We left Meeman-Shelby State Park at 7 a.m., and took a breakfast break in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where we wandered around whimsical Old Mill Park for an hour or so. Built in 1933, the entire park is a piece of art. The Old Mill and the gates and the bridges and benches that seem to grow from the landscape were sculpted by Mexican artist, Dionicio Rodriquez, who used some sort of concrete to create a world that you would swear was made of wood.
After breakfast we headed straight to Oklahoma City, stopping only for gas, a bathroom break and a chance to grab lunch out of the cooler in the trunk in Fort Smith, Arkansas on the Oklahoma border. It was near here that we also stopped to look at our car thermometer, which was displaying readings we had never before seen.
104, …105,…106, …107. Really? Must be broken…
We checked into the Days Inn off I-35, and I took the kids to the pool as ASAP. Troy, my hero, volunteered to get the laundry started. While in the pool, I spoke with a nice lady from Oklahoma, who confirmed what I feared. The car thermometer was not broken.
“We’ve had a bit of a heat wave,” she said. “It’s supposed to cool down to the 90’s tomorrow.” Okay…
We had an awesome steak dinner at Cattleman’s Café in the OKC stockyards, complete with lamb fries (AKA fried slices of cattle testicles…really, but don’t tell the kiddos). Katie ate her weight in steak and still wanted more. She was also amazed and thrilled to see cowboys wearing real cowboy hats.
Everyone but Troy fell into refrigerated and blissful sleep by 10 p.m. Troy, the trooper, stayed up after midnight, updating the website.
We’re off to the Cowboy Western Museum and Amarillo next. See ya’ll at the Big Texan.