In 1850, some 55,000 pioneers, motivated by the promise of greater opportunities, rolled westward by wagon train. Their journeys were endlessly long and almost intolerably uncomfortable. They faced risks, dangers and threats by disease, lawlessness, Indian attacks, harsh weather conditions and insufficient nutrition.
Things have barely changed as I, in 2012, face cross-country horrors of an aching lower back, bad gas station coffee, limited radio options, and occasional drop-offs in cell phone coverage. It took an extra minute and a half this morning to get the free hotel wi-fi in gear for my laptop. It's like the pioneer experience all over again! Life is hell.
Yesterday's photos (you can click on each one to enlarge):
The famed "Leaning Water Tower of Groom" (Texas):
Hotbed of journalistic activity:
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| Downtown Groom |
I got a little lost but finally found the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial - America's Ground Zero before later events usurped the title. Even if you didn't remember the bombing or the details, it's an immensely powerful site. On the far side of the reflecting pool are 168 sculptural chairs - one for each person killed in the bombing. Nineteen smaller chairs are for the children. In my personal experience with memorials to tragic events, I'd rate it number two after Pearl Harbor.
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| Carved at top of sculpture: 9:01 Note chairs on far side of pool |
Okemah, OK -- outside the current or former (?) county jail
Speaking of penal matters, I stopped at Walgreens in Muskogee last night for some benedryl. At the check-out counter I was tempted to buy a periodical called, "Just Busted." For a buck you can buy a paper filled with recent local mug shots. Wow! That's one way to become an Eastern Oklahoma celebrity.
And not that we had the energy or time, but I was interested in whether or not Shabbat services were happening somewhere in Muskogee and found the following article:
Apparently we were just six months too late. So I said "boreh p'ree ha-gafen" over a glass of white zinfandel at Okie's Steakhouse and had to call it good.
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