The tents haven't been used in more than 4 years and I'm not sure they have survived being stuffed in their bags in the same creases for all this time. I know I wouldn't fare well if it had been me in those sacks.
In the meantime, I'm camped out in air-conditioned comfort (it was 88 here today!) (in October!!) at a motel in Park City, Kansas. My newest great-niece lives here with her family. I came to see her and find out if she's crawling yet - not really, although she does get around quickly. She has the most beautiful red-gold hair; it's just difficult to see since there's not much of it. She has a lovely face and a slim figure and a wonderful smile and laugh. She was a bit puny and I was a bit dirty and sweaty so we didn't hold each other, but I'll do that next time. I brought her two photos of her grandmother, one who was gone long before her birth. My sister-in-law died at age 49 of cancer and I've missed her often since then. Never more than now, since I get to see her grand-daughter and she doesn't.
Monday is the third anniversary of the death of my husband. Last year I turned off the phone and locked the door for a few days but that's difficult this year since I now live with the kids. I think in about 7 more years I won't need to do that when October rolls around.
So, that's why I left Oklahoma City this morning at 7 a.m. The drive up I-35 was nice but nothing spectacular or even very interesting. Just before crossing over into Kansas, I got off the interstate and took Highway 81 north. Highway 81 roughly follows the old Chisholm Trail and one of these days I'm going to Texas - Wichita Falls - and follow it north, all the way to the Kansas border. I'll pretend I'm a-drivin' a herd uh cattle . . .
In Kansas I began to notice things - maybe because there were things to be noticed. I need a camera on the top of my car, like the storm trackers use, so that I can just push the button and photograph what I see through my windshield. Such as an old silo with a Big Tree growing out of the top; a field of longhorn cattle; a hawk perched atop a speed limit sign, watching the traffic come his way.
You can sure spot the Bois d' arc trees this time of year. Those huge yellow-green "horse apples", as we called them as kids, seem to glow in the daylight.
Our acreage in the city has a line of them across the back of the lot. I think they're wonderful trees; my son grumbles at them because of the mess those fruit leave. Wikipedia has a good article about them here. If you type in "Osage Orange" on Google Images, you get a lot of wonderful photos of the tree and the wood and things made from it.
Between Wellington (which, by the way, is a nice little town) and Hayesville, where Hwy 81 curves back north, I spotted a produce stand and made a quick slide right off the road in my little car. Fresh produce from the farm where it was grown - just my kind of groceries! I bought apples and peppers for supper. I would have liked more, but while traveling don't have many opportunities to cook, so settled for what I could eat fresh. Here's the stand. He says they'll probably have good eats until the end of the month:
And here's what I bought:
Supper sure was good. I cut up one pepper and added it to half a block of crumbled Feta cheese and half a can of drained black beans. I'm saving my apple and a glass of milk for later which, I guess, is now.
Tomorrow I plan to drive through the Kechi cemetery. My niece says it's well-laid out and can be driven through. Besides, there's someone in our family history buried in that cemetery. I have to take a look!
