Memorial Weekend Trip to Tulsa

Butch and I left on Thursday to visit his aunt and uncle in Tulsa, OK. On the way, we stopped in Eads, TN. I had seen an ad for an antique store there---which is how I found out there even WAS an Eads, TN. I tried to do a little research before going to find out when the town was established and who it was named after. We know that a few generations back, there were Eads from Butch's side in TN. Anyway, I couldn't find any information. We stopped there, but didn't find out anything that way either---it's just a really small town outside of Memphis.

We detoured to Mississippi so that Butch could find a cache there. We spent the night. The next morning, Butch found a couple caches---and didn't realize he also "found" poison ivy. We stopped again in Little Rock, Arkansas so I could go to a scrapbook store. I spent about an hour there---while Butch made phone calls. Our next destination was Fort Smith, Arkansas with the intention of doing a little sight-seeing. That didn't take long---not much there---plus, it was really hot. I relaxed under a tree with my book (side note---I'm ahead of my 50 pages a day goal!) while Butch geo-cached. By the time we got to Oklahoma, he was excited because he had found caches in 3 different states in the same day. I guess you have to be him to get the significance of that.

We met up with Walter and Chris for a pizza before going to Uncle Pat's and Aunt Jean's. We had a fun filled weekend all around. The guys drove to Stillwell, OK to meet up with their Uncle Bill and cousin Porter to fish for the day. We girls went to an antique mall which was really good.

On Sunday, we drove up to Pawhuska, OK---where Butch's dad and uncle grew up. There were 10 in the family plus another that died at birth. I really enjoyed riding around that town---looks like a ghost town now, but still has charm. We visited the cemetery and found some family graves. Also, we saw this tree loaded with mistletoe, so we couldn't resist!

I loved seeing the prairie and all the beautiful wildflowers. After reading The Worst Hard Time last summer, I'm still fascinated with the whole "dust bowl" thing.

There's a picture of Butch and Walter finding a cache.

It's ugly, but the poison ivy is really bad. It "dripped" all the way home. Butch finally went to the doctor today (Wednesday) as it's spread to his eye. If he would only listen to me....but then nobody does, so what's the use!!

But the most exciting thing of all---I was sitting on the porch with my book when Aunt Jean came out and told us to notice the bobcat in the yard. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!! A WILD ANIMAL IN THEIR BACKYARD! That's Oklahoma. I think it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen in person. I don't think anyone else got my excitement. But of course, I get pretty excited at just about everything---I guess it's the same as the boy who cried wolf.