A Walk, then a Drive North with a Big Mistake - Fri., Sept. 19

Thursday evening, as promised, Bob did a 13-mile run on the multi-use trail at Arcadia Lake. It didn't go well for him as he felt tired, and his chest was in irregular rhythm. He thinks he must have been in Afib. He left the 5th wheel as it cooled down in the evening and didn't get back to the 5er until well after dark. (He ran with a flashlight.) We had dinner and called it a night.

Friday morning we were up at 4:15 a.m. to do the Oklahoma City 10K (6.2 mile) Capitol Volksmarch. Our start point was at a downtown YMCA that opened at 5:00 a.m. I think we actually started walking around 6:00 a.m. Needless to say, it was very dark out and I loved it!

A deserted outdoor courtyard restaurant (not open at 6 a.m.!)

Church

Cool neon

One of many decorated buffalo.

I feel very fortunate to have seen the OKC National Memorial in the dark. To me, something would get lost seeing it in the daytime. When it's dark you get the full effect of the Field of Empty Chairs because they are lit up.
 

The Gates of Time

The Field of Empty Chairs represent each of the people who died in the OKC Federal building bomb blast. The small chairs are for the children from the day care center who died.

Field of Empty Chairs

 One hundred sixty-eight people died and 16 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

Memorial Reflecting Pool, Survivor Tree in background

The Fence with memorials to those lost

Our walk criss-crossed through the deserted streets of downtown Oklahoma City. At 6:30 a.m. we only saw construction workers, hospitality industry workers, and a few others. It was nice to walk in the middle of the street to get a photo if I needed to. Don't worry, I watched out for cars and nasty tripping curbs.

Hilton Hotel in the heart of Oklahoma City

Bricktown and the Amtrak train depot

Colorful hotel design

 The following bus stop gave me my morning chuckle.

Former building for the Oklahoma Historical Society

To the left of the former Oklahoma Historical Society is a Veterans Memorial Plaza. The bas relief memorials are very well done!

Korea

World War I

Thank you for our freedoms!

Oklahoma Capitol

The top of the Capitol dome

Sculpture tribute to the"Romantic Riders of the Range"

It was too early to go into the Capitol, so we continued our walk through beautiful, historic neighborhoods.

We walked part of Route 66

Overholser Mansion

Overholser Mansion - different view

1907 Greek Revival
Johnson-Hightower House

Johnson-Hightower House entry

Very cute house

The previous homes are in Heritage Hills.

We thought our morning walk in Oklahoma City was terrific. We headed back to the 5th wheel and prepared for our drive to Topeka, Kansas.

Here are a couple of scenic photos from our drive through northern Oklahoma:

In corresponding with Janice of Ready to Go Full Time RVing, we discovered they would also be in Topeka. Janice said David found a wonderful campground at Lake Shawnee Park for $20 per night. If we wanted to, the campground would let us park the 5th wheel there free for a couple of hours while we did our walk. Our plan at that point was to continue on to Lincoln, NE that evening after we finished our walk. Ha! Little did we know we would make a big boo-boo in our navigation.

You see, when we got to Wichita, Kansas on our way to Topeka, we should have taken I-35. Gulp, mea culpa. Instead, we got on I-135 north toward Salina. We didn't even realize it until we were almost in Salina. We ended up going the two long sides of the triangle, instead of the shorter diagonal. Oh well. Plans made in Jell-o and all that, we decided to spend the night in Topeka.

When we arrived in Topeka, the truck was running on fumes so we had to find a gas station that sold diesel where we could fit our 33' 5th wheel as well. Let me tell you, it's not easy to find a gas station in a downtown where a long pick-up truck pulling a 5th wheel can get in and out with ease. We finally found a station with diesel that Bob thought he could get into. Bless his heart, he shoe-horned that big beast in between two rows of pumps and we got our diesel. Whew!

All were happy after that and we continued on to Lake Shawnee Park to meet Janice and David. We secured our spot overlooking the lake next to Janice and David. When we were set up, Janice said she had made a "snack." We went to their place and she had taco salad all ready and waiting. She had a willing audience, because in all of our driving around lost, we never did eat lunch. Thank you, Janice, for being so good to us. You are an oasis of good food for the hungry. LOL.

Janice, David and Bob

View of sunset from our back window

We chatted and visited each other's rigs. Janice could tell I was about to pass out on her couch I was so tired. We headed back to our 5er and promised to say our good-bye's in the morning.

Travel Bug out.