Greetings from Arkansas

Canal Walk, Okla. City

Russellville, Arkansas

This morning we toured Oklahoma City a bit. First stop was the Murrah Building Memorial, for the Federal building Timothy McVeigh blew up in April 1995. It's a beautiful and quite moving memorial, and is meticulously cared for. A Park Ranger gave a talk about the day of the explosion, and while I of course knew generally about it, I was surprised about how large the explosion was. Several other buildings were extensively damaged, and a woman walking along the street quite a ways from the Murrah building was killed by the blast.

After that, we took a trolley ride into Bricktown, an old part of the city that has been spiffed-up with new bars and restaurants and a baseball stadium for whichever is the not-quite-major league team in Oklahoma. And like every spiffed-up town like this we've seen, this one has a riverwalk. Not quite like San Antonio's, but trying its best.

Then we drove up to see the Oklahoma Capitol Building, something we like to do whenever we're in a state capitol. (And let's face it: where else can you see them?)  We didn't go in. In front of the building The Eagle Must Fly Ministries was blasting religious music in preparation for some kind of event.

We're spending the night in Russellville, AR, and plan to go to Hot Springs NP tomorrow. We just finished dinner at the Old South Restaurant, a really neat old diner listed on the national register of historic places. We were there shortly before closing time (9pm), and the waitresses were cleaning up and chatting among themselves. All young. All with children. None married. Our waitress was pregnant--I thought she was just grossly fat--and her boyfriend came in while we were there. She's having a girl. Her boyfriend has decided to name her some odd name from one of his favorite video games.Something like "Axisth." I guess it's better than PacMan, but not much.

Eating out with Serry is always interesting, especially on a trip like this that takes us to really backward areas--like rural Arkansas. Coming in to AR near Fort Smith, we stopped at a supermarket to see if we could find a salad bar. The kids didn't know what we were talking about--never heard of a salad bar in a market. We finally got them to understand what we meant, and they suggested a pizza restaurant up the street. One of the girls said she loved the stringy salad they have. That turned out to be shredded iceberg lettuce, and the selection of salad fixings was the worst I've ever seen. And the pizza!? 

At the diner, Serry asked if they had Egg Beaters. The waitress had no idea what Serry was talking about. And when Serry said she didn't eat meat, the waitress expressed amazement. These folks are real nice, but it's like they live under a rock.

Almost forgot: Yesterday, in Groom, TX, not far from Amarillo, we came upon a gigantic cross erected by some guy who felt God wanted him to do something to promote the glory of Jesus. The site also contains statues for the stations of the cross. We didn't stop. When God talks to these  characters, I wish he's suggest more interesting things.