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!

Thorncrown Chapel and Bentonville

Daughter Kelly is an (among other things) Interior Designer.  In the process of getting her Master’s Degree in that field a few year’s ago, she became acquainted with building design and architecture.  Brother Brad pursued a degree in architecture before serving as a pilot in the USAF.  One of his favorites is the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The architect of the Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka, Springs, AR -- was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The chapel and support building reflects his influence.

Kelly knew Thorncrown Chapel and suggested we stop by and take it in.  So we did.  It was beautiful and simple.  Millions of visitors have seen it.

                                      

The design has been labelled “Ozark Gothic” and stands 48 feet tall with over 6,000 square feet of glass and 425 windows.  

You can read more of the inspiration and history of the creation of the chapel here.  Located in the hills near Pine Bluff, AR, Jim Reed bought some land for his retirement home in the beautiful Ozark Hills. Others became aware of the beauty and would stop by and take in the scenic area.  Instead of limiting access, Reed invited others to see it.  

Then he came up with the idea of building a glass chapel there in the woods.  Next he enlisted an architect who followed the design influences of Frank Llyod Wright and the simple, beautiful chapel was built.  Construction began in 1979 and was finished in 1980.

This book is about the chapel.

After an hour or so there, we continued on our way to see Bentonville and the Walmart Museum. Approaching the downtown area, we found the museum and were disappointed to see that it was closed for an 18-month renovation.  But they created a Walmart Heritage Lab a few blocks away to tell Walmarts story.

The town was picturesque. It was a beautiful day and the small town center was full of flowers and color.  

A Walmart Fresh Market was a block away and we picked something up for our microwave dinner.  Not surprisingly, the store was spotless and showcased an amazing variety of choices.  One would expect that in the town of the home offices of the worlds largest chain.

We quickly found out that the town has a number of beautiful murals on buildings throughout the town.  Apparently 19 artists have decorated the town.  But that’s another story...

We returned to Roadrunner 2.0 and drove over to the Walmart Home Offices and the Heritage Lab (temporary museum).

The Heritage Lab museum was a modest but fact-filled presentation of how Sam Walton created the worlds retail chain.  They even had a life size hologram (Mr. Sam hologram) where he speaks.  That must be part of the guided tours but we wandered around for awhile on a self-guided tour.  

We had lunch and continued our day on to Tulsa for the night.

It was a full day and we stayed at Spring Hill Suites.  Once we got into town we found a Costco and filled up.  It was rush hour so it took some extra time to get back to the hotel and relax for the evening.

Thanks for joining us for another day on our Coast-to-Coast trip in Roadrunner 2.0.  

Time in Branson

 The Sight and Sound production of Queen Esther is playing in Branson MO so we planned our stay around that show.  Good friends Kirk and Susan (from Oklahoma City) joined us there at an AirBnb condo that worked out very well.

We met them mid afternoon and hung out for a while.  It was great to see them again.  If you type “Kirk” in the search bar at the right you can see a few other times we have met up with them over the years during our RV full-timing days.  

Dinner at Landry’s seafood was delicious.  They did something we don’t do often enough - split a meal.  We shared a serving rainbow trout and rice pilaf and it hit the spot.

We did more catching up that evening and called it a night.  Our condo had 2 bedroom overlooking a golf course and it was quite nice.  Tuesday morning after breakfast at the condo we went on a hike on a city trail that was fun. 

We found the Roark Creek Trail in Branson which was a short and picturesque trail.  It follows the Roark Creek from Lake Taneycomo up through the Roark Creek Valley.  

It was the perfect way to get out and enjoy the day.  Next we stopped a Panera Bread for a great lunch and then went over to the Tanger Outlet Mall.  We didn’t find anything we couldn’t do without.  We went back to the condo and putzed around for the afternoon.  Kirk and I checked out the golf course near the condo and then we went and washed the truck.  We fixed dinner back at the condo and then got ready for the main event: the Sight and Sound production of Queen Esther!

