"Bill's Excellent Adventure!"

4/30/07 Mon - Drove to Ok City today. Took me about 5 hours with traffic and all. Came down AR 23 to AR412 and shot straight across to Tulsa, then south on I44, a toll road, about 100+ miles. Pulled into the National Cowboy Museum after 4 and decided to wait until morning to browse the place. It is very large and looks like a very well displayed museum. Can't wait for tomorrow! (goody goody goody more pics and practice my new found love of photography!)

Trying to decide if I feel like going to the Memorial tonight or tomorrow during the day. I am rather tired from today's drive and I could hit it on my way toward Amarillo tomorrow.

Actually hated to leave Kettle. I really like the people there, the owners, Lee and his wife Flo, Dave and Dawn who manage the place...maybe a little nostalgia and perhaps a little loneliness mixed in, but they seemed almost like a "road family" to me toward the end of the month. Really nice people. Could have spent the summer there if I wasn't in a tent!

But the wanderlust got the better of me and it was time to continue my trip. Took me a hour yesterday to pack the inside of my car and another 2.5 or 3 this morning to pack everything up. Got way too much and way too complicated a setup for traveling. Started thinking about a small older RV or a pickup with a camper bed on it. Who knows what will happen. Have to be able to justify the cost though and so far it really hasn't made sense to me.

Coming down from Tulsa, I saw my first oil pumps in the fields since I was in LA back in the 80's. That was cool to see. The terrain, for the most part, coming down from Tulsa would be what I would call rolling hills, lots of green fields, and cattle. Came through a thunderstorm as well.

Just inside Ok state line, there was immense devastation of trees and metal roofed large storage buildings. It was as if every single tree had its top taken off with broken branches dangling. Big piles of tree limbs dotted the landscape and front yards. Judging from the new growth on the trees I wonder if Katrina had made it's way up from the coast and did all this damage. It was very widespread, more than just an isolated tornado.

Starting to see cowboy hats!

Later...