An interesting journey

Last Thursday I headed for Arkansas for two reasons. The main one, of course, was to attend my son Will's Arkansas wedding reception for his friends who weren't able to make the trip to Lincoln for his wedding. The second reason was to go to a concert featuring The Doobie Brothers with my former wife at the Winstar Casino just south of Thackerville, Okla., about five miles north of the Oklahoma-Texas border.

The drive to Russellville was uneventful but long. Ten hours is a long time to sit in a sports car but my iPod helped a lot. I have it programmed with over 400 of my favorite songs with no repeats. I plugged it into my car sound system, turned it up loud, set the cruise control, and drifted off into my own little world as the miles passed by. Linda had dinner waiting for me when I got there and after food and conversation, I went to bed because I was going to have to drive six more hours the next day to the concert.

Linda bought a new black Jeep as a companion vehicle to her Black Mazda Miata convertible and we decided to drive the Jeep to the concert. I always drove when we were married so I drove this time too. We arrived at the Casino six hours later and were met by Carnell and Marlene Carter, formerly of McCook, who are now employees of the Casino. After a couple of drinks and socializing, we left for the sold out concert.

Our tickets were down front, close to the stage and we were both excited about the upcoming performance. The Doobies didn't disappoint as they never do, performing almost two hours of classic rock that included all of their hits plus a couple of new cuts from their upcoming CD. We had a great time and hated for the show to end. The great thing about music is you check all your biases, prejudices, and political leanings at the door when you go in. For two hours, there were no Republicans or Democrats and no liberals or conservatives. We were all music lovers and we were there to celebrate a shared musical experience. It's always a trip for me every time I experience that camaraderie and communion.

This was my second trip to the Winstar for a concert. Linda and I went the first time to see Joe Cocker and what is probably a surprise to people who know me, I didn't gamble at the Casino either time. After the concert, we had a late dinner at the signature restaurant inside the newly built Winstar hotel before turning in. I had the filet and Linda had lobster and both meals were incredible.

The storm that paid a glancing blow to the McCook area last Friday was headed south and gaining strength. When we went to bed, Winter Storm Watches had been posted for the entire state and six to twelve inches of heavy wet snow, accompanied by high winds, was in the forecast. When we woke up Saturday morning, the Watch had turned into a Warning, ice pellets were falling where we were, and all 77 Oklahoma counties had been placed under a snow emergency. Even though Linda's Jeep handles much better in inclement weather than my T-bird does, I still didn't want to drive in it if I could help it. Our son Michael was manning the radar back in Russellville and he thought if we went south, headed east, and then swung up northeast through eastern Oklahoma that maybe we could miss it so that's what we did. We drove south to Texas, turned east to Sherman, then northeast through McAlester on the way to I-40. Linda kept calling Michael for updates and Michael kept telling us that we were no more than 5 to 10 miles ahead of the snow during our entire trip. In fact, when we stopped in Eufaula for gas, the snow briefly caught up to us. We were able to get ahead of it again though and drove the rest of the way in heavy rain, but no snow or ice and made it home without much difficulty.

Will's reception was that evening at the Galla Creek Country Club and everyone had a great time. My plan was to leave early on Sunday morning to make the drive back to McCook, although I had some grave concerns about the weather since the snow was covering all of Oklahoma and most of western Arkansas. It was still snowing in those same places the next morning, although we were only getting rain in Russellville. Will's new mother and father-in-law had left early that morning to return to Seward and as I was deliberating whether or not to take the chance, they texted Erica to tell her they were only going 25mph in heavy snow. Fort Smith had 9 inches of snow, Fayetteville 14 inches, and all of Oklahoma was blanketed in 8 to 14 inches and I had to go through most of Oklahoma to get back home.

Will and Erica decided to not even try to make it to their home in Springdale, Ark., so the four of us rented movies, ordered Chinese carry-out, and stayed put one more day. I left bright and early the next morning and the weather was perfect. Even though a lot of snow was still on the ground, the temperature was well into the 40s by the time I got to Oklahoma and was an amazing 73 degrees, with snow still in the bar ditches I might add, by the time I got to Hays, Kan.

A 10 hour drive on Thursday, six hours on Friday, six hours on Saturday, a day of rest because of the snow on Sunday and then another 10-hour drive on Monday.

I'm through driving for awhile.