I am writing this after 8 hours on the road and a little gin (sorry mom).
I set my alarm this morning for 8am CT (6am my body clock's time), so I could get a jump on the day and hopefully avoid the heat. Didn't work. I walked to Starbucks around 8:15am (before a shower). It was only 82 degrees out, but the humidity was 71% which is a little like waterboarding.
I'll save you the details about my perspiration today, as I think you had your fill (if you read yesterday's blog).
Before heading to OKC, I decided to Google, "Best of Dallas." The first search result was JFK's assassination. Really, Dallas? That's your best?
Quick side note: my brain started spinning about all the things I want to write and share and then I said out loud to myself, "this is why blogging takes you two hours." And it always does. I REALLY want to write for 10 minutes and go to bed at the end of a big travel day, but NOOOOO, I just have to share all the little bits and bobs that pop into my noggin.
Now, I don't know why I didn't think of JFK when I booked the ticket to Dallas Love Field airport. THE airport where Kennedy's motorcade started on that fateful date. I, also, don't know why I didn't think of it, since I've listened to the 11.22.63 audiobook more times than I care to admit.
Second and a lot less relevant side note: While listening to 11.22.63 for the first time, I was making this cardboard art as a very first valentine's day gift to Krista. It still hangs in our bedroom.
With Dealey Plaza in the GPS at only 8 minutes from my hotel, I started my journey at 9:30am this morning.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to join a tour at the Sixth Floor Museum, as online tickets were sold out, so I parked on a random street nearby. It turns out I parked right outside the Dallas County Criminal Courts building. The same building where Jack Ruby shot John Oswald and where Clyde Barrow spent some time (before meeting Bonnie)
You might ask, "Didn't Jack Ruby shoot Oswald outside the Dallas Police Headquarters?" Yes and I believe these are the same place, because I was informed of said facts by a very friendly one-eyed potentially homeless man who rushed up to me with all sorts of facts!
So, you guys, I scored my own PERSONAL tour guide for the morning, while suckers paid for tickets to an air conditioned and totally legit museum.
I did not catch this gentleman's name, but I did tell him (while securing my mask) that I didn't have any cash on me. He was VERY kind and probably knowledgeable and walked me to every spot you could want to see on a tour of JFK's assassination. Keep in mind that my iced americano was melting in the car and I was not fully awake, while sweating profusely in the sun on this impromptu and intensely emotional tour of a President's murder.
Anyway...there are literally x's on the ground where the shots...made impact, shall we say. That was blowing my mind (sorry. I'm so sorry.)
The photo above contains a haunting x on the ground, but also THE grassy knoll.
My guide showed me a third shot that embedded itself in this concrete. CLEARLY the shot was from the highway and not from the book depository's location. Multiple shots were fired y'all. Conspiracies abound! (I know you can't see it, but I do...so...yeah, that's good enough for now)
No more than 5 minutes in my exceptional tour, did I let the guide go. It was just too hot to keep him in the sun for no money. But we did chat about why he was being so kind to me and how he knew so much. He really was the highlight of my morning, but I hate the heat and couldn't stay out there any longer. Back to my watered down americano and off to OKC.
If you were paying attention earlier, you might have read that I drove for 8 hours today. You also might have noticed that the above GPS estimates a 3 hour drive. "What happened?" you might ask.
Well, that's none of your business.
No, I'm kidding. I drove for an hour, reached the border of Texas and Oklahoma, but did not get a picture of the sign because I was on the phone with my wife at the time and didn't think wildly pulling over on a narrow shoulder would sound good over the phone, so I played it cool like I didn't mind missing a picture of the "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign, even though it broke me a little bit. Oh and after I got of the phone, I was feeling really good and really awake and my americano was almost totally gone. So, I thought about a detour. Maybe something I'd researched before traveling.
Type type type into the GPS:
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Only what really happened is I clicked a link I'd saved for myself in my calendar of "Sites to see", which I entitled "Bison Visitor's Center" which linked to 34.710644 -98.623426. These look like Dewey Decimals to me, but my GPS knew what to do, which was to add a 2 hour sidetrack to my day. I was feeling so awake!
Yeah. I didn't check that first.
It's a good thing Bison don't really get a day off. Long story short, I got a map out of a box on the side of the road and promptly ignored it and drove the loops until I spotted some animal refugees.
BOOM - Bison:
BOOM - These guys:
Small Boom: Prairie Dogs. So cute!
More of these guys! Hook 'em horns!
Needless to say, I was super excited to see all of this
free roaming wildlife (how American)! I took way too many pictures of Prairie Dogs and really need to figure out how to turn the beeping off on this camera because every time I focused it was like BEEP and then click or like BEEP and then another BEEP and all the animals were like "This chick doesn't know how to turn off the beep. Noob."
By this time, my americano was no longer kicking and I was starting to get a little sleepy. Beep bop boop into my GPS "Oklahoma City please" and she said, "That'll be two more hours on the road. Would you like the sleepiest, grasslandiest, sometimes corn, sometimes just dirt option? Because that's what you're going to get."
So, after roughly 8 hours of driving, when I planned on 3ish, I needed a little self care time. I checked into my LOVELY hotel and ordered room service before she even told me my room number. I put on Twister (filmed in Oklahoma), devoured a DELICIOUS flank steak, grits and greens and had one (or more) gin 'n jams, which were surprisingly refreshing.
I will sleep well tonight!
