Ooooooooooklahoma!

After work on Thursday Thomas and I hopped into the car and started our trip to Ardmore, Oklahoma to attend the Movies at Murray! event. We decided to leave today so that we wouldn't have as long to drive in just one day. We had an uneventful drive and decided to stop in Santa Rosa for a quick drive-by letterbox by flat tire - Out of Gas. We quickly found this box and once it was rehidden we decided to get some dinner. We stopped at the Route 66 Restaurant. It was an interesting place. The decor was really outdated and not like you would expect to find in a 50's era diner. And there was a mixture of Native American, Religious and Route 66 art all over the walls. But the food was pretty good. I had an incredible hamburger (one that you would expect at a greasy spoon) and Thomas had tacos that were pretty good as well. After eating we continued on our way - we decided that it was getting late and we were going to stop and sleep in Amarillo. So at 11:00pm we found a hotel and took showers and went straight to sleep.

On Friday morning we were up early, had some breakfast and we were on the road again. We made a few stops in Texas to find letterboxes - Conway, Groom, Jericho and McLean. Most of the boxes we found were recently planted by jb kokopelli when she and WagTime made their circle trip through the panhandle. They did an excellent job of populating the panhandle. We stopped and saw some interesting things because of these new letterboxes - the 2nd Largest Cross in the western hemisphere, the VW Slug Bug Ranch, the Leaning Water Tower and the first Phillips 66 Station in Texas. We also took some time to visit the Devil's Rope/Route 66 Museum. It was very interesting and who knew there were that many kinds of barbed wire. Not long after visiting the museum we stopped in Shamrock, TX to get some lunch before crossing over into Oklahoma. Nothing exciting - just a quick bite to eat before continuing on our journey. I had planned to try and make it to Ardmore by 3:30pm so we didn't make any stops after eating until we reached Davis. We stopped at a rest area and found a quick drive-by and then exited at Davis to find a box near Arbuckle Wilderness and another one near Turner Falls. After these last two boxes we filled the car with gas and stopped at Original Fried Pies. Now I have heard of them but had never had one. Thomas got a chocolate and I got a pecan. Interesting little things! Now I have tried them and I don't think either of us will need to have them in the future.

From this point we didn't stop until we reached Lake Murray. The first order of business was to find Penguin Patrol at her campsite and pick up my event package with clues and park map. We drove through the park and found the campsites and quickly found Peguin Patrol. She was visiting with shiloh and Batty Girl & her LSS. We said our hellos, visited for a minute, picked up the packet of clues and then said goodbye until tomorrow. We headed over to the Lake Murray Lodge where we had reservations for the night. We checked into the lodge, unloaded the car and relaxed for a bit. Thomas decided he wanted to take a shower and relax and I wanted to go out and look for some letterboxes. I headed out and found a trail with three letterboxes - I hiked and found all three boxes. It was a nice hike, at times I was close to the lake and other times I was just in the woods. It was so peaceful. When I was done I returned to the lodge and met Thomas and we went for another hike that started near the lodge. We found two more boxes and just enjoyed the evening walk. It was close to dark when we returned to the room. After I took a shower I started to log things in and write a blog but I was too tired. After driving all day and letterboxing I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I also wanted a good night's sleep for the event tomorrow.