The Road to the Opry

We know we belong to the land (yo-ho)
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say
Yeeow! Aye-yip-aye-yo-ee-ay!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma O.K.!

Day #4:
 Oklahoma to Arkansas to Tennessee
724 miles (No wonder I'm pooped!!)
7 states total

We spent the morning in Oklahoma City this morning.  First, we went to the Softball Hall of Fame & Museum -- expected a sort of rinky-dink affair (think back to last year's visit to the Alien Museum in Roswell) but found a really quality site.  There was a lot of memorabilia, including a whole room devoted to Olympic softball.  It was very exciting to see all the pictures, and tributes to the teams -- especially all the stuff relating to our former student, Stacey Nuveman.  So proud of her!

Stacey's catcher's mask in the center.

The next stop on the OK City tour was a visit to the memorial at the site of the Oklahoma City bombings.  It is such a moving memorial, with parts of the original building still standing, empty chairs representing the lives lost, and the giant memorial walls at either end, with "9:01" inscribed on one end (when life seemed "normal"), and "9:03" on the other -- one minute after the bombing (when life was forever changed).

On the way out of town, we drove through part of Moore, Oklahoma (which was struck by a tornado on May 20th).  Pictures and news reports cannot begin to convey the mass devastation.  We drove around a few city blocks right off the freeway.  Overwhelming and heartbreaking.

So, after a pretty depressing morning, we got on the road and headed east.  We drove through some beautiful areas of Oklahoma and Arkansas, again grateful for the back roads and scenic byways.  We were going to stop in Memphis, but it was one of our least favorite cities last year, so we decided to drive on (we did listen to the King all the way through the city).  Here we are in Nashville, having put in more than 700 miles today!  We'll see a little Opry tomorrow.

On the way here, we passed many potential stopping places.  I know you might call me a motel snob, but I'd rather pay a few bucks more than stay in a Motel 6.  That has sort of been my "bar" for motel quality, until Mimi found the following:

I guess I really need to set the bar a little higher than "6" (are you with me, Kim?).