LUTHERAN churches when we return to Charlotte.

The rest of the day was spent trying to stay cool and taking care of our bodies.  We stopped in for haircuts at a SuperCuts and Deb had a nagging heal/ankle looked at a Walgreens Wellness Center.  Diagnosis:  an Achilles inflammation (probably not a tear – yet).  Ice and ibuprofen will have to do for now and it will either get better or worse.  Darn, just when I had mastered walking without a limp!!  I truly miss Dr. Diane.

Tomorrow we head for the mountains and hopefully cooler weather.  We hope to meet up with the Kuklentz again on Wednesday.  We are doing a clockwise tour of Arizona, and they are going counter-clockwise!!

Finally, everyone PLEASE check out David’s blog!  He FINALLY posted his counterpoints to mine!!!  He had been working on it for several days and last night as I was drifting off to sleep, he kept saying, “But you used all “my” best pictures!”

Note #2:  I posted twice today... Tucson, etc. is below!

BEER AND ART NEAR THE OK CORRAL

Having done the Ghost Town thing on our last trip, we opted for breweries instead in Las Cruses and Tucson!  LOL! Before arriving in Tuscon, we did a little more than a “stop and drop” in Las Cruses.  After dropping at the RV Park, Dave took Deb to Old Mesilla to shop around, while he tried to go to White Sands.  We had seen the sands and the AFB on the way in.  He realized quickly that the missile range was closing and joined me in the Old Town with authentic adobe structures.  We found a brewery from Clay’s list and enjoyed sandwiches and good beer there.    We had sacrificed shade for a spot near the laundry and we enjoyed talking to Mike and Jean, full timers from Wisconsin in the cool of the evening.

Near our RV park in Tucson, we drove past the “airplane bone yard” at the AFB.  It is like a junk yard for airplanes.  Dad had told us about this and I realized that the “really nice” RV park we were heading to, was probably one they had stayed at.  That made me smile and feel an echo of Mom and Dad.  We got out our Segways and they proved a good vehicles for meeting folks and we were invited to the “5 o’clock Toddy Club” at a Mobile Home down the street. Yep!  Echos of Clay Roberts reign!!   Everyone we met seemed very nice.  We settled into the park and grilled steaks for supper in the cool desert breeze (versus the very hot sun earlier!).

One of Clay’s friends, David Tisdale, had told David of an investment opportunity in a brewery start up in Tucson, so David decided to stop by and check Borderlands out.  While he toured the operation and was duly impressed with their business plan, Deb took the segway into the Presidio and a shopping district called 4^th Avenue.  There she bought a replacement watch for her misplaced one, and 3 “Three” books for Abbie for her 3^rd birthday.  The Three Little Jevelinas (a Southwestern take off on the Three Little Pigs), likewise 2 other take offs, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, and The Three Billy Goats Stuff!  Do you see a trend here?  Now she just needs to find the originals, so Abbie will know both stories.  David joined me, and then we segwayed to an art block near the museum.  There we saw some amazing pottery and bought a piece for Kate and Matt (Deb will keep the Owen piece for herself or maybe give them a choice!).  We decided to check out the start-up’s competition and were able to segway to one of the breweries and drove to the other.  We returned  to Borderlands later that night to see it in operation.  Deb realized quickly that the desert sun was dehydrating her, and opted for a lot of water between the beers.  Back at the RV Park, Deb enjoyed the pool and spa and joined the “5 O’Clockers” before David picked her up for the second trip to the brewery.

Just as we saw “both days of fall” in Alaska, we are seeing the short spring in the desert.  We are most impressed with yellow trees and red blooming cacti.  I hope to find out the name of the yellow trees, but they appear to be a type of mimosa.  We also had jasmine at our campsite but with large blossoms instead the small trumpet ones we’re used to. We have also passed the 2000 mile mark and I only have 6 more license plates to spot!  Of course the last one is the hardest!!  (and I already have THREE Alaskas!)

FROM UFO’S TO CAVERNS UNDERGROUND

On our way to Carlsbad, we passed through Roswell NM and stopped at the UFO museum and an art gallery.  The museum was fairly cheesy and one could come away “convinced” either way depending on the bias you brought into it.  The art gallery showed promise, but nothing we were willing to buy.  We did buy some Mexican pastries at a bakery next to the UFO museum to share with the Kuklentz.  I was hoping for something UFO themed but these were truly Latino and looked delicious.    On the way we passed though miles of pistachio trees and at a few places where one side of the road would be green with summer wheat and the other side of the road would be brown scrub with no water.  The difference was stark.

