Oh....klahoma

Sing it with me!

We made it to Oklahoma today.  It was a really nice rest at my sister's and I wish we could have stayed longer, but we need to finish this journey and we can't do that if we stay in IL.  Hopefully they will be able to visit us soon.  I think they'll enjoy visiting Arizona.

We left Illinois around 7:30 this morning and made the short drive into Missouri.  Apparently my GPS doesn't like Missouri though and it kept trying to send me back east (Carol, did you do something to it in an attempt to get me back to Boston?), and it wasn't until we crossed into Oklahoma that it finally started working correctly.

And I'm starting to think the Missouri means roadkill in Native American.  I think I saw at least 100 armadillo, and a few other things.  And the state of Oklahoma likes to give you lots of warning about things.  For example, they told us that we'd pay the toll in 42 miles.  And that we'd reach some road construction in 40 or so miles too.  Oh, and there were some very helpful signs along the way.  Such as, hitchhikers may be escaped convicts.  And don't drive through smoke.  Very helpful on these roads.  And the speed limit in Oklahoma on Interstate 44 is 75mph.  Again, we only saw a few people exceeding that.  Most seemed to stay right between 70 and 75.

We didn't have any problems with the drive today (except my crazy GPS), but now we're under a tornado watch in Oklahoma.  We did run over to Hooters to grab some dinner.  The wings are delicious and service was fantastic.  We just ignored the tiny uniforms.

And now we're back in the room watching the sky and hoping we don't get woken in the middle of the night because of a tornado.

Tomorrow we head through Texas, with hopefully a stop in Amarillo, and then we'll spend the night in Albuquerque.  Keep those fingers crossed for good weather for the rest of this journey!

I can't believe I almost forgot about Mom on Mother's Day.  As most of you know, my Mom passed away in October, so this was our first Mother's Day without her.  For the first part of the drive, I had her with me because I was bringing her ashes to my Dad who is now living with my sister in IL.  (It wasn't really an option for him to take them on the plane with him.)  So this morning, when I left my sister's, Mom stayed and I was on my own.  Or was I?  See, the stat of Missouri had electronic signs along the road that said:  "Buckle Up!  Drive carefully!  Love Mom!  So I'm pretty sure she was with me all the way.