“Okey” Dokey or “Gone With the Wind” - Oklahoma style

The reflecting pool at the Oklahoma City National Memorial

An empty chair - one for each of the 168 victims. The small one is named for Baylee Almon, the one year old girl pictured in a fireman's arms on front pages around the world

The largest Chihuly sculpture in the world: 10 tons, 55 feet tall, 2,100 separate blown glass components

I captured this Chilhuly hallway ceiling by laying on the floor

Part of the Oklahoma Land Run Memorial. From noon to midnight on April 22, 1889, the population of Oklahoma City went from 0 to 10,000.

The drive from Dallas, where Spring is fully engaged, to Oklahoma City, where Spring is emerging, was “interesting” in the “May you always live in interesting times”, Chinese curse kind of way!!! Brochures proclaim that “Oklahoma spring weather can be severe at times”. No kidding!!! After driving for 1 ½ hours with the wipers at full speed, we pulled into the RV Park, where rivers were flowing anywhere there was a sloped, paved surface. Lightning flashed everywhere. Around the area 3 – 6 inches of rain fell in 12 hours.

We were advised that the RV Park has a storm shelter, hooked up, and turned on the TV to watch reports of tornados touching down to our south and east. The technology employed here to deal with severe weather is impressive. Forecasters continuously up-date the location of “high level circulating winds” and predict to the minute at what time the winds will reach each small community. If they “descend” and form a tornado, people have ample warning. Everyone living in this area must have a “storm-safe place”. Local fire departments can map every lightning strike to the nearest foot. We watched news reports of an expensive home burning to a complete loss in a fire last night. The fire department could prove that the house was hit with 2 separate lightning strikes within one second of each other.

The return trip to Oklahoma City was sparked when we passed through before Christmas and learned that the Oklahoma City Museum of Art has the world’s largest collection of Dale Chihuly glass sculpture. They also possess the single largest Chihuly piece ever created. We have seen Chihuly glass all over the world and wanted to see such a concentrated collection of 1,500 unique pieces. If you like his work, the collection is amazing!!

OK City has much to recommend it. The old Brickyard and Stockyard neighbourhoods feature numerous bars, restaurants and clubs; all very tourist friendly. The Oklahoma City National Memorial and its associated museum poignantly detail the tragic explosion of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995 but, also portray the lunacy of terrorism. The Oklahoma Land Run Memorial depicts the race by 50,000 people, competing for free land in the U.S. “Unassigned Lands” beginning at high noon on April 22, 1889. There is much to see and do here!

Two Cities

A large bronze statue by Joan Miro, long one of our favourite artists, is installed at the entrance to the Kimbell Museum

The Amon Carter Museum is a huge facility, loaded with fine art

Looking back at the Texas School Book Depository from almost the exact spot where the 3'rd shot killed JFK. The infamous grassy knoll is immediately across the street.

A happy Cindy and Ray. Note the strategically placed left hand!!!!!

The last couple of days have been spent exploring the cultural side of both Dallas and Fort Worth. Fort Worth has a very vibrant downtown focused on Sundance Square with yet more restaurants and nightlife. Oil money has played a major role, supporting the arts in a big way. The Sid Richardson Museum on the square has a remarkable collection of Remington and Russell western paintings and bronzes, all collected by Mr. Richardson, a wealthy oil-man (how odd in Texas!!) The gallery is very large yet, only 30% of the collection can be displayed at one time! The Amon Carter Museum (more oil wealth) is even larger with a much more diversified collection but, still contains an impressive number of Russells and Remingtons. The Kimbell Museum contains a small but extremely diverse collection, accumulated from numerous historical periods.

We spent hours at the Sixth Floor Museum at the Dallas School Book Depository, the scene of the assassination of J.F. Kennedy. The museum details at great length the days leading up to the assassination as well as the events of that dark day and its aftermath. Leaving the museum, the three of us could not decide, from all the facts presented, whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone or not. A recent addition to the museum is a seventh floor display featuring all of the amateur video footage of the assassination, including the famous Zapruder tape.

One of the big surprises of the trip occurred when we met a young woman from Brockville, and her boyfriend, for dinner. We have known Cindy (sorry kiddo - the Cynthia thing isn’t coming easily!!) since she was a young kid. She used to baby-sit for us. We arrived at the restaurant at the same time and, she popped out of the car flashing her new diamond ring!! Her fiancé, Ray, popped the question in Las Vegas over the weekend. It was great to see Cindy and, to meet Ray. They are very excited!!

Big "D"

You meet the nicest people in an RV. The damn sirens never blew!!!!

Brenda and Lindsay exploring the Stockyards neighbourhood

Twice a day, a herd of cowboys drives a herd of Longhorns through the stockyards

Billy Bob's has a real bull riding ring inside the bar!!! NOTE - this ain't it!!!

The chefs at the Lonesome Dove dress Texas style

9:15 A.M. the racetrack is packed for a 1:00 P.M. start. A cold blustery morning yielded a hot, sunny, sweaty, sticky day. Fun though!!!

