Trudy and Ed...

[JE Pettibone]

Stopped in Hayes Kansass due to a thunder storm with Strong winds. Heading for Oklahoma City today but may run into more of the same. Did not have internet access last night but it seem OK this morning but not finding a church.nearby.

[David Flick]

[JE Pettibone]

[JE Pettibone]

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: Yesterday, David & Effie took us for a tour of the Yukon and Mustang Ok burgeoning residential areas Yukon and Mustang are villages within the Greater Oklahoma City Metropolitan area. On the way back he introduced us to a popular combined convenience store/ice cream shop. As we where passing one of the Flick's daughter's home, she and her husband where coming out and David stopped and introduced us.

I have been impressed with the number of churches in this area compared with other large cities we have seen during our travels.
.

[William Thornton]

Reminds me of the time I had a bunch of kids doing a vbs for David's Indian church. It was very hot but David bought us all ice cream at a local place. Great memory.

[David Flick]

[Sandy]

The Oklahoma History Center is one of the best local/state history museums I've ever seen. I'm sure they change exhibits from time to time, but when I was there, 2007 or so, I think, it was excellent. It was quite a day, going there, and then to the Memorial at the Murrah building site. We were treated to the whole Oklahoma experience, as that evening, one of the employees of the Best Western where we were staying knocked on our door around 10:30 p.m. and very quietly, but firmly asked us to leave the room and come down to the lobby area on the bottom floor. It didn't take much convincing.

[David Flick]

[William Thornton]

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: Another great afternoon with David, exploring the Oklahoma History Museum. I agree with Sandy, it is an impressive facility. I also note that much of the voluminous space is dedicated to artifacts of the past 110 years.

We latter had an early dinner at a Cracker Barrel to Honor BL.com's creator Bruce Gourley. It rained hard and the wind blew with fury while we where finishing our meal But appeared to have blown over as the bill was paid. On the way back to our RV Park we encountered Traffic signals that where not working and then downed wires on one road that David wanted to take near his house there was a lot of stop and go on the road leading to our park. After he got home David called to report that at his house they had recieved 2.4 inches of rain this was in a rather short squall lasting about 20 min. and there was a lot of foliage laying around. evcery thing here seems to be in order. More of the same due tomorrow..

[David Flick]

[Bruce Gourley]

I am so glad that three of you were able to spend time together ... and would have loved to be there to join you in exploring Oklahoma history.

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: Yesterday David and Effie took us to the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City. A great worship experience. After Church we met their son Philip at the Texas Road house for a fine meal and fellowship.

Today David (monday) Trudy and I Visited the Oklahoma City, NATIONAL MEMORIAL MUSEUM, the site if the April 19 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. I have yet to capture an adequate word or phrase to define the mix of emotions stirred by this experience. I do believe it is an experience that every American should have if at all possible .

[David Flick]

[Joseph Patrick]

From Joseph Patrick...aka Gerry Milligan
Ed and David, I wish we were still in OKC because First Baptist of OKC was our church until we left for cooler climate. Would have liked seeing all of you in Hobbs House.

[JE Pettibone]

[David Flick]

[David Flick]

[JE Pettibone]

David Flick wrote "The dance was about 4 hours long. After the closing dance, and as we were leaving my friend, Jerry Roman Nose (standing left of Ed), who is the son of a high school friend, gave Ed a blanket. It was a nice Cheyenne (Native American) gesture of friendship. Great photo! Great day and a very good experience."

Indeed it was a great day. I hope David was not offended with my answer when he asked what I thought and I replied "loud noise makes me tired". It does, I really noticed it when we where in B'ham for So. Florida's Bowl Game. in January, but I still enjoy Football and I enjoyed the Gourd Dance, it was real fun to see so many people having a good time celebrating their heritage. I especially enjoyed watching even the small children participate in the dance with serious dedication.

David and Effie made our lay over in Oklahoma City a high lite of our trip. And the blanket presented by Jerry Roman Nose is a prized possession. What a way to make a stranger feel welcome.

Today we departed OK City about 10:30 and arrived here in Muskogee around 4:30. We spent a lot of time exiting and reentering I-40 looking for a place to have lunch. We finally parked in the parking lot of a restaurant that is for sale and Trudy whipped up a lunch out of our
frig. We should have done that the first time we pulled off. It looks like we will have to develop a taste for Mexican food. Of course finding a place to park 60 ft of Motorerhome and car was part of the problem. But even the Truck stops where filled up or only had Subway's.

The park we are in (Medowbrook) was a real find, no frills but nice RV lots with full hook-ups at $20.00 a night. The gravel roads could use some fill but they keep the cowboys from speeding. Muskogee is the northern most inland port off the Gulf of Mexico. Through a network of rivers it connects to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers also.

I hope to pick up refills on a couple meds at the VA clinic today. I could have gotten them in Oklahoma City but the VA there is in the city center. We are looking forward to a tour of Bacone College today.

[David Flick]

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: From lat Thursday evening untill this morning we where parked on the Campus of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee Kansas.

Dr. John Park the director of the the Doctor of ministry Program gave us a tour of the facility on Friday.John and a few others from the Adm.staff a tour of our home on wheels. Saturday we did laundry and went Grocery shopping and a lot of reading. Sunday, Molly Picked us up and drove us to Prairie Baptist Church for SS and the worship service which was primarily a report by the Youth group 20 some energetic young people who excitedly told us of their recent mission trip to Nicaragua. After church she introduced us to one of KC's many great bar-B que places. When we got back om campus we gave her a tour of our coach. All through the drive and lunch had a wonderful reminiscing about our common experiences in Louisville.

This morning we hooked up the car went and into the building to say good by. We where invited to her office for coffee and further conversation about the D.Min program which Trudy may be entering in the near future.

Tonight we are parked in the RV section of the Missouri state fair ground with about 300 more RVs. The fair is in its second week. We plan to be here through Next Monday and the Eclipse. On Tuesday of next week we will move on to Jefferson City to visit family.

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: Saturday and Sunday we spent in Jefferson City (the Capital of Missouri) and at the lake of the Ozarks visiting with three generations of Trudy's family. We left the Coach here in Sedalia and stayed in a motel within sight of the Capital Building for one night all of the Motels where filled for Sunday night due to eclipse.

This is always a busy tourist season in this area but the eclipse is drawing literally thousands more according to news reports from the State Police.
I spotted license plates from 14 states in the motel parking lot yesterday morning.

The big question is "What will the weather be like around 2:00 PM"

We will be staying here where we have a good internet connection another three days. Then we will head for Fort Wayne Indiana to visit some of of my family.

[Haruo]

The eclipse will start here within the hour, and I will be driving to work through the early stages of it. I go on the clock ten minutes after the maximum point of darkness (we should be at about 92% coverage, I gather). So no trip to Oregon for this one.

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: Here in the Mo. State Fair grounds camping area the view was fantastic. The most surprising to me was how slow the progression of the darkness seemed to be Until the last 90 seconds before total when it seemed, as if some one was turning down a rheostat. The total here was at 1:10 PM, yet a large part of the coverage , perhaps 20 percent, is still visible at 1:59.

They are closing this section of the Camping area at 8: PM so we will be moving to another section in about an hour.