Wednesday Sister and I drove up to the Oklahoma Kansas border. We enjoyed a little scenery; little being the operative word here. The landscape around Turner Falls was lovely and the foliage was beautiful. If only that scenery had lasted all the way thru Oklahoma. Most of what lies beyond is just wide open prairie. Why, I half expected to see Indians and buffalo scamper across the highway at any given moment. I declare, that vast bleak landscape just went on and on. It felt as if we spent a whole year in Oklahoma that day. At one point, the highway we were on just disappeared and it took concerted effort to re-locate the darn thing, even with a GPS! I guess it veered, we didn't and we missed it, but I swear, we never saw a sign! We very well might have been temporarily hypnotized by all that boring scenery. Its no secret that Oklahoma is known for sparse signage and meager highway lights. Its like they dont want you to see where you aren't going! Then, there are the pot holes. Dont even get me started on the poor road conditions. I think the GNP of Oklahoma must be tires.
Friday, Gary and I had the pleasure of celebrating our 11th anniversary on 11-11-11 and we neither went to the casino nor did we buy a lottery ticket. We wanted to get out of town for the weekend and planned to do so for months, but with me its a moment by moment guess if it will really happen and Gary humors me with this frailty. If air travel is involved I will usually go; mainly because most airlines dont give refunds. For some reason getting away is hard for me. Its almost like I have this internal "dont go" meter and depending on how high it registers determines if I will actually follow thru or not. Im one of those people who likes to think about going out of town way more than actually going. Although, once I get to wherever it is, I usually have a fabulous time. Part of my problem is with bad hotel beds and even worse linens. You might say Im a linen snob.
When I was married to the boys' father we traveled quite a bit. Back then, we would stay in hotels where the sheets were ironed and bed bugs were mythical creatures from another time, only existing in "nighty night, sleep tight and dont let the bed bugs bite". Beds are an important part of traveling. How can you have a good trip without a decent night's sleep? Sounds silly but its very true. I found many hotels will iron your sheets if requested so I always made sure to do just that! Its a luxury I know and probably why I iron my sheets here at home. I love the way it makes the sheets feel when I slide into bed at night. That, and I just hate to sleep on a wrinkle and wake up with wrinkle marks on my body! Why, I have had pillow case wrinkles on my face that have lasted for hours! I know; its hard being me.
Another reason Im not a son-uva-bitch about traveling is the dreaded 'G' word. Germs are rampant! I admit to watching too many of those news magazine shows and the ones they did several years ago on hotel germs just blew my mind along with any desire to travel right out the window. My goodness, I shudder at the thought of what some folks do in those rooms and with the remote control yet!!! Why its enough to make you look at humanity in a new and dare I say 'unflattering' light.
As I was saying; Friday Gary and I took off for Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Neither of us had been so it was going to be fun exploring a new place together. We took 75 north thru most of eastern Oklahoma. If I hadn't been so uncomfortable it might have been funny that their idea of a 'rest stop' was an exit with 2 big barrels at the end of it. There are miles and miles and miles of nothing so Im telling you that you need to severely curb your coffee intake the morning you decide to drive thru Eastern Oklahoma.
Driving thru Arkansas was a pleasant surprise. Im not sure what I expected but Fayetteville seems like a very livable city. The people we met couldn't have been any nicer and the scenery was breathtaking with brilliant oranges, golds and red leaves on the trees and rolling mountains, too. The only thing that stunned me somewhat were the cars that had multiple red snarling pig stickers plastered all over them. I found that most peculiar. Team spirit and all; I get it, but I would never have more than one SMU sticker on my car. I still hear my mother's voice loud and clear (as the barometer of good taste) in my head saying "no no no, you really dont want to do that". I undoubtedly have missed some raucously good fun because of that darn voice.
But, I do hope Im home for a while:-)
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