Meet Me In St Louie

We had a rough start to the trip as we had to wait on Abbie to play BB on Tuesday night. We got

to Prevost in Ft. Worth around 1am then had the coach in to get the windshield replaced and the AC serviced at 7am. After thinking we would be on the road by noon, we actually departed at 2:30pm, so that put us into St. Louis around 1:30am on Thursday.

First order of business is breakfast and this dive just south of the arch in the warehouse district is the place to eat. If you want big honkin omelets.

The Meatloaf Omelet is the bomb. And they are so big none of us could finish.

Notice the homemade chili and jalapenos on Rae's Mexican Omelet

Oshkosh Or Bust

Well it has taken long enought to get this up and running, but I have the pics ready and will get to blogging when we catch a break and some faster Internet service.

But first we had to do some maintenance. Abbie checks the gear oil level in the right angle drive box that powers the fan and chassis alternator. We add some Mobil SHO 630 and we are ready to launch.

Hitting the Beach

Well the Tick got to do the beach yesterday and carried about a ton of sand back to the coach with her. It was a little windy but otherwise nice and sunny. After last year's sunburn, none of us are out without being dipped in sun screen, so that serves as a medium to cause the sand to cling to you. Pretty nasty.

We have rented a boat for today, so we are off to Orange Beach to pick it up. The folks in the RV next to us have kids Abbie's age, so she has run hard with them and we are going to take them for a boat ride today as well.

The evenings have been just cool enough to break out the "Campfire in a Can" so we have burned thru a tank of gas using that.

Endless Rain

A brief break from the rain yesterday afternoon led to mostly overnight showers and rain most of today. We moved from Bella Terra to Perdido Cove and got soaking wet doing it, so we are in the dry out mode.

Nice RV spot right on the Intercoastal Waterway, so this should be nice once the sun comes out.

Spring Break 2009

Well since this seems to be the blog we use for Spring Break, maybe we will fire up a few posts and see if anyone is tuned in.

We made it from Houston to Slidell, LA last night after a nasty run in the rain. Slidell was on the other side of the front and it was 72 there while it was 44 when we left Houston. After a night at the TA truck stop, we made it to Bella Terra RV Resort in Gulf Shores, AL.

Now the rain has caught up with us and the temp is dropping but not before we hit the heated pool and hot tub.

"We Know We Belong To The Land...."

Well our goal was to hit the high spots in Oklahoma during the Centennial Celebration. While we didn't get to all the places we wanted to, the trip was well worth the effort and a nice spring break diversion.

The State of Oklahoma has done a great job of preparing for the upcoming celebration and it should not be missed. We will no doubt hit it again in the fall when all the big events are planned, but until then.................

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet

When the wind comes right behind the rain.

Oklahoma, Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I

Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk

Makin' lazy circles in the sky.

We know we belong to the land

And the land we belong to is grand!

And when we say Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!

We're only sayin' You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!

Oklahoma O.K.L.A.H.O.M.A Oklahoma (State)

The Oklahoma National Monument

This is a hard place to visit.

And having been here twice, it doesn't get any easier the more you go. On April 19, 1995, I was up at 4:30am to catch the Halliburton shuttle to Houston. When I got back to the plane that afternoon, word had reached us that a bomb had exploded in downtown Oklahoma City and it was most likely some kind of terrorist plot. We thought it had to be a mistake. Why would anyone bomb a building in Oklahoma? For most this is just flyover country and this Murrah building, who knew what that was.

The state motto of Oklahoma is Labor Omnia Vincit which translated means "labor conquers all things". There is nothing easy about living in Oklahoma and this tells it all. We all knew what to do when the tornados came or grapfruit sized hail or killer ice storms, but not how to deal with this.

I didn't know a single person killed in Oklahoma City, but the one thing I know is that these were simple, hard working people who had come to work that day like all of us Oklahomans. They went on, we stayed behind.

The chairs are the tough to view. 156 in all. One for each person killed. Then the hardest part. Little chairs for the children that died.

We went in the late evening, just as the sun was setting and the chairs lit up.