Day 27 – Oklahoma Is A Reminder To Be Grateful For Family

We enjoyed our stay in the East Oklahoma City KOA campgrounds so much, we decided to stay put until mid morning.  We didn’t have a pressing need to leave early, since our first stop was only a sixteen minute drive from the campground.

The trailer needed a little attention (minor repairs and house keeping), so it was a good opportunity to do those things.

I didn’t realize last night that this campground has two shelters near the office that are used in the event of a tornado warning !   I must admit to being somewhat nervous in this part of the country, because I’ve never experienced a tornado and never want to…..yikes!

I guess I should have felt comforted that there were shelters nearby just “in case”, but when I found out they only hold 32 people, and the park has many more guests than that, I just kept thinking I hope I can run fast enough to get to the shelter before the limit is reached !

Just before leaving, we stopped by the campground store to look for a few things, and Dick and the manager struck up a conversation.   They have somewhat similar backgrounds in law enforcement and search and rescue.  The manager is one of these brave souls who runs into danger to help others.  It would be just a short time later during our trip to Oklahoma City that we saw a memorial that really spoke to just that kind of bravery.

The Oklahoma City Memorial

On April 19, 1995, the worst act of homegrown terrorism occurred at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.  Today, we went to the memorial to remember the human toll of that event:  Many people were killed, including children, and several hundred people were injured. Rescue efforts were made immediately after the bombing by heroes of all types who rushed in to help, and shortly afterwards, 655 rescue workers responded to assist in recovery operations.

The memorial is phenomenal.  There is a large shallow pool in the middle of the memorial with tall gates at either end.  One gate has 9:01 a.m. etched on it and the other gate has 9:03 a.m. etched on it   The missing minute is the exact time the bomb went off at 9:02 a.m.  This part of the memorial is called “The Gates Of Time”.

There is a field of empty chairs next to the reflection pool.  These chairs represent the absence felt for each life lost in the tragedy.  Nineteen of the chairs are small, representing the children that died in the bombing.

We also saw an old elm tree at the memorial that is known as the “Survivor Tree”.  This tree witnessed the violence and now symbolizes resilience.

There is also a beautiful orchard area that is called the “Rescuer’s Orchard” and an area known as the “Children’s Wall” with painted tiles created by Oklahoma City children following the bombing.

This memorial was exceptionally well done.  It was designed with several areas where one could sit and reflect, and yet it was full of life at the same time.  It was definitely a healing place.   There is a cyclone fence in front of the memorial that is covered with stuffed animals and other mementos and pictures of some of the people who died.

After visiting the memorial, we started the drive to Woodward, Oklahoma, which was about two hours away.   On our way, we saw a trading post and restaurant, and decided to stop for lunch.  Ken and Dick ordered buffalo burgers and I ordered……you guessed it……a salad !

The dogs enjoyed a nice break before we took off again.

We  had just started off when Ken saw something flying out of the bed of our pickup.  Apparently some of the trailer wiring had become frayed, and separated from the connector.   We weren’t sure what was affected by the broken wire,but we still had trailer brakes and lights so we continued on.

We arrived in Woodward around 5:00 pm, and reached out to Ken’s cousin, Mike.   He was at his business so we drove over there to meet up with him.

When we walked into Mike’s office, we were blown away by how great it looked !

Mike is a land surveyor and opened his own business a few months ago.  His sister, Ken’s cousin Janice, is working there with him.

We enjoyed a great visit and tour of the building, and finished up the evening by going to dinner at a restaurant that had an AMAZING salad bar.

It was great spending time with family, especially after being reminded today at the Oklahoma City Memorial just how precious family is.