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20050507 Tyler, TX, to Altus, OK
It was really blowing from south to north as we went west through Texas on US69, US82, US287, and US283. When we turned north on US283, we could really run with the wind at our back. Three hundred forty-four miles for the day. Mostly cloudy, cool, and comfortable for driving.
We set up in the Horizon Sands RV Park and headed over to Annamarie & Randy's. Randy was home, so we sat around talking for a bit. Then Annamarie came back from her participation in "Crossing the Red (River)" in a multi-horse group. She was scratched from driving through the brush, and somewhat tired, but happy that it went off well. She had a small problem with her horse, but others helped fix the bit and she went on.
We talked, then they served steak, potatoes, okra and merlot for dinner. Then we talked some more. A great deal of the talk centered on Annamarie's family get-together in Myrtle Beach earlier in the year and the next one, next week in New Hampshire for her parents 50th wedding anniversary. Some was also about Sam, their daughter, who was on a trip to Dallas today.
Annamarie asked Dolores for ideas for a gift box. It appears we'll be helping them tomorrow put together a photo set of some sort to decorate the box. After church. The church here doesn't have a mass-times board out front, so we'll take our best shot.
The Masons look good, happy, and prosperous. It'll be nice to be with them tomorrow.
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20050508 Altus OK Picture Link
Sunday and Mother's Day
We arose, ate, and went toward the church. Mass had already started, so Dolores went in while I drove to Walmart to get a few things we think we need, plus flowers for Dolores & Annamarie.
I got back in time to get her as she came out. We went back to the trailer to put the flowers up. Then we took a short tour of Altus AFB out of curiosity and because we had time.
Then we went to the Mason house. They'd slept in because Samanatha was on a trip to Dallas TX to Six Flags to sing with the choral group. The driver was an idiot and got them there 2.5 hours late. Then he didn't get them back to Altus until 1:30am. So they all went to bed late & needed the extra sleep.
Annamarie has a picture project she wants to finish, so we had our the computer & printer over there. We printed various pictures for her, and we'll do some more tomorrow.
Then we took a ride over this whole octant of the state. We pretty much stayed in a 20 x 60 mile box, a lot of that in the Longhorn and Buffalo Reserve. Naturally, we saw longhorns and buffalos (and prairie dogs), and a lot of rugged scenery. It didn't look as dry as it did two years ago, because we're here earlier in the year when the flowers are coming out, and they've had decent rains.
We stopped in Meers, an old stagecoach stop and centerpoint of the area back when. The building seems not to have changed much, but now it's a restaurant whose big-selling dish is a 8oz Meersburger (made of chopped Longhorn beef). We all had one and some home-made ice cream. We continued the ride and wound up back at their house.
Samantha has won a scholarship to a high-intensity two-week school in music in Oklahoma City this summer. She needed to submit a biography and photo to her teacher for use by the newspaper today. So we got out the camera and took some pictures while Sam was typing up the biography she worked on in the car on the ride. She took her choice of picture and Annamarie e-mailed both to the teacher. We decided to finish the other project tomorrow.
Randy came in with some ice cream cake (delicious), so we all did Mother's Day things and ate. Sam brought out her pet rat (the hairless variety) so we could see it. Holly the dog didn't think much of the little animal.
Annamarie called her mom for Mother's Day about the same time son Bill called us on our cell phone to wish his Mom a happy day. Dolores was talking with Bill, Annamarie with Mary, and me with Sam and Randy. The conversation got a little confused. Finally, everyone hung up and we left them to get ready for the work/school week. We'll go over tomorrow in the late morning.
We had a simply great day.
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20050509 Altus OK
Warm and clear; windy.
We wandered around town in the morning, getting little things at Walmart, etc. About noon we went to the Mason house. Annamarie had come home from work on the flight line (Randy works second shift).
We talked for a while, then sorted through all the photographs Annamarie had dragged out. We put some into a stack to be scanned for Annamarie and some for us. They were having trouble with their all-in-one scanner/printer/copier/fax. Randy de-installed the software and re-installed it to no good effect. Finally, Randy had to leave for work.
We moved the scanner/etc. to the dinette and installed its software on our machine. It worked. Dolores scanned and saved pictures until all the pictures we wanted were in digital form on our machine.
Annamarie took Sam (wearing a neat gown) to an audition for a singing thing. She did very well at it and was also offered a job at the high school/town pool for the summer, despite the fact that she'll be gone a lot. She is into many activities and is good at all of them. She's a neat young lady.
Then Dolores started the layout of Annamarie's project and moved photos into it. We ate dinner in here somewhere (beef, potato, mixed veg, CabSauv from Francisan). Then Dolores continued shuffling stuff. Randy came home for his dinner and went back to work.
Dolores worked till about 11:30pm. We printed three copies of the project, made a CD for Annamarie, packed up the computer stuff and departed at midnight, just as Randy pulled in from work.
We said our goodbyes and thanks and went home to bed.
It's always nice stopping here with such great people.
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