I splurged for a "real" breakfast at Grumpy's Cafe across from the hotel this morning -- it was a freeway day today and I wanted some hope of staying awake.

I took some back roads into Oklahoma and then headed to I-40 to go into Oklahoma City to see the OKC National Memorial. It was pretty much the only thing I wanted to see in Oklahoma (well, besides Oral Roberts' 40'-tall praying hands sculpture -- because, really, what the hell? -- but I just couldn't justify a trip to Tulsa).

My personal favorite eastern Oklahoma landmark was "Ed's Flags and Stuff", showcasing 3 huge flags: the USA flag, a confederate flag, and the checkered Nascar flag. Heh.

I stopped for a Diet Coke in Red Oak, OK -- easily the weirdest place I've been. Three boys came out of the gas station and just stood there, staring at me. When I asked what was up, they finally asked if I wanted gas (it was a self-serve station). I said no, just a Coke, and they told me to go next door to the mini-mart. I did, and the lady and her ~5-year-old daughter just stared at me, too. It was like the town of unspeaking staring zombies. Creeeeeepy.

Crossing into Oklahoma.

These trees were everywhere in eastern Oklahoma.

In hindsight, it really shouldn't have been a surprise that the OKC National Memorial was smack dab in the middle of a normal city street in downtown Oklahoma City, but for whatever reason, it was to me. I rounded a corner and, wham, there were the Gates whose image was imprinted on my mind from a long ago copy of Newsweek. I was 17 when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed; it was the first incidence of terror that I really remember clearly. I didn't know anyone personally who was impacted by the bombing, but I've felt a pull to the Memorial ever since.

Parked outside the Memorial.

Looking down the reflecting pool.

The Field of Empty Chairs.

In addition to wandering the grounds, I paid to enter the newly-built museum. I highly recommend it; it was very powerful in its use of photographs, video, sound, and light to convey both a normal day in the Murrah building pre-bombing and the horrific aftermath.

I returned to I-40 in a somber mood. The highway through central and western Oklahoma isn't what I'd call challenging, which left time to process the Memorial and think a lot about death. It was a thought-provoking, if slightly depressing, afternoon.

I spent some time at a later gas station talking to Jim, an Oklahoma state trooper who approached me about my trip. He and some buddies are riding from Oklahoma to California in a couple weeks and he was looking for some route/gear advice. We chatted about Avenue of the Giants (he's never been, but his buddy had it on their route list), Hwy 1, and the Nevada desert.

I ate at a very strange restaurant tonight. People in the back smoking section sound like they're hocking up a lung back there (tuberculosis section, maybe). A guy my age is -- I think? -- waiting for take-out and is totally obsessed with the claw game by the door. He's had to have spent $20 on the damn thing just while I've been in here watching. He keeps asking the waitress how to win the stuffed cow on top of the game. The people in the booth behind me obviously know other people in the restaurant because they keep talking to them every time the others come up to the salad bar. The others very clearly don't want to be talking to them and walk away. Very weird.

369 miles today; 4127 miles total.

Next Day --> June 17: Elk City, OK - Raton, NM