Small Chairs - June 5, 2009

Today we traveled from my sister's home west of St. Louis to just past Oklahoma City. Mostly it was putting miles on the road but we did make a few stops.

Around Springfield, MO., we stopped for lunch and talked with Dave who worked for a medical supply company. He was delivering new Chevy Savannahs to the other branches replacing older Savannahs that they used for deliveries. This was very heartening. Talking about his personal cars, Dave owned a GMC Yukon and a Mitsubishi. Referring to the Mitsubishi, Dave said “Your cars are too expensive. They have stuff on them I don't need.” Then Dave asked the other Dave if he thought that American auto workers were overpaid and lazy. Dave replied “They make a lot more money than we do!” Dave said that the recession has had an affect in Springfield but that his business was more or less recession proof. Looking at the vehicles in the parking lot of the restaurant, almost all of them were full size pick up trucks. They may not be buying new full size trucks in the Midwest but it is obvious that they both need and prefer them.

We stopped for an hour at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. I had known that there were chairs for every victim of the bombing but I didn't realize the effect that it would have. As you approach the memorial, it is framed by the black monolith of both the east and west gates. The gates frame the reflecting pool conveying a deep sense of peace as you enter the memorial. Along the south side of the memorial, occupying the footprint of the former Murrah building is the field of chairs. 19 of the 168 chairs are small chairs. They are at about ½ scale to the other chairs representing the babies and children that died in the bombing. We were overpowered with sadness which set the tone for the whole day. We have only posted a couple of photos from the memorial because no matter how many photos we post, the only way to understand the emotional impact is to visit the memorial.

We closed out the day setting up our tent for the first time. Winds on the plains turned our tent into a sail but after buying tent stakes, which I left behind, and staking it down, it went well. Not being entirely true to camping, we ate buffalo burgers at a restaurant. They were way overkill in size which will provide us with lunch or dinner tomorrow. It's a small world, camping next to us was a family who used to live a couple of blocks from where Dave now resides in Ohio. We went to bed to the sound of cicadas and thunder rumbling in the distance.

Next: A washout? Rolling across the southwest.