The play/musical did not disappoint!  It was fantastic!  The story is an account of Mordecai and Esther from the Bible.  As described in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “Esther is a Hebrew Bible heroine who catches the eye of the hard-drinking King of Persia, during a royal beauty contest of sorts, and becomes his queen.  She uses her influence to save herself and the rest of the empire of Persia’s Jewish countrymen from the evil Haman who seeks their demise."

The whole production was so well done.  We had a great view of every scene and it was a fast-moving story in the Bible.  The mesmerizing, captivating tale was so well done.  The singers were strong and always on key and the music was great.  The pageantry, costumes and stage was top notch.  Just excellent. It might have been the best musical production I have ever seen!

Not surprisingly I highly recommend it.

It was a great time in Branson and we headed onward the next morning.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

The Amazing Gateway Arch - St Louis

St Louis is so full of history.  

We knew when we were planning this trip there was going to be no way to absorb all the history and story in the founding, growth and development of the city.  We remembered some accounts of the influence of the fur trappers and traders back in the early days (1700’s) when they traded pelts there with the Indians and French along the Mississippi River

We couldn’t with to get there and stayed mixed it up some by staying in a Fairfield Inn hotel in Collinsville, IL, about 15 miles east of the Gateway Arch National Park.  We ordered tickets on line and printed them out a month ago.  We arrived in plenty of time for the 9:10 tram ride to the top of the Arch.

We could see the Arch from miles away as we drove into town.  We found a parking lot a few blocks away and arrived before the visitor’s center opened at 9:00 am.  

The park commemorates a number of things in our country’s history.  First it is a memorial to Thomas Jefferson’s role in opening the West, most notably commissioning Meriwether Lewis (and William Clark) to seek a northwest passage to the Pacific Coast. 

The expedition left in 1804 and returned triumphantly in 1806.  After reading Stephen Ambrose’s account - “Undaunted Courage” I was stuck by their courage and Clark’s ability to pull it off.  I think it is no less significant for their time than landing men on the moon has been in our time.

Our ride to the top on the tram was at 9:10.  We got in line and it was well organized.  The guide offered a few historical facts as we climbed into our tram. I was surprised how tight it was and had not read about that in the reviews.  It was a 4 minute ride to the top which went fairly quickly.

Once at the top, we had 7 minutes to go from side to side to take in the spectacular views.  It was awesome.

Interesting Facts:

The Gateway Arch is a symbol of the role St. Louis play in the westward expansion of the United State in the 1800’s. It is 630 feet tall and 630 wide.  The Arch is designed to withstand earthquakes and lightning strikes and designed to sway up to 18 inches in 150 mile per hour winds. Construction of the Gateway Arch began on Feb 12, 1963 and completed on October 28, 1965.  Here’s a 3-min YouTube video of the Gateway Arch National Park: click here

After the tram to the top we spent more time in the museum.  First we saw the orientation movie: Monument to the Dream. We watched the movie on YouTube the day before in our hotel room.

After that, we walked around the museum and could have spent hours.   It was very well done and reminded be of the museums underground at Ford’s Theater and the nation's capitol Visitor Center, both in Washington D.C.  The Gateway Arch underwent a $380M upgrade/renovation in 2018.

We enjoyed our time in St Louis and got some ideas of things to see if we can revisit at some point.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles, Coast-to-Coast 2023 travels!

Take Me Home, Country Roads

It’s been a couple of good days of driving.  We got on the road about 7:30 AM and then headed west.  Our first destination is St Louis to see the Gateway Arch.  Day 1 was a beautiful drive along I-64 to West Virginia - about 480 miles.

We made regular stops at rest areas ever hour or two so we don’t wear ourselves out.  I don’t recall what the rest stops in West Virginia were like but after seeing these, we were very impressed.  

We had a picnic lunch and took a sun-grin selfie.

We got to Huntington WV and our Hampton Inn about 3:00 PM.

* Note to Jim and Sandie - We checked out the Priceline App for lowest same-day rates and to my surprise they were MORE EXPENSIVE that our regular Hilton App or Marriott (BONVoY app).  

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the fitness center in the hotel had a Peloton.

That worked out well.  I spent a few minutes on the bike and swam a few laps in the pool.

