Saturday, August 6 - We walked over to the casino for breakfast (did NOT play), and then pulled out. It was 9:15 a.m., already 91 degrees. We found our way to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum (missed the first turn because Lucille was a little late with her directions), and lucked out with street parking for whole rig, so we didn't have to unhook the car. It took a couple of passes, and a quick around-the-block, but it worked out, and we only had to put money in three meters. As we walked up to the entrance to the Memorial, we saw the fence that was still filled with memorials and momentos from visitors here. The fence was supposed to come down when construction on the Memorial was completed, but it was decided that it should remain as a reminder of Oklahoma's spirit in the recovery process, so they have left standing a section of about 200 feet.
As we walked through the Gates of Time, we saw the beautiful reflecting pool and the Museum, which is housed in the former Journal Record newspaper building that withstood the bombing. The pool occupies what was N.W. Fifth Street and is described: "a shallow depth of gently flowing water helps soothe wounds, with calming sounds providing a peaceful setting for quiet thoughts."
The water in this pool is only an inch or two deep, but it makes a very solemn setting for this Memorial. To the right is the Field of Empty Chairs, each of the 168 chairs symbolizing a life lost, with the smaller chairs representing the 19 children killed. Arranged in 9 rows, one for each of the 9 floors of the building, they are placed according to the floor on which those killed were working or visiting. They are even placed in the approximate location of where they sat, or where they were, at the time of the bombing.
Another tribute is the Survivor Tree, a 90+ year old American Elm which, amazingly, did survive the bombing.
Inside the Museum, there are 3 floors containing exhibits. We took lots of pictures, but I am just posting the one showing the damaged area which they have left as an exhibit itself.
There were lots of pictures of the building with the the walls crumbling, an area with a photo and momentos of each victim, lots of artifacts that were found, and on and on. The grounds and museum are very moving, and they did a wonderful job of reminding us of the horrors of that day.
We left there just about noon and headed across Oklahoma. I had forgotten that Oklahoma has red dirt, much like Alabama. And we saw evidence of brush fires along the highway in several different places. We also passed a wind farm just before we left Oklahoma.
We stopped for fuel (again) and lunch, and crossed into Texas about 3:30. It had gotten up to 107, but we hit a few sprinkles just as we hit Texas, and the temperature dropped 24 degrees in 25 minutes -- down to a cool 83. The little thunderstorm also, however, brought a pretty strong wind with it -- probably 30 mph. Joe was hanging on the steering wheel pretty good for a while, while I kept an eye on the clouds to make sure no tornadoes were going to catch me by surprise, since we were in tornado alley.
We saw a brush fire off in the distance here too. It has been so dry down here I'm sure everything growing was trying to capture every drop that fell today -- which wasn't much.
I didn't expect us to make Amarillo today, especially since we spent 1 1/2 hours at the Museum, but since we were driving the interstate, we made better time and got here about 5:30. It was back up to 97 degrees by then, but that was a lot better than the 107-111 we've been dealing with. The campground we picked out is right next to a water park that looked like a lot of fun.
It's also next to The Big Texas steakhouse, that offers a free 72-oz steak (we did NOT check that out). It is a nice campground, so we got checked in and I immediately went over and did the laundry. Then we went swimming in their indoor pool which was amazingly chilly. As the sun set, there were some pretty clouds out there, and some lightning, but I think the rain is over.
Joe drove 283 miles today, and we have 2 days to go the next leg, which is about 300 miles, to Ruidoso, NM, so maybe we can get back to our 200-mile-per day limit tomorrow. We've put in some long days this week, with lots of miles for us retired folks. We probably need a rest!
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