Taking Refuge in a Wildlife Refuge

After our road trip to the panhandle of Oklahoma, we picked up our motor home that had been waiting patiently for us in Olney, Texas. Once again, we started traveling northward. We had a special stop planned for today. Two years ago, we met a gracious couple in our campground on the east side of Glacier National Park in Montana. They had visited this favorite park many times, and they immediately took us under their wing to tell us the best hikes and things to see. But more than that, they became our friends. Before they left, they had offered us one of the hand-made crosses that Dennis makes in his workshop back in Wichita Falls, Texas. Because we don't have a permanent yard to plant that cross, we gave it to Mark's parents.

The view out Mark's parents' living room window includes that white cross, seen on the upper right edge of the picture below. This is a great place to watch the world go by. When we took this picture last week in Beaver, that view included the Tom turkeys that were strutting their tail feathers as the sun was rising.

Our motor home trip would take us close to Wichita Falls, so we called to see if Dennis and Judy were home. We tried to come after lunch, but Judy insisted on feeding us. She's one of the best cooks we know, and she even sent home with us the banana cake and lemon cake balls she is holding. Dennis is holding one of the white crosses he gives away. He has now given away more than 6,500 crosses to people to put in their yards. Before we left, Judy also gave Denisa a special devotional book. We will continue to remember them and their special ministries as we read our devotional book together. What a special couple!

As we continued north from Wichita Falls, we found that the Red River has swollen from recent rains up river. That's much wider than when we crossed this same bridge yesterday in the car.

The Red River is the dividing line between Texas and Oklahoma, so the motor home officially crossed back into Oklahoma. We had to take this picture of the state sign, and that pretty crop of bluebonnets behind it as we sped down the highway. It looks like Oklahoma knows how to grow these delightful spring wildflowers too!

Our next destination is the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma. As we drove the motor home into the refuge, we were greeted by this longhorn-induced traffic jam.

As we waited for the rest of the herd to cross the road, we got our first view of some of the animals that will be our neighbors for the next few days.

As we pulled into our campground, we were greeted by another of the animals that live here at the refuge. We've had some loud and obnoxious neighbors in campgrounds, but this guy is a real turkey.

Arriving in the middle of the week to a first-come-first-served campground means that we had our choice of great places to park our motor home. With 23 electric sites, we were glad to find site #47 open. It's a large shaded site right on the lake with a level asphalt parking pad--we would say that this is the best camp site in the entire refuge.

This is a great place for a camp fire, and some smores!

Living in a wildlife refuge, we are excited about living with the animals. Sizable herds of bison are roaming the hills just down the road from our camp site.

It's an idyllic scene when you see one of these massive animals nibbling on wildflowers with those puffy white clouds in the background. It feels like we have wandered into another of God's wonders!

We wondered if the bison and longhorns got along well. This picture of the two herds together seems to prove that they are quite happy to share these wide open prairies with each other.

We're also seeing lots of deer around our campground--especially in the evening.

For some reason, they like to congregate near the road just as the sun is setting. This doe has that deer-in-the-headlights-look as we're trying to get back to our camping spot without hitting one.

Mark is great at spotting wildlife, and he spotted these two elk on the top of the neighboring mountain that first evening.

Mark also snapped this picture of a longhorn, perfectly centered in front of the setting sun the evening of our arrival. A wildlife refuge is a great place to take refuge, and we're loving it here in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma!