Heading Home to Oklahoma

After five days exploring this section of eastern Tennessee, we are on the road heading west toward Oklahoma. We have doctors' appointments to make, Denisa has a girls' trip to go on, and we have a very special 90th birthday celebration awaiting us in our home state. It's a long drive straight west on I-40, so we were so glad to get to make a stop to see a cousin on the way. Bob and Merilee are such wonderful hosts, and we enjoyed a short stop at their home in Spring Hill, Tennessee. They showed us around their growing little city just south of Nashville, and then hosted a delicious dinner at their home. We were so busy enjoying all the food and fellowship that we completely forgot to take pictures! There were ten of us there for the meal, including their daughter and her family. The only picture we remembered to take were of our host, Bob and Merilee, pictured on the right.

We also got to meet Peggy and Bill, pictured above on the left. They are interested in traveling, and started reading our blog when they heard about Bob's crazy cousins that got rid of their house and moved into a motor home. Since Peggy has read every blog entry, she felt like she already knew us. It was such a joy to meet them both!

We were up early the next morning to make the last ten-hour drive to Oklahoma City. It was a long day, watching the miles click off the odometer. We noticed the trees getting shorter and shorter as we drove west on the interstate. Occasionally we were entertained by passing vehicles, like this ghost buster car.

We knew we were getting closer to our destination when the landscape flattened, and the trees became further spaced.

After ten hours on the road, we pulled into Oklahoma City very road weary. We went directly to Denisa's sister's house. Debra had invited her children and grandchildren over, so we got to see lots of family members right away! We're not sure why we keep forgetting to take pictures, but this was the only one from that evening. Denisa is doing one of her favorite things--holding one of the youngest members of our family, Olive.

The next morning Mark would drive another four hours to the Oklahoma panhandle to see his parents. Denisa stayed in Oklahoma City because she is leaving from there on the annual girls' trip. But in the meantime, we spent the day helping Debra get her classroom ready for the new school year. She is moving into a new classroom in the Oklahoma City school system. We should have taken a "before" picture with all the chairs stacked and the desks crowded against the wall. But by the time we took the "after" picture, it looked like she was about ready for the first day of school.

Denisa also got to brush up on her "straight-letter-placement-and- stapling-skills" since she was in charge of putting together this bulletin board.

It was a long drive, but it's good to be back in Oklahoma with family and friends!