Midpoint: Tulsa, OK

Mom, Dad, and I have been driving through Kansas all day with 3 hours still to go until I reach my apartment in Colorado Springs!!! Last night, we stopped midway in Tulsa, OK to spend the night with my aunt (my dad's sister) and uncle, whom I have never visited. I have seen them at least once a year for the past two decades, but had never made it to their neck of the woods until yesterday.

We were greeted by their two dogs, which I loved.

Okay, dropping the I hate animals pretense for one second, they had a mutt named Ody. He was very cute. The end.

My aunt Sue and uncle Mike own a toy store, called Kiddlestix. They sell specialty toys to special customers, namely Mrs. Taylor Hanson, who was there just a few weeks ago. Seriously though, it's adorable-they took me to see it last night. And I had to blog about it, if for no other reason than to name-drop the wife of my childhood, and current, crush. At dinner, Sue and Mike were telling us about the Silly Band craze that swept their store in March. Mike insisted that they buy a thousand to sell at $5 a package! Against her prognostication that the fad would fade with the end of school, Sue consented.

On the Silly Band stand right in front of the check-out counter, a sign now reads: "Buy one, get one free. No returns." I got a kick out of this. As well as $40 worth of Silly Bands for free, that I will be mailing as gifts to you soon. In case you were wondering.

Around 8 AM this morning, the police showed up outside Sue and Mike's house. See, what happened was: Uncle Mike took Maggie and Ody for a walk in the park this morning, just down the street from their house. (To preface, let me mention that they had just been telling us about a number of recent home invasions in their area)... Anyhow, he noticed a fifty-some year old woman walking from house to house, who seemed innocuous enough. Until he realized that she was taking panoramic video of each one.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Why are you videotaping my neighborhood?" he asked as he approached her. She did not respond at first. But uncle Mike did not let up. I had not previously known this about his personality.

"Silly question...crazy talk," she answered him with an Eastern European accent.

He persisted, "well no, actually. Taking video of people's houses makes them nervous. And I would like an answer as to why you just videotaped mine?"

"Are you security?" she inquired.

"Nooo...do we need security?"

Apparently, Mike arrived at that conclusion on his own. He was on his way out the door to tell the officer she was probably long gone, when who but Lithuania comes trekking up the hill with her video camera. The officer interrogated her while Mike stood by, unconvinced by her claim to the policeman that she lived up the street somewhere and was documenting trees...and apparently just the trunks, as her footage evidenced nothing above the rooftops....

How did the story end? Well, pretty uneventfully. The policeman told her to make her way back home, (wherever that may be). And that while videotaping people's homes is not against the law, it is concerning to the residents. Obviously.

All that to say that while I have been victim to prairies, windmills, and wheat fields for the past two days, our travels have been nothing short of entertaining. Thank you Sue and Mike. That's all for tonight...like I said, 3 more hours to go, and a Starbucks across the street, calling my name come 8 AM.