This stop was all about connecting with our friends Mary Lou and Dick Kuklentz and seeing Carlsbad Caverns.  Both were highly successful.  Monday afternoon after getting into camp, David finally got his campfire and we grilled smoky hamburgers and caught up with the Kuklentz.  We shared pictures and road tales and by that time it was too late to play bridge… but there was always tomorrow!  We converged on the Caverns about 10 am the next morning and found out that the ranger tour was full, but there was room in the 1 pm.  We took the self guided tour while we waited.  The caverns were amazing and David had a photographer’s field day with the new camera he bought in Amarillo.  Some of his shots are amazing and quizzically more colorful than we experienced, even though he used no filters.  The caverns had been lit by theatrical lighting designers and this made them even more dramatic than I remember the ones at Mammoth Cave (and probably influenced Dave’s camera).  During the ranger-led walk, we got to experience a complete black out, though David and I both swore we could still see “our hands in front of our face”.  Had we known we were both wiggling our fingers like clowns in front of our faces, we would have tested each other LOL.  Deb was amazed at how much she craved the sun after just a few hours underground.  One of the most amazing things about the caverns was the story of their “discovery” by a 16 year old cowboy near the turn of the century.  He had noticed the millions of bats coming out at night and figured the cave had to be bigger than most folks thought, and began exploring them.  Seeing them for the first time with a poor lantern or torch had to be thrilling.  As an uneducated cowboy, he had a hard time describing them and called the stalactites and stalagmites “hangie down and builted uppie things”.  He couldn’t convince anyone else into going down into the caves with him.  Finally after about 5 years, he convinced a photographer to go into the caves with him, and as the photographs came out, the rest,  as they say, is history.  He spent his life working in and around the caves, first as a guano miner and later as a ranger once it became a National Monument (and later a National Park and World Heritage Site).  I bought a short book of his stories, but the forward acknowledged that many of them had been embellished either by him or the editor.  “Never let history and facts get in the way of a good tale” it said.  LOL… it reminded me of my dad, Clay Roberts who I’m sure holds the same philosophy and who, according to my children have passed it on to me (so be aware readers!!).  It was disappointing that no real biography of Jim White was available.  I doubt that it would need embellishing.  As we left the area, you couldn’t help but wonder, what other caverns and marvels are hidden in this vast country.

 We ended the day with our pastries, Mary Lou’s delicious pasta and really good or really bad bridge, depending on your point of view.  The guys got incredible cards and Mary Lou and I could only set them occasionally, and out of 3 rubbers, only played one hand.

On to Arizona! But first Deb has to skype on her phone with the grandchildren!

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS

Our foray into Texas was short and not quite uneventful.  At a stop just about at the Texas State Line, I noticed a slack, almost flat tire.  We found a place where we could put air in it and figured we could monitor it until we could find a tire place open the next day on Monday.  Two stops about 100 miles apart confirmed that the tire could wait as the pressure was holding.

The rolling hills gave way to the “high plains” with flat plateaus and scrub being gobbled by cows as far as the eye could see as we approached Amarillo.  Our ADM plant looks like a gnat, compared to the silos we saw near the feedlots.  They definitely do thing big in Texas!    After settling into a stark, but comfortable KOA, we took the truck to see the Cadillac Ranch.  Dave was a little disappointed that we had no fire ring and due to the wind, (another thing bigger in Texas… especially as you drive across the vast plain with a cross wind)we  would not be able to have a fire.  He was looking forward to grilling and sitting by a fire in the cool evening.  But on the way to the Cadillac Ranch we saw a sign for “The Big Texan, home of the 70 oz. steak… eat it in an hour and it’s free!”  It also boasted handcrafted local brews.  We were in!

But first we had to see the Cadillac Stonehenge at Cadillac Ranch.  The 10 Caddys are just perched beside the side of the road for anyone to walk up and take pictures, no fee, no minders, nothing!... But instead of being black as in the post cards and photos, they are a kaleidoscope of graffiti.  In fact one page we found on the internet suggested a stop at the Home Depot at the closest exit and bringing your own spray paint!  From the looks of things, and the folks we met with HD bags, they should thank that writer!!   I am pleased to report (thanks to some discarded half empty cans) that the Caddies now sport Deb ©David, at least for a day or 2 until it gets painted over… Actually I think the paint is the only thing holding the Caddies together!!

The Big Texas was an obvious tourist trap, but a lot of fun.  It sported a HUGE (Texan!) dining room circled by HUGE taxidermy all sporting fur and multiple antlers.  Wandering the dining room was a Texan trio of a bass, guitar and fiddle.  The singer, the youngest of the trio, was at least 70, but had eyes that twinkled and bugged out slightly when he sang his Texan twang (blue grass for us when he found out we were from the Carolinas! LOL… it differed only slightly!).  We weren’t hungry (or dumb)   enough to try the 72 oz’er but instead split a 16 oz filet.  It was delicious.  And while extremely hokey… the whole evening was fun! 

At least there was no weather drama that evening and I slept like a log.  Dave, however woke me early and said the tire was “down again”… so we set out hurriedly to find the tire place, the KOA hosts had told us about on the other side of town.  We dropped the RV and took the truck out for breakfast when the guy told us it would take about an hour and a half.  We were relieved when we got back to find that it was just a valve that had been improperly installed with the new tires.  $25 later we were on our way to Carlsbad Caverns and a meeting with the Kuklentz.

