WHAT A WAY TO SPEND THE DAY

Sunday, May 29 – The Elks did a wonderful job with displaying the flag for Memorial Day.

We spent the day at Kelly's. It is our anniversary, and she asked us to go to her place to "hang out". We watched some NCAA softball and sat by the pool. Just another nice day with one of our daughters.

 

Wednesday, June 1 - Paul had an appointment at PPL of Houston, an RV dealership here is south Houston this morning.

This is the repair facility Carrier Air Conditioning insisted we visit to get warranty service on our one-year old air conditioner. This is the forth service call we have had on this unit. Although, under warranty, Carrier no longer makes RV Air Conditioners, so we have had difficulty finding anyone to attempt repairs on the unit. One way or the other, this will be our last attempt for service. If PPL can not repair/replace the unit, we will cut our losses and replace it with another manufacture's model.....Paul believes this is what Carrier is aiming for.....delay long enough that we throw our arms up in disgust and replace it at our own cost!

Well, after sitting at PPL all morning (5.5 hours), we finally gave up and headed home. No sooner had he arrived at the Elks, John from PPL called and said Carrier authorized installation of a new AC. They are shipping one out tomorrow (they say), and we should have it installed at PPL by the end of next week. We shall see!! Stay tuned!

Since the temperature has been in the high 90s every day, we have been spending several hours at the Elks pool.

They have done a great job with the maintenance on the pool. From the picture above, you can see the huge patio around the pool, and underneath the extended roof is another big sitting area. There is a window and door that goes directly into the bar area. Real nice!

 

FLASHBACK TO Monday, May 23 –We ended our day of touring on a lighter note by visiting the Oklahoma State Capitol. The building is built from white Indiana limestone with a base of pink and black granite.

The pink granite is from Troy, and the black granite is from Cold Springs, OK. Each of the state's 77 counties donated materials to be used in the construction. Containing 650 rooms, the Capitol occupies 11 acres of floor-space.

We rode the elevator up to the fifth floor and toured the building “top down.”

The dome soars 190 above the state seal on the first floor. It is 80 feet in diameter with colors inspired by gaillardia or Indian blanket, the state wildflower.

Looking down at the Seal.

There is Oklahoma works of art hanging throughout the building. Isn't this appropriate…a tornado scene…YIKES!

Beautiful murals describing life in Oklahoma then and now.

We entered the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the State Senate, and the Supreme Court.

House

Senate

Look at the newest Senator hard at work.

We have no idea if we were allowed on the floor. We didn't see anyone around so we ran in and ran out. We probably looked very silly on the camera.

Supreme Court

On the first floor is the Galleries with rotating exhibits by Oklahoma artists. The collection comprises more than 100 works of art by Oklahoma artists. Here are a few of Marsha's favorite…

Desert Dancer

Every one loves a clown.

Donkey head

And her favorite of all…Women looking over man's shoulder as he reads the paper.

A very attractive Capitol building and a recommended visit if in the Oklahoma City area.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

BACK IN HOUSTON

Friday, May 27 – After seeing the Oklahoma City is going to have more sever thunderstorms and possible tornadoes, we packed up and headed back to Houston. No use pushing our luck.

It is really hot here…98. The wind is blowing but nothing like OK City. We are very happy about that. Going to lay low today and just chill.

FLASHBACK TO WEDNESDAY – We met a couple full-timer classmates of ours today. Full-timer's that began traveling in the same year (in our case 2009) or 2008, and belong to the Escapee's RV Club, get together whenever in the same area to exchange “war stories” and try to out do each other with travel stories. We met up with Steve & Carol at the Fire Lake Grand Casino in Shawnee. After chatting for a while, we headed over to the Casino for some lunch where we continued getting to know one another.

After a nice lunch, we decided to try our luck on the slots. We signed up for a players card which got us a free game of Keno and $10 credit on the slots. We each put in $5 and after about an hour Paul walked away with $12 in his pocket and Marsha had $13.

Oh....I forgot one thing. The casino had a free ice cream machine and free soda. We each had a bowl of ice cream and it was GOOD!