Later, we had some dinner.  We're trying to eat more healthy and save a few bucks so, we got a couple of microwave dinners.  We're looking for those meals that have low sodium, low calorie, high protein etc.  We spent a whooping $9.95 for dinner.

That evening I looked up Huntington WV. Have you ever been traveling and wondered, “What do these people here do for a living?  I wonder what the key attractions in this area are?”   Wikipedia and Google answer those for me.

As we drove into town, we saw that Huntington WV is the home of Marshall University. You may remember the movie - "We Are Marshall” - the tragic story of the 75 football players dying in a plane crash in 1970.  That happened here.

Also - Marhall is the second largest city in West Virginia and located in the Tri-State (Ohio/Kentucky/West Virginia area).  Historically, it is the terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad built in 1871. I was struck again by what an impact railroads had on the growth and development of our country.  At one point coal was shipped from this region all the way to the east coast to Newport News, VA. 

It was the second city in America to feature city street cars (after San Francisco) in 1988.  The main employers in the area include the university, the local hospital and medical center, as well as an Amazon Distribution Center.

Enough on the history lesson....

Day 2 on the road continued with about the same distance and we stopped just outside of St. Louis in Collinsville, Illinois.  This time we hit intemittent rain along the way.  

But a couple hours later we had beautiful sunshine as we drove along some very big farms in Illinois.

We rolled into town about 2 PM and found a local grocery store - Schnuck’s.  Reminded me of Kroger’s grocery stores back home.  We found a rotisserie chicken and a a russet potatoe and see and had a fine hotel room dinner.  Grand total: $10.52.   Enough of that also -- I won’t be posting how much we spend on each meal but I just goes to show you that there are ways to eat well without eating out every meal -- even on the road.  

The indoor pool here was closed and the fitness center is a little sparse so I settled for some very modest weight lifting (I used to laugh at guys that would lift those puny little weights, now that’s me!) We watched some golf and baseball on TV.  Coordinated with our friends Kirk and Susan and called it a night.

Today - The Gateway Arch! and then this after noon a couple of days with Kirk and Susan in Branson, MO.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner 2.0 is Underway!

And just like that we are off!  We departed as planned at 7:30 am this morning. We crossed the Hampton Roads Bay Tunnel over the Elizabeth River looking east toward the Chesapeake Bay.

 We are en route to our first stop - Huntington WV.  Google maps says it will be about 6.5 hours of driving time.  We use a planning factor of about 55 miles an hour to include rest stops, fuel stops, etc.  That gets us there mid afternoon.  

We will see how the day goes but it is supposed to be a beautiful day and the traffic has been good.  A while back I came across this app which I like.

I thought you might find it useful too.  It shows the weather along the route.  Check it out!

Back to getting ready for the trip...

We were scrambling to get everything done before we left.  Maybe you can relate.  The last couple of weeks we were winding up a project st church. I also wanted get the lawn mowed, edged, Pam's garden squared away, flower beds weeded, and the truck packed for a 30 day trip.  We were busy.  We got most things done, but the weeds in the flower garden will have to wait. So will trimming the bushes for the next month.

Two days ago a series of events happened:

1) Stay with me here...I've been thinking over the last couple of years about writing another book:  "Mishaps, Misadventures, and Other Surprises."  I have notes of 25+ things that kinda went sideways while we were RV full-timers. They were not always fun at times, but as we look back they were part of the adventure and somewhat amusing now and were.

Thursday I had an incident that would fit into that same category.  Things are good now but then it was a little stressing.  Which led me to ponder:

2) God's goodness and the fact despite some of the headlines of the day, there are a lot of good and decent people out there...

First "the incident".  I'll never forget this one.....

Short version:

I lost my wallet about 2:00 P.M Thursday afternoon. But…My wallet was returned at 9:34 the same night!!

The only thing missing was my Military ID.  It took us an hour on Friday morning to drive over to Langley AFB and get a replacement. 