Great seats at the exit to "pit row". Bubba's car (Dale Earnhart Jr. to the uninitiated) was right up front!!!

Headin' inta turn 1

Question – If your ‘ol RV is parked in Abilene Texas with the entire region under a tornado watch, who do you want to be parked beside? Answer – The traveling motorhome for “Wine Enthusiast” magazine!! Jim, the driver, advised us that he had a great deal of “excellent” wine on board. If the tornado warning sirens blew, we were heading to the shelter with all the good wine and, not coming out till it was gone, no matter what. Now THAT is neighbourliness!!!

We’ve landed in Dallas and spent a couple of days with Lindsay, Brenda’s brother. He is showing us ALL the sights. The Dallas / Fort Worth area has a lot going on and, this weekend everywhere we go, there are “Welcome Race Fans” banners. I guess if we are only going to one NASCAR race in our life, doing it in Texas is a smart move. NASCAR is a religion in Texas!!!

The Fort Worth Stockyards is a large historical neighbourhood centred on (you guessed it) the old stockyards! There are many bars, restaurants, and cowboy boot stores. But nothing can match “Billy Bob’s”. Billy Bobs, at 100,000 square feet, is the “largest honky-tonk in the world”. It contains an indoor bull riding ring complete with grandstand, a showroom featuring major music acts (we saw B.B. King AGAIN – just for some thing different!!!), and more damn bar-rooms and other rooms than we could see in one visit.

Tim Love is an “Iron Chef” winner and James Beard Award winning chef who owns numerous eateries in DFW. His signature restaurant is Lonesome Dove which we frequented with Lindsay. To say that it is unpretentious is pure understatement. The blue jeans, cowboy boots and Stetsons were everywhere BUT, the food was extremely innovative and very memorable. Highly recommended.

And then there is …………….. NASCAR. With Lindsay, we attended the Samsung 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway and, left home at 8:00 A.M. for a 1:00 P.M. race. Veeeeeeeeeery smart!!! The traffic on the throughway stopped dead 4 miles from the race track. The “tailgating” and other NASCAR high jinks were already well under way. The track seats approximately 216,000 fans and, I think the seats were full! The race was relatively uneventful but full of good ‘ol boy “bumpin’ and rubbin’”. The last 3 laps were particularly exciting since a race re-start 3 laps from the finish tightened the field of leaders. Hot, long, and sticky but, good fun!

The Permian Basin

The Presidential Museum on the grounds of the University of Texas - Permian Basin is a great history lesson. Our first cloudy day in months!!!!!!

A newly renovated house in which George H.W. and Barbara Bush raised 2 sons from 1950 to 1956

These "horsehead pumps" are all over the plains.........$10, $20, $30................

Some historical oil equipment outside the Petroleum Museum

A modern oil rig ready to go drilling for dollars. A 10,000 foot well costs about $1 million. Any deeper and the wells get exponentially more expensive

Driving from New Mexico through Pecos, Texas (the home of the world’s very first rodeo) and on to Odessa and Midland, Texas (twin cities ………… sort of) is to pass through the heart of west Texas oil country. Drill rigs and “nodding donkey” oil pumps (also known as horsehead pumps) are everywhere. This is also the home of George H.W. Bush (the elder) and, where he made his fortune in the oil business. The locals are all very aware of the geology of the Permian Basin where all the oil was formed and, very happy to see $100 oil!!! Drill rig companies and mechanical firms serving the oil business are everywhere, as are big “dually” diesel pick-up trucks. This is the land of fridge magnets shaped in the form of a handgun emblazoned with “We don’t dial 911”.

The Commemorative Airforce Museum in Midland features many airworthy WWII combat aircraft as well as an amazing gallery of aircraft “nose art” cut from actual WWII planes. This art collection is complete with an on-site restorative laboratory and research library. The museum also features an interesting display which portrays the WWII mission flown by local hero George H.W. Bush, flying from the U.S.S. San Jacinto, when he was shot down off Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands off Japan. Bush was rescued by a US submarine but, his two-man crew was lost in the crash.

The Presidential Museum is dedicated to the Office of the President and, does not feature one president over any of the others. It is a great location to learn the chronology and history of the US presidents. However, it is easy to view snippets from the early lives of the two native sons; George H.W. and George W. Bush, at various venues in the area. Both lived very simply, in very modest homes for most of their time in Odessa and Midland and, in fact, the first two residences of George W. and Laura Bush were small apartments in the back of humble homes.

A particularly well done museum is the Petroleum Museum which provides both historical and modern information on the entire process of oil discovery, drilling, production and, to a small extent refining. It is very helpful to identify all the “hardware” one sees out in the oil fields and, explained to us many of the questions we had about how the whole system works. For all the focus on oil, there is very little evidence of oil wealth in the region. Both Odessa and Midland are small cities with a feel that serious economic revial is required. Where'd the money go??

