On to Oklahoma!

Today we drove and drove and drove! And I slept and rested on the backseat nearly the entire way. We got off relatively late, not leaving Ogallala until 10 or so after a quick hotel continental breakfast. Most of Nebraska that we drove through consisted entirely of cornfields. There were a few cows here and there, but it was mostly bright sun and empty fields. Not too long after getting on the road we stopped off at Gothenburg to see an original Pony Express Station that has been turned into a little museum. It was only a one-room building, but very neat to see the chip marks on the beams from constructing it and the little tidbits of history they had inside. I didn't know they had a saddle cover they could just slip off one saddle and throw across another...

Across the street was a museum of local history (with all sorts of random, neat stuff). And the town was so cute! Lots of tiny houses and white picket fences... very middle America.

We kept on along the North Platte River (along I-80) until we got to Hwy 81, which took us straight down the rest of Nebraska into Kansas (and straight through Kansas... and *lots* of corn) and into Oklahoma. We were hungry right when we crossed into Kansas, and tried the first town, but they really didn't have anything there for eateries (we decided the 100+ degree weather would be bad to sit out and have a picnic in - like we had in Wyoming) so we kept on to the next town.

Concordia, KS, was a great place to stop! Much larger, and had what we needed. It was Pizza Hut again, and they had a killer salad bar! I ate a little too much salad, I think. :) After we were stuffed, we turned around and went back to where we saw the turnoff for the Orphan Train Museum a few blocks away. This is something I had found out about only recently, within the last couple years, after my grandparents had told us about a documentary they saw on Netflix. It was a very intimate museum; they had lots of personal stories from kids that had made their new homes out west. It was simple, but well set up... and it was housed in the actual, old train station, and lots of it looked original. There were a good selection of pictures, and that is always a big hit with me. Loved how they told the story of how the orphan trains originated: big pictures and small signs! :)

It was so hot in Kansas! A real shocker, actually. Over 100 degrees and cooking. So we perspired as we walked a few yards back to the car and then we burned up the road, heading south as fast as my little Subaru Forrester could take us. Scenery was rather dull, and we counted the towns as we flew by. I took over in Newton, KS, which is just before Wichita and the OK border.

Expectations grew as we crossed. The sun was starting to go down after we passed the Payne County border within Oklahoma. :) We had a gorgeous sunset to our right... purples and oranges. Upon nearing OKC it was rather dark and I held on tight to the steering wheel as a state patrolman swerved around me and the other cars as we continued at a good pace. If he wasn't a cop I would have sworn he was a little drunk. Oh, well! As they say here in Oklahoma, "It's August."

We settled into our hotel in Norman first. It was already 10 pm, so we wanted to get that out of the way. Beautiful room too. It was just down the row of rooms from the one Meg & I had last year at the Days Inn. :) Very soon we were off to see Mike!

It was like coming home! After a warm round of greetings and lots of hugs we all went inside and relaxed for a bit, talking and catching up. The night was beautiful, so a little later on we walked Charlie on campus under bright stars and a sliver of the silver moon. While outside, we all realized we hadn't eaten any dinner yet, so we dropped Charlie off and tried out the Waffle House. It was hard deciding between breakfast and dinner, but I ended up with a BLT. We waited around a long time, talking about everything before the waitress showed us our ticket, sitting on the table all along. :) As always when with good friends, time slipped away very quickly. It was pretty late by the time we left for the motel.

Jp