Sunday, January 27, 2013

From Oklahoma to British Columbia-Day 1

I tossed and turned most of the night.  I don't know if it was because I was tired from all of the yard work and house work we did, or from the "good byes" we said before we went to bed.  But I didn't sleep well at all and then woke up early.  Scootard woke up early too and we decided what the heck; might as well get a move on and get going.  We left the house 20 minutes ahead of schedule and was greeted by some dense fog first thing.



I hadn't seen fog like that since we had left Virginia a few weeks ago, but I liked it.  It looked peaceful for some reason....:-).  Glad I wasn't the one driving, though...haha.



I took a quick glance back at our home admiring the work we had done.  The flower beds were ready for planting in the Spring when we return.  If you look closely, you will see the plastic sheeting we put down to kill out the weeds; but careful to leave enough room for the shrubs to get air and light around the roots.......


So, we started down the road and it was strange the way the light hit the fog when I took this picture......very cool...:-).


Scootard was getting more excited with every minute and we were not even out of the city yet!



the first "little" town we came to was called "Duke, Oklahoma"...I had never been there and it was just a wide spot in the road.....



and because it was Sunday, every town we came to seemed deserted.


This is Hollis, Oklahoma.....a little bit larger than Duke, but not by much....:-).



Some of the buildings we came across seemed that they had been there since the town settled in....
My grandmother would have been 9 years old when this town was founded.



Wow, what can one say about this?  Not much crime I guess....ha



and hopefully, not too many fires!


And apparently, not much "gossip" either.....that might be a good thing though....:-).


And that was about it for old Hollis, folks.......



We were headed for Texas and I was glad that we ran across some cotton fields along the way since Scootard had accidentally thrown away what he had gathered previously.   He was on his own with this one though.  I DON'T pick cotton! hahaha


Maybe he can weave some socks or something from that.....:-).


And then we were out of Oklahoma and into the next state.......


I don't believe I had ever been to Memphis, Texas.  But this was about all there was to it.



In no time flat, we were through there and on to the next town......I started singing this song I heard on a commercial......

"Blue skies.....smiling at meeeeeee, nothing but blue skies do I seeeeeeeeeee.  Doo doo, la dee da da....la dee da la la....la dee da.....:-)

or something like that...ha


We saw a rest stop and decided that it was time to have a bite to eat.......


My daughter loaded us up the night before with fruit, chips, turkey jerkey and we had some Brie cheese, and plenty of water and soda......


this was the view from our picnic place.........:-).  Cool- eh?


It made me want to spend the night there......:-).



After spending more time looking out the windows of our car and hoping that our destination was near......BINGO!


ok, cool.  Time for some snacks for the road tomorrow..... Wal-Mart came in handy as we needed to get our "stash" for the next day.



Not all of it was going to make it through to tomorrow.....


Even though we were in New Mexico, we still had a long way to go to reach our destination of Roswell. So, we traveled on; munching as we went.....:-).


We passed through this tiny little place.....blinked and it was gone....haha


and then in the distance we saw this.........



and then we saw this!  All of my days of "Sci-Fi" movies started rushing through my head....haha



THEN I SPOTED ONE!!  I KNEW IT!  hahaha



I figured I'd better scan the town to see if any more were "lurking" unaware........


on the way through town we saw some people lining the street and holding signs in support of "pro life" efforts.  Since they smiled at us, I asked if I could take their picture....:-).  I think they liked our British Columbia tags....we fit in with the aliens I guess....ha.



The more we drove around, the more it started to be obvious that the aliens were NOT trying to hide at all! they even had their own club.....hahaha.  REALLY!?



this guy was even bold enough to sit in the store front window.....chillin ....with a sun visor, ya'll!



and his buddy was getting sloshed too!  In front of everybody.....what's the world coming too??


I dear......space pod?  Space coffin??, Bedroom??......???



He must have stolen something....ha.


We went to the back of the "Alien Zone" and found out that they had their own arcade.....hooda thunkit??


this guy looked kinda lonely.......



So, Scootard decided to befriend him.  They guy didn't even say thank you!  What nerve!!


Anyway, we left and continued through town.  This is Roswell's city Hall....very nice.  Notice the "green" top...haha.  I guess they have just come to accept that these guys are here to stay.



We started back through town to get some dinner and find our hotel when we spotted the mother of all aliens.....complete with a ship!


all this alien adventure had us starving by now.  We settled on IHOP.  It was a big mistake.  I was trained in food sanitation and safety and the place "unerved me" on several levels.  We had the manager take care of things for us though......


I even tried the coffee, which to me is never good at resturants.  But I think we are spoiled from traveling with our own and using a French Press instead of auto drip.



I ordered Tilapia and finished most of what was on my plate.  I'm not a big bread eater, so that stayed with the plate.


We finished our dinner and travel toward our "home" for the night.  I'm telling you these guys are EVERYWHERE! Did you see that??  yeah, that wasn't a chicken leg!


Gas in the car is a must before we turn in for the night.  So, we stopped here.  They seem to be a popular chain in this area.....


the sun was starting to set and the sky was just gorgeous........:-).  I love beautiful sunsets.



So, we made it.  Roswell, New Mexico......home of the aliens of "Area 51" military training area that is not supposed to exist.  We were tired and glad to finally be able to get still for a while before starting again tomorrow......


I turned to take this shot of the sunset since no two are ever alike........:-).



we grabbed our things out of the car.  This will be our life for the next week or two.......


Thanked God for getting us here safely and for all the people who are praying for our safe return to Canada....and settled in for the night.


good night....:-).  See ya tomorrow!