Worth It

There are magnificent calcite structures in every area of the caverns

Stalactites are "tite" to the roof and stalagmites "mite" grow to the roof

Being 800 feet above the plain allows you to see "forever"

A flowering Cholla Cactus alongside a desert trail

Two days of boring landscapes are a small price to pay in order to visit the Carlsbad Caverns. The caverns, another of the “1000 Places to See Before You Die” (1000 places to add to your “bucket list”), are amazing. They stretch for 30 miles underground and descend to 850 feet below the surface. The “Big Room” has the interior volume of 14 Astrodomes and takes 1 ½ hours to circumnavigate on a one mile long paved trail. Chambers with the names of “King’s Palace”, Queen’s Palace” and “Papoose Room” each exhibit unique calcite structures of enormous size. At one point in the Big Room the ceiling is 80 feet above you and the “Bottomless Pit” extends 140 feet below your feet. We have been in caves with more spectacular structures but nothing of the scale of Carlsbad. Just entering the main caverns involves a 1 ½ mile underground walk from the surface to the 745 foot level. The cave is so large that photographing the features is almost impossible because flashes will simply not cover the vast distances.

Coming back from the caverns we cruised a very rough gravel track through desert canyons and over high bluffs, allowing panoramic views over the New Mexican plains to the horizon. A very wild country indeed!!!

Nothing...............

After 3 hours of driving we stopped to stretch and........ take a picture of a fence????

The UFO Museum in Rozwell. The government is definitely covering up something!!

The Pecos River flows through downtown Carlsbad

Did I mention that there is not much to see?

If you ever get a hankerin’ to hop in the car and drive through south-eastern New Mexico, let me be the first to give you the news flash – DON”T WASTE YOUR TIME!!!!! The drive from El Paso, Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico is the most boring way to spend 4 hours you could possibly imagine. We love desert landscapes but, this is just scrub; no interesting plants or animals; nothing!! Every so often, we saw a lone cow trying to obtain sustenance from the sparse ground cover. Where “Farmer John” was, or where he lived, remains a mystery. No wonder the aliens selected Roswell, New Mexico as their terrestrial (crash) landing spot. Who the hell would ever see them????

Speaking of Roswell; our current “home base” north of Carlsbad is only 50 miles from the UFO capital of the world so, we decided to drive up and see how many “crazies” we would find. Apart from oil, aliens and the infamous army air base there does not seem to be much reason for Rozwell’s existence, although they do have one of the largest mozzarella cheese factories in the world. The Rozwell UFO Museum and Research Centre is hokey but, I was surprised at how many copies of official government reports and documents they possess. Something went on there in 1947!!!

The entire reason for visiting this “interesting” part of the country of course was to visit the Carlsbad Caverns. Today being the last Sunday of the local March break, we could not obtain tour times so, tomorrow is the day.

On The Road Again

Just for something completely different........... out for a fancy dinner with Jonathan and Meghann

Mother (with the tan) and son (not so much!!) in the hot-tub

Geez ............ it was clean this morning!!!!!

Back in the Sonora............. lots of Suharo cactus

A long shadow at sunrise

I know this may not be too popular with our northern friends but……….. this winter has flown by!!! Our list of “things to do” in Palm Springs remains 50% undone and yet, we have “hit the road” for home. The Pacific Life Open Tennis Tournament has just wrapped up and the Kraft Nabissco (formerly the Dianna Shore) Golf Tournament is about to begin. We even had tickets!!!! Palm Springs is 5 hours behind us but, we’ll be back. The last couple of weeks have been filled with kids visiting and, preparations to leave. The kids visiting part was the best part!! They spent half a week in San Francisco and the Napa Valley (one of their favourite places) before coming south to “Geezerville”. (Kids can be SUCH a pain in the ass!!!)

We pulled out of Palm Springs (actually Cathedral City) this morning in yet another ferocious wind. We expected serious handling problems with the ol’ RV but, the wind was mainly on our tail or at least on the aft quarter (used to sail you know). As we climbed out of the Coachella Valley, we were sad to be leaving but, eager to be heading home……….. figure that out!!! Many snow birds are heading home because, they are saying, “it’s too stinkin’ hot!!!” We are parked for the night in Picacho, Arizona and, at 6:30 P.M. it’s 101°F. That IS “stinkin’ hot!!” We’re heading for the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, a place that we passed by on the way through last year but, which is conveniently in our path on the way to Dallas / Forth Worth. We’re back in the Sonora Desert, one of our favourite places and, soaking in the heat and the “desertness” of it all before we get back to “April showers bring May flowers”. I think we are really going to miss being “on the road”. Try it!!!!!!

No internet connection last night so this is being posted from Demming, New Mexico, a convenient place to stop but........... no tourist Mecca. Today we experienced "dust devils" hitting the motor-home. Out on the high plains you could see them coming because they were full of desert sand but, every once in while one would come up the highway, containing no dust and damn near rip the steering wheel out of my hands. No need to experience that one again!!!