After hugs and hand shakes, we said our good-byes and headed home to prepare for tomorrow's trip. We're heading back into Texas to the Houston area to visit the girls and help our oldest daughter move to Ohio.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

THE AMERICAN WEST IN 220,000 SQUARE FEET

Thursday, May 26 – We left Oklahoma City today at 7:30. We arrived in Bryan, TX at 1:40. It was a pretty easy and uneventful drive. We are staying one night at Prime Rose RV Park back in late April…only $14.50 PPA for the night.

Flash back to Oklahoma City -

Hey.....we haven't even visited any of the museums yet! This tour took us four and a half hours, and we didn't linger in any area! National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum 

Where does one start to tell you about the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. It is UNBELIEVABLE! Everyone that knows you are in Oklahoma City, even people you meet briefly in town, say “be sure to see the Cowboy Museum.” They aren't kidding....DON'T MISS the Cowboy Museum!!! The actual displays are housed in eleven rooms in the west wing of the museum.

THE END OF THE TRAIL – A Native American View by James Earle Fraser

We began our tour by viewing a 20 minute movie giving us an overview of what to expect and a little history of the museum. Volunteers meet you in the hall to direct you to where to begin you tour.

Starting with the Canyon Princess, an 18 foot, 16,000 pound white cougar reigns over the exhibit wing. Carved from a single block of Colorado marble by award winning artist Gerald Balciar.

On special loan to the museum is the Bowie Knife exhibit. Thousands of beautiful and historic knifes are on display in the Eldridge Gallery. We thought we were going to get kicked out of the Museum while visiting the first exhibit. Marsha started taking pictures when a security guard came up and said…nicely…"No pictures, please." Marsha showed him the diagram of where "photos permitted" were listed. He explained that if an area doesn't have a picture of a camera, photos were prohibited. She read it backwards. She gave him a big smile and a long apology, and he allowed her to stay. Doesn't seem like I can take her any where without her causing an uproar!

Here is the only one she was able to keep.

The rooms are filled with Native American art, paintings, sculptures, western firearms, western clothing, tools, and utensils.

Indian woman's Elk tooth dress.

Indian beaded gloves

There is a complete room dedicated to Western performers. The Hollywood greats we all remember. Gene Artery, Roy Rodgers, Dale Evans, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood (Marsha's favorite), and many, many more.

Remember Roy Rogers and Dale Evans?

How about Walter Brenner?

Of course this area couldn't be complete without THE DUKE…John Wayne.

Then there's the Rodeo Gallery, honoring the famous cowboys that rode the bulls, bucking horses, and entertained the thousands of rodeo fans.

Don't these look comfortable? They are Ladies' Bathing Shoes…what the heck? These really aren't for bathing, but for trick and fancy riding. The thin leather soles allowed for greater traction in moving around the horse.

 

An unusual exhibit is the circa 1900 Western cattle town called Prosperity Junction.

You revisit the town at dusk entering many of the building and looking in the lighted interiors of others. The full-size structures include a saloon, school, blacksmith shop, post office, doctor's office, church and others.

Paul bellied up to the bar.

While Marsha played a little tune on the ivories.

Inside the local church.

A larger-than-life size, full-figure sculpture of former President Ronald Reagan, AFTER THE RIDE.   Reagan was inducted into the Museum's Hall of Great Westerners in 1989. 

This is Marsha's favorite statue. Abraham Lincoln. Considered a "western" president, Lincoln made remarkable contributions to the settlement and development of the West even while preoccupied by war. In May of 1862, he signed the Homestead Act into law, permitting the unhindered ownership of farmland in the West by more than one million families prior to 1910.

The museum has an amazing special events center with HUGE murals displayed on the walls. Artist, Wilson Hurley painted the five panoramic murals of the American West. These three-panel murals measure over 18 feet tall and 46 feet wide. They are beautiful.

The Norma Sutherland Garden around the Museum were lovely with streams, statues, flowers and a beautiful lawn.

You could easily spend the entire day in this museum. There is so much to see. They even have a beautiful dining room if lunch or dinner is needed to fortify you to continue your tour.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!