Locking up and leaving for eight days

The reason we extended our stay in Mission, Texas another month was to take care of some things for Denisa's Mother. During that second month, she got her second vaccination, and should now be immune to the effects of Covid. We could also help her with packing up her house and preparing it for another six months of storage. That's a big job for a 90-year-old, and she thought it was the easiest year ever since we did most of it. We covered the windows, cleaned and stuffed the refrigerator with newspapers, turned the water and electricity off, got everything locked up . . . 

Then we were ready to be on the road in her car to take her home to Oklahoma for the summer. We passed some beautiful displays of spring wildflowers along the Texas highways, letting us know that spring is definitely in the air. But we didn't stop to take pictures. So instead, Denisa is going to sprinkle this blog with some beautiful tulip pictures she took later in Oklahoma.

We took two days making the 850-mile drive to the panhandle of Oklahoma. That includes driving through some parts of Texas where the towns are few and far between. Mark usually likes to keep the motor home's fuel tank above half-full, but he will get much lower than that on a passenger car. 

So when we pulled into the little town of Brady, we were getting pretty low on fuel. No problem, as there are several gas stations here. But the first station had plastic sacks over all their pump handles--out of gas. The second had all their pumps closed--out of gas. What is happening?!? We don't have enough fuel in the tank to make it to the next town!

After calling the other stations in town, we finally found some gasoline and we didn't care how much it cost. Talking to a local at the pumps, he said this had been going on since the ice storm when fuel trucks couldn't get down the highways to refill the tanks. Even now, someone will post on social media that they are about to run out of gas in town, and all the locals run down to top off their tanks. Then they really do run out of gas. Sheesh!

Our less traumatic stops included time in Fredericksburg for a fine German meal, and an overnight stop in Abilene. We realized that we hadn't taken a picture of Denisa's Mother in a while, so we took a picture that evening in the hotel. It's picture-worthy, because we so rarely spend a night in a hotel. We much prefer staying in our rolling hotel as we wander about the country.

While the wildflowers are blooming down south, we found a little snow along the highway as we continued north. 

It took us two weeks to travel these 850 miles down to South Texas in the motor home in January, but it only took a day and a half in the car this trip. We were traveling at lightning speed when compared to our usual standards! Once we arrived, we carried everything out of that well-packed car into Denisa's Mother's house. Since she has traveled back and forth between the tip of Texas and the panhandle of Oklahoma for 36 autumns and 36 springs, she is well practiced at this project.

We spent the next three days visiting with Mark's Mother, who lives just 15 miles from Denisa's Mother. This area was blessed with two inches of rain and a smattering of snow during those days. In a farm/ranch community that has been plagued with drought, this was indeed a blessing. We got to see two of Mark's siblings and their families on this stop so it was a great time. It's a tough job, but we even talked Mark's Mother into taking a picture before we left.

Our next stop was the Oklahoma City area, where we have more relatives to visit. It was here visiting Denisa's sister that we took all those tulip pictures on a windy spring day.

Oklahoma is enjoying beautiful spring-time weather now, and we walked through Hafer Park in Edmond, taking way too many pictures!

Oklahoma's state tree is the redbud, and they are blooming now to add a nice splash of purple to the tulip display.

That evening we visited our son and daughter-in-law, where we planned to celebrate our son's birthday.

His choice for a celebration was at "Chicken 'n' Pickle." Recently opened in this area, it's a very big complex that includes outdoor and indoor pickle ball courts . . .

and other outdoor games like bocce ball and corn hole. The "Chicken Coop" serves rotisserie chicken and other yummy items. We've visited the flagship location of this new concept developed in Kansas City in 2016. Even during a Covid year, they are expanding. This is their fourth location, with two more to open in 2021. The parking lot for this new entertainment venue in Oklahoma City was packed, with more cars wedged into parallel spots on the road. We had to drive another quarter-mile to the overflow parking. Even with all those cars parked, it never felt crowded once we were inside their giant campus, as we took this picture from the upstairs lounge.

It was a great evening with our son and daughter-in-law and her parents, celebrating Blake turning another decade older.

We visited Denisa's other sister, who took us to the airport for our return flight back to south Texas. We've flown in and out of the Oklahoma City airport many times, and we have to say that it has a curious claim-to-fame that we have never seen anywhere else. If you've visited the bathrooms in this airport, you know what we are thinking about. But you'll have to read to the end of the blog to see pictures of this curiosity. It's interesting to note that you will pass oil pump jacks as you speed down the run-way, but that's not the claim-to-fame that we are talking about.

 After enjoying high temperatures in the 60's and 70's during our last days in Oklahoma, we can't help but notice that the Texas Rio Grande Valley's forecast high for the day we returned was 98 degrees! That is too warm for these wanderers that are always chasing temperatures in the 70s. So we'll be putting in the slides and rolling down the road towards the north very soon. After eight days of visiting with family back in Oklahoma, we're anxious to be wandering God's wonders again soon--even though a tulip-filled walk in the park feels wonderous to Denisa.

You made it to the end of this blog, so you deserve to see the Oklahoma City airport's unusual bathroom option. It's the only place we have seen with toilet seats that are covered in plastic. 

The instructions on the wall tell you to press the button that rotates a fresh plastic covering over the seat for "hygienic seating." We don't remember seeing this option anywhere else. Have you? That's the kind of information you get when you follow us--wandering some rather strange wonders.