Oklahoma City - More Time with Kirk and Susan

We left Amarillo for Oklahoma City after an overnight stop at a Spring Hill Suites hotel. We like that hotel chain because they are about the same price as a Hampton Inn or Fairfield Inn, but they have a little more room for all our stuff.

And since we have a truck with lots of storage, we have a lot of stuff. We travel with food for snacks and sandwiches, a laundry sack, a very small “pod" coffee maker, our meds and toiletries, pillows, and our suitcases and some miscellaneious bins.   It takes a couple or three trips to unload the truck and move it into the hotel room. 

When we get ready to leave each morning, I repack the truck.  Our truck bed cover began leaking, so I use a couple of tarps and put each of our suitcases in a yard and leave bag.  So far my waterproofing techniques have worked out fine.

Enough on logistics - we got to Oklahoma City to stay with Kirk and Susan before noon.  We drove to their home in Nichols Hills and met Kirk there.  We unpacked for our over night stay and then all went do the First American Museum in Oklahoma City.  It’s a large, new museum with a restaurant.  

One thing I learned was the Indian Code talkers were not only from Arizona and New Mexico.  In fact, the original Code Talkers were part of the Choctaw Telephone Squad going back to World War I.  Later, members of the members of the Cherokee, Comanche, Osage, Pawnee and Poncha people were part of the 12,000 who volunteered in WW I.

Susan joined us for lunch at the nice museum restaurant and then we went back to Nichols Hills and came upon a Home Show that was underway.  We decided to take it in and see a multimillion dollar mansion that was decorated by local designers as part of the 50th Anniversary Symphony Show House 2023 supporting the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.

If I understood it correctly local designers propose up to three rooms they want to decorate. Once chosen a room, they can repaint, redo and bring in all the props they want to decorate a room with furniture, paintings etc.  They pay for the privilege.  That, as well as admission tickets for viewers like us, generate the revenue.

We wandered through all 35+ rooms and found it different and interesting.

The last stop was the garage which served as a gift shop of sorts.  These bags were on display with amusing sayings.

From there Kirk went to a local church that has a nationally ranked tennis club (BCC Tennis Academy) where he volunteers. In high school and college, Kirk was champion tennis player.  I went to watch and helped by picking up hundreds of tennis balls for the instructors and kids.  It was kind of amazing.

Afterwards we had a quick visit to see their daughter Mandy and her three kids.  Mandy is the same age as our two kids and we knew her growing up.  Its great to see her as a wife and mother and teacher. 

That evening we had a delightful dinner of grilled talapia and fresh vegetables for dinner with Kirk and Susan.  We reminisced some more that evening.  As a talented woodworker (Kirk) and artisan/embroiderer/quilter etc (Susan) we love to hear and see their creations and projects.

We packed a lot into one day before saying good-bye and getting back on the road to Albuquerque and our Warner Bros / Wives Reunion.  That’s next  on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thanks for joining us!