Wednesday, October 5, 2011

October 4, 2011

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

But first a stop in Wichita to reminisce. 

This is where we spent our first three years of married life.

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Actually, see the three windows at ground level?  That is where we lived – in the finished (mostly) basement.

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Entrance to our space was around corner in center of picture.  Fence was not there 45 years ago.

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Door to basement apartment. (Behind post)

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We knocked on the front door but no one was home.

In the summer, every evening we would walk around the neighborhood.  Evenings are nice in Wichita.  Comfortable temps.  Cicadas buzzing.  Quiet tree lined streets.  Often we would walk six blocks to a special place.  We did it again today.  We parked at the house and walked here:

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It is still there exactly as it was 45 years ago.  The buildings and streets nearby have changed but this little island is just as it has been for five decades.  We each got our small chocolate dipped cone and walked back to the carbus.  Fun.

South, avoiding the toll road, we entered Oklahoma.  We have not spent any time in Oklahoma.  It was always just a place to get through when headed to Texas for training or sightseeing.  The woman at the visitor center related one mans response when asked what brought him to Oklahoma.  His response, “I 35”. The north south freeway that goes right through the middle of the state.

We are in Ponca City in a quiet campground on a pretty lake.  Ponca City has free city WIFI.  Yippee! Tomorrow we will sightsee.

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Quick note on the weather.   In the 3+ weeks we have been on the road we have had one afternoon with scattered showers (we had already parked for the day) and a couple days of partly cloudy.  The rest of the time has been sunny and mild.  In Wyoming, South Dakota, and Iowa the nights sometimes were cool – mid 30s but warmed soon in the morning. (made for nice colors)  Things changed when we got to Kansas.  Warm to hot. High 80s to low 90s in the day, mid 50s at night. This is the first week of October. right?  Oklahoma is the same or worse.  Nice outside in the evening weather but the days are hot enough that air conditioned buildings are comfortable.  Definitely no color change here.  We see on the news that California is expecting some rain.  It looks like that same storm is going to move across the country in some fashion.  Oklahoma City TV weather guy predicts possible 1-3 inches of rain in western Oklahoma this weekend.  Perspective:  That is more rain than some parts of that area have had in the last 12 months.



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