Longer version:

Thursday about 2:00 PM I remembered I put  my wallet on the back bumper of my truck while at church. I was answering a text from the pharmacy on base as I was loading stuff in the back of my truck. I pulled the tailgate down to load things and didn't see my wallet on the bumper.  I finished loading the truck and drove the base to pick up prescription. I reached for my wallet. I immediately had that sinking feeling.  It was not there.  Ugh. 

What followed was that voice in my head which said, "Calm down, this will work out."   I stopped, searched the truck just in case I was "mis-remmbering" then drove back to church,  I looked around, retraced my steps --- no wallet. Ugh...

I drove back the 6 mile back home looking on the parking lot, roadways etc.  Pam and I decided to see if we could get a new driver's license on short notice.  On the way there I cancelled two credit cards and my debit card.  

The people at the DMV couldn't have been nicer and more expeditious.  It was refreshing.  I got a temporary one and will get the real one overnighted to us in a few days.

Later that evening I was trying to think what all was in my wallet.  Medicare Card, National Park Pass, Lifetime Virginia Fishing License, Norfolk Botanical Garden Pass plus a couple of pictures and notes of Pam and Kelly that I have carried through the years.

And there was more cash than I usually carry since we were getting ready for the trip.  Then I thought next time, I'm going to make it easy and take a picture of what's in my wallet.  

None of this is earth shattering or even rises to the level of anything more that inconvenient. It got my blood pressure up I'm sure but I'm in the best shape I've been in for years after my heart attach a little over a year ago.

About that time, the doorbell rang. What?? It was 9:34 PM.

It was a guy returning my wallet!!!

He had come by the house 2 other times but we were gone canceling credit cards, getting a new driver's license.. Then we went to daughter Kelly's house for dinner at the last minute with Jon and the grandsons. 

So there I was trying to figure out what was going on.  

This random guy who drives for Door Dash found my wallet on the road near Northampton Blvd and Diamond Springs Road over 3.5 miles from church and 2.5+ from home. 

Is that amazing or what??  That is what I call divine intervention

I checked my wallet and everything was there -- all my cash and cards etc.  I gave him the biggest tip I've ever given anybody and stopped thanking him after about 5 or 6 times.  Wow.  I was so stunned.

Friday morning I came across Psalm 44:8. - "...in God we  make our boast all day long, and we will praise our name forever..."  I will tell this story for many years to come.  

So there's our excitement before our adventure on the road even began!  

1) First entry of "Mishaps, Misadventures, and Other Surprises," on our coast-to-coast trip; and

2) A vivid reminder there are still good people all around us in the world and I will praise the name of the Lord for His amazing care.  

That's all for now - thanks for joining us on the continuing adventures of the Roadrunner 2.0.

--

Getting Ready to Hit the Road

 I feel like I should be labeling this,”The Continuing Adventures of the Roadrunner Chronicles...”. 

It’s been ages since I’ve written and we no longer have the Roadrunner (see previous posts...).  But we will be embarking on a coast to coast road trip in the next few days.  Seems like old times.  Sorta. In some ways. And I decided to fire up the blog and see if I could remember how to do this.  

We’ll be taking the “southern route” which looks a little like this. 

According to my calculations, it will be over 6200 miles and we will be taking 30 days to do this.

The main event of our time will be a “Brothers and Wives Reunion” in Albuquerque NM.  We’ll spend a week there and enjoy time together playing golf and hanging out.  Another thing we'll do along the way will be to see Antelope Canyon which is something we said, “We’ll see that on another trip around the country.”  

Silly us. We ended up getting off the road in 2019 after spending 10 years aboard the Roadrunner.  You might remember that was the name of our 2007 Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome.  We thought we’d be settling down in Norfolk to be near our two grandsons and take shorter RV trips in a smaller motorhome.  Things changed though and we never did buy another RV.

Instead we bought a second vehicle - an F-150 Ford King Ranch truck.  

We thought we would get a travel trailer and continue our travels.  That plan changed also.

On our travels this time we will be staying with friends and family with a few hotels along the way.  We are going to see how Priceline same-day reservations work out.  I’m hoping it will be cheaper than standard reservations.  That’s it this time.  We’ll be updating this every few days, so stay tuned.

Until next time...