WHERE THE WINDS COME SWEEPING DOWN THE PLAIN……



Deb hair flies in the wind by the OKC water taxi

Oklahoma City

For the past few days, we kept hearing the locals talk about the “bad weather that’s comin’” … when we got to OKC we got to experience it.  It became obvious that a large front was going to pass over us.  We figured it would be best to be still, rather than moving through it.  We decided to carry on with our plans but to stay in touch with weather warnings through apps on our phones, the TV and radio.

After setting up camp at a nice KOA, we headed into the city and decided the Art museum would be our first stop.  OKC has the largest collection of Chihulys in the world.  The museum was built to hold a 3 story tower of his art and they have dedicated almost a whole floor to their permanent collection.  We truly enjoyed the exhibits and as we were leaving we heard rumbling thunder unlike any we had ever heard and it started raining.  A quick look at the radar on Dave’s handy/dandy accu-weather app told us we should stay put.  We enjoyed the museum for another hour and then got a short reprieve from the storm, long enough to find a brew pub!  After stretching the beer, appetizers and supper for over an hour, the rain had stopped and we walked around Bricktown (think SouthEnd with a canal running through it).  Most everyone was walking toward a coliseum, and we discovered that there was a Thunder basketball game that night.  The prospect of going back to the RV and waiting out the storms was not attractive, so we joined the throng, got $10 nose bleed tickets, and settled in to enjoy the game!  We felt like we were back in an old Hornets game, but maybe plopped into a foreign country.  We were so far up in the nose bleed section that the speakers were below us and the microphone sounded like it was stuffed in marshmallows and we could barely understand a word.  The mascot looked like Hugo but with a buffalo head and it was obvious the town was in that we-go-a-franchise- honeymoon phase and the enthusiasm was infectious.  The difference between the Thunder and the Bobcats:  they beat Sacramento by 25+ and they are on their way to the playoffs!!  We got back to the campsite about 10:30 and the weather was ominous.  I’ve never seen so much red on a weather map!  We heard about a tornado touching down in Norman, but figured that was about 20 miles east of us heading east.  The weather was not that bad where we were so we went to bed, leaving the TV on.  About 2:45 in the morning, Deb woke up Dave to the sound of a siren.  We knew there was a siren at Tinker AFB which was close by.  We walked up to the bathhouse, and as we got up there, the siren stopped.  Deb has been wanting to (in Abbie’s words) “meet peoples”, but meeting a likewise scared RV’er from  Niagara Falls at 3 am in the morning was not what she had in mind!  After about a half hour we went back to the camper and watched the weather for a few minutes.  It all appeared to be north and east of us, so we finally went back to sleep.

Deb under the Chihuly ceiling

Chihuly Boat

Art on the Water Taxi Canal  - Entitled Land Grab 38 sculptures!!

The next day dawned overcast with a prediction of increasing sunshine but high winds.  We went back into OKC and were able to enjoy the water taxi on the canal in Bricktown and got out our Segways to explore the city.  The Memorial at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing was humbling and awesome.  The field of empty chairs with small chairs for the children was heart rending.  As we were rolling around the city, the wind really picked up and at times we almost had to “tack” to go in the proper direction!  We were now parched, but found great relief at the Tap Werks back in Bricktown.  Think The Flying Saucer with over 100 taps and food like RiRa’s.  It was awesome!  From there we drove to a neighborhood called The Paseo which was an arts district with numerous galleries.  Similar to NoDa, we found the art more affordable.  Though tempted on a few pieces, we came away with just a plate from a working pottery shop.  Back at the campsite we settled into a movie from the camp library and beef stew made from Dave’s canning efforts back in Charlotte.  During the night we were once again awakened by a storm, complete with thunder, lightening, and pounding rain, but no sirens.  Again the line of tornados was significantly east and north of us and we remained safe, but sleepless in OKC. 

Dave at Tap Werks

   

Rolling in OKC - Kissing Buffalos!

Empty Chairs at the Memorial

Children from all over made tiles for the memorial

Daily, children are invited to add chalk messages

WHAT IS THIS????

To the uninitiated, it may look like a wooden spatula.  But it has become Deb’s best friend.  Dave and I continually comment on how much we like our rolling hotel suite!!  It is comfortable and has plenty of room for storage and the comforts of home.  However, it is not without frustrations, especially for Deb.  She just doesn’t always “fit” it well.  Believe it or not, it’s a little too big for her!  But the “wooden light switch” has become a most valuable tool for her.  Now she can finally reach to turn on and off the lights---if she can find her handy tool!  Fortunately, the RV is small enough, that it can usually be found.  Necessity is truly the mother of invention…. Now if she could just figure out how to attach the auto-breaking machine for the truck and a way to keep the apples from rolling around every time we pull out she would have it made!!