Words are too difficult to describe the heinous act of a few who impacted so many. Please see our Travel in pictures page and join us to commemorate those who have lost their lives and those who have survived. It was amazing to learn how the people of Oklahoma banded together in a community-wide display of spontaneous altruism. Pickup trucks became ambulances, strangers became neighbors. People literally donated the shoes off their feet. | April 19, 1995, altered the face of Oklahoma - and the nation - forever. A visit to the memorial We come here to remember Those who survived and Those changed forever. |
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Adios Texas... Hello, Oklahoma - the Sooner State! Saw some new critters on the way....
Prairie dogs.... Too cute! At long last, our Texan experience is complete! Flags, Lone Stars and ..... Long Horns! Through muddy trails, overgrown farm equipment, startled deer, bellowing burrows, majestic oak trees, wild flowers, ponds complete with duck decoys and babbling brooks, we stumbled on a couple of Long Horns relaxing............ True beauties............. Now we can leave Texas.....LIFE IS GOOD! Pipecreek, TX - The RV fixing place Awning fixed - check Windshield fixed - check Oil changed - check Running lights fixed - check New Vent Covers installed - check 6 hours later... bored and stiff sitting at the Garage waiting, Gertrude is back to normal! Can we go now.....??? Yes... Yes... Yes.... Bandera, TX Aaaah... away from the hustle & bustle of big cities... back in the country again! OK, now on the hunt for Longhorns! What do you do when you're stuck in big cities waiting for repair parts? You explore all the shops, restaurants, bistro movies, museums, and enjoy the local culture. We've come to the conclusion that Texas drivers are as crazy as those in Los Angeles. You probably would go crazy as all the freeways around both Houston & San Antonio are in loops... so you go around and around in circles around the city!!! It drove Ms GPS crazy and us nuts trying to figure out which way is really North, South, East or West! ...and then they have these.. 'turn arounds'... You know why they have that.... it's cuz we're going the wrong way...AGAIN! Texans love everything BIG (we've only seen 4 Smart Cars in all our travels in TX), are very patriotic to the nation and their state and they love their Lone Star (the American and State Flags are flying in the wind everywhere and the Lone Star is proudly displayed on everything from buildings, freeway columns, restaurants, furniture... anything you can place a star on)! We still have not seen a single LIVE Longhorn yet, but I guess they won't be in the cities. We've experienced several days of severe weather (and always at night or the early morning, 1am-5am!): hail, wind, rain, lightening and thunderstorms all in 80 deg weather and humidity which makes Keaau, HI, feel like a breeze. CLEANING UP AFTER THE STORM & REMOVING THE TARANTULAS! We did find our old street 'Jones Maltsberger' in San Antonio again. Didn't find our old apartment building, but it appeared that the area either became a shopping mall or a golf course. Either way...the street is still there... WOO HOO! Now, finally we received word that the RV repair place has the right parts!!! HALLELUIAH Onward to Pipecreek we go, to sit around for half a day at the repair shop so that Gertrude can be fixed and we can continue with our adventures of going nowhere! In our 'Travel in Pictures' page, I've uploaded all the sights from Galveston, Houston & San Antonio. It is worth browsing through. Even though we stayed in TX longer than we expected, we did enjoy our stay as we visited the Museums in Houston & San Antonio and spent some time in Galveston.
Well, we thought by now that we would be migrating North, but Allan and I are now in Houston. We’ll be staying in TX until we can fix all the repairs on Gertrude. Not only do we have to fix the awning from our previous foopa, but on the way to Houston via Port Aransas a stray rock from an oncoming truck hit our windshield. Now, poor Gertrude has 2 major cracks on her windshield. From the top left, the crack migrated all the way to the middle bottom! Argh…! Poor Gertrude is getting her battle scars…. What is in Houston you ask.... the last of the Hartono Clan... our big bruddah, Yoyok!!! Check out his brain freeze face while guzzling ice cream with Allan after a full meal of Crawfish....! Yoyok, true to form (hey, round is a form!) took us to all the best eats in Houston. First Indian food, then Cajun Crawfish and now, Malaysian Cuisine... Omnumnumomnum........ Best RV place to stay EVER! Our spot is by a small pond, on the dunes of the Gulf of Mexico with miles and miles of white sand beaches. Rented a Golf Cart and drove on the beach to the little city…. What fun! It was a stormy day, a perfect day to see lots of bird activity on the beach and little turtles trying to cross the beach making their way to the ocean! A little history: Mustang Island was formed around 3000 BC. In 1250 AD the Karankawa Indians occupied Mustang Island and settlers arrived in 1853. Cattle & Mustangs were Mustang Island's economy in 1868, and in 1878 the Coast Guard Station opened. In 1910 the town was renamed Port Aransas, and in 1914 the Farley Boat Works opened. President Roosevelt fished local waters in 1937 in a fishing boat named Manny specially made by Farley Boat Works. 1970 brought Hurricane Celia (this is the year we got married, moved to San Antonio and when we first visited Corpus Christi which is a stone throw away from Port Aransas). The 2010 census recorded a population of 3480! Now you know!
Well, since our major mishap in Big Bend National Park, we headed to the nearest large city which happened to be San Antonio. Not too bad, considering Allan & I started our married life in San Antonio..some 45 years ago... (YIKES)....may as well relive the aura of those bygone days, check out the old Fort Sam Houston, the River Walk and, of course... the Alamo! San Antonio, River Walk & The Alamo......
From Big Bend we stayed in Seminole Canyon State Park, before ending in San Antonio.................. Beautiful sunsets, an abundance of wild flowers, the birds were chirping, a full moon, the wind was blowing, no train noises, no highway noises.... Just peaceful bliss! Aaaah................................................
The Desert was BLOOMING!!! - see all my flower pics on our 'Travel in pictures' page! |
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Allan & Sri, Where we are now:
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