Oklahoma, here we come!

 On Monday, May 14th, we moved into OK.  Unequaled in its friendliness and surprisingly pretty and varied, it was a state which was destined to become one of my favorites.  In the many blog entries to come, I'll try and share some of what I/we found so appealing...

 Farmland found along the northern Texas-Oklahoma border.

 While we did in fact enter OK in the more prairie-like part, we were startled to find mountains (or at least hills)!  These here are part of the Wichita Mountains.  They reminded us a lot of Ramona's Mt. Woodson - very rocky and loaded with giant boulders!

 Our path, east on route 62, took us through some really pretty countryside.

 Here are some of what I've always called "oil animals," something very ubiquitous to OK, an obviously oil-rich state!

 A tiny segment of a great mural in downtown Oklahoma City (OKC).  While I was walking around our first evening there, I ran into an unlikely person.  Passing by a big, tall black man, I said Hi and we chatted a bit.  He asked where I was from, and ultimately it came out that he was the LA Lakers coach, Mike Brown!  The Lakers were in town to challenge the OKC Thunder.  While I'm soooo not sports savvy, I had to root for the Lakers, or at least for Brown, who seemed like a really nice guy!  Sadly though, OKC triumphed.  But I hope the future will hold good things for Mr. Brown!!  See?  You just never know what you'll get to see/who you'll get to meet when you hit the road!

Toby Keith was born in Oklahoma and opened this restaurant that takes advantage of one of his many hits.  Hmm, wonder if Toby's on the menu...  A girl's just gotta wonder...   ;)

 Billy and I locate one of our favorite diners - Freddy's.  First found in TX and reunited with in OK, this place has THE BEST frozen custard (and their burgers and fries are damn good too!!!!!!!!!!!).

The sign on their hot air hand-dryer.  Made me laugh so I just had to share...

Our first time at a Bass Pro Shop.

There's so much in these stores, the experience can be a bit overwhelming at first!  If you look at a larger version of this photo, you might be able to see the bison over Bill's head (a display near the men's fitting rooms), or the aquarium in the back, but you won't see the shooting gallery or the fishing section or the boat building or the...!

While exploring OKC, we stayed just east of the city, at a KOA.  It had a neat little nature trail that I took Senny and Tractor for a walk on one cooler morning.  Here's one of the pretty flowers we found.

And another.

And a pretty spider...

Buddies!