Oklahoma City

Photos located at:

http://web.mac.com/goodlenora/iWeb/Site/Library%209.html

(Library 9)

Kay and I stopped for brunch at Santa Rosa, NM at a fun little restaurant, Route 66 Restaurant, filled with all sorts of memorabilia and two vintage cars parked outside. As we walked into the restaurant, we noticed a little pig hood ornament on a pickup, but as we were both hungry, didn’t pay a great deal of attention to the truck, beyond the pig.

While waiting for our food, a man came up to our table, and asked if we were from Washington State. Turned out, he’s from Olympia, and the truck is his, and we had a nice discussion with Marv, who makes Marvlus Pit Bar-B-Q and caters, too. He graciously allowed me to photograph his pig, with Flat Stanlietta.

For those of you in the Olympia area, you might want to try his BBQ.

We drove on into Amarillo, TX and stayed at a La Quinta. Chris, the delightful young gentleman who checked us in also checked us out the next morning. His cheerful attitude, and helpfulness in my finding a Subaru dealer to get the oil changed; his great sense of humor – all combined to make our stay great fun. Many thanks, Chris!

At the Subaru dealer I had a delightful discussion with Tiffany, the receptionist at Brown Pontiac-Subaru and another writer, and the mechanics who worked on Suvie. From there, we headed on out on I-40 to Oklahoma City where I got to meet my cousin, Carl, for the first time.

If we learned nothing else, we learned where the words to the song, Oklahoma! come from – “where the wind comes sweeping down the plain..” The winds never stops here! Or, at least, it hasn’t since our arrival, though today is quite warm. The Oklahoma Hair Do is truly wind-blown! No matter from what direction the wind comes, there is nothing to block it but 6 or 7 strands of barbed wire!

Carl was named after my Grandfather, Carl “Skipper” McBrayer. It must be something in the name? Or maybe the blood? But Skipper was the genealogist of the McBrayer’s until his death, and now my cousin has taken on the mantle.

Kay and I had a great visit with Carl, and his wife, Pat, yesterday, and this morning, they picked us up at the hotel and took us on a sightseeing expedition. He drove around the new Ford Coliseum, where the Thunder plays (they used to be the Seattle Super Sonics), and around Bricktown, and some other places, then took us to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Memorial. We did not go through the museum, but did walk the grounds.

Entering through the 9:01 gate, the first thing we saw was the reflecting pool, where the street used to be where Timothy McVeigh parked his van. To the left is the Field of Empty Chairs, a bit of the original wall that still stands, and part of the original second floor entry. To the right is the Survivor Tree – a 90+ year American Elm that was in the middle of a parking lot and surrounded by burning cars. Part of the tree was destroyed by the blast, but with careful treatment and nurture, it still stands, and grows. There is also the Recuers’s Orchard, the Children’s Area, the Memorial Museum, and the Journal Record Building. At the far end of the reflecting pool is the 9:03 gate, and on both sides of it is The Fence. Originally installed to protect the site of the building, it became, almost instantly, a place where people began to leave tokens and messages, as they do on The Wall in Washington, D. C. The items left here, like at The Wall, are collected, cataloged, and housed. More than 200 feet of the original cyclone fence remains, and is still used to leave tokens and messages (see my photos)

The significance of the Gates of Time, quoted from the pamphlet given out at the site: “These monumental twin gates frame the moment of destruction – 9:02 a.m. – and mark the formal entrances to the Memorial. The East Gate represents 9:01 a.m. on April 19, and the innocence of the city before the attack. The West Gate represents 9:03 a.m., the moment we were changed forever, and the hope that came from the horror in the moments and days following the bombing.”

This site is as haunting, and sacred, as The Wall in Washington, D.C. Kay and I opted to not go into the Museum. The outdoor memorial will haunt us both forever.

From there, Carl and Pat took us to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. We wandered into and out of more rooms and galleries seeing paintings, sculptures, artifacts, and even movie posters and tv show advertisements. Kay found the names of many of the cowboys she used to know in years gone by – I just stood and drooled all over the glass in front of Tom Selleck ;-)

We walked and meandered, inside and out, until all four of us were more than ready to sit, so went into the restaurant and had lunch. Then Kay went to the files she’d found to see if she could find her Father (she couldn’t), and I went into the bookstore to see if they had a copy of the map of the Indian Wars I saw in the Cavalry section. They didn’t. They did have some fascinating looking books—which came with fascinating price tags. I actually got out of a book & gift shop without spending a penny!

We came back to the hotel for a rest, then went next door to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. Our clerk, Marva, was one of the most cheerful of clerks, and when she discovered we were from out of state, she made a point of welcoming us to Oklahoma and telling us she was glad we came for a visit! Actually, we’ve found most people on our trip to be friendly, welcoming, and cheerful.

“Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof.”
--Richard Bach