Stillwater, Oklahoma

We have awakened in Stillwater, Oklahoma, having arrived here around 2:00 a.m. We're at the Best Western and have not ventured out to town yet. It looks warm from the window, with deciduous trees and a little breeze. We've had hotel room coffee, in fact, may be on our second pot. Rosemary and Kathy pulled out their computers at 2:20 a.m. when I had the sense to pull the covers over my head.

The drive from Austin to Stillwater gave us the best view of central Texas that anyone could ask. Texas looks like a very expansive Oregon to me, although hot and treeless. We made one major stop in Dallas to swap out the car, which had seat designs that were killing us. Dallas went on for miles. We had dinner outside of Dallas at the Salt Grass and it was good. I had a Texas wine, white, a Reisling that was great. It was the only Texas white wine on the menu but my commitment is to sample local wines and we hear that Texas wines are good. They seem proud of them on the billboards. Texans have a lot to say on their billboards and their t-shirts. My favorite t-shirt of the day was "Satan is a nerd". I hadn't ever really thought of it this way.

You're wondering, no doubt, how the safari pants that I purchased at Orvis are working out. Let me just say that they are the finest travel pants a woman can own in their price range. They went through so much on the flight and then the road trip portion of the show. They are the pants that just keep giving. Today I will move into linen, another Orvis purchase, and I will report soon about those.

We're asking people, Texans mostly, what they listen to as far as music and if there's been a shift in politics. There has been a shift in Texan politics, although the billboards will not reflect that.

Today, probably this evening, we will meet with Marc's friend, Josh. We're hearing red dirt country music tonight where a guitarist who played with Eric Clapton will perform. He is a part of the band "Local Justice"; they're playing in Austin in a couple of nights. It would be interesting to interview Local Justice members about red dirt country music. We have the video camera (Rosemary's) up and running.

Stillwater is the educational capital of the state. It's where Oklahoma State University is located. We're following the Stillwater website, and see a number of things to do, including agricultural sightseeing. Being an Oregon semi-rural girl, I can go for that. I like sweet, country places, and that's what we'll have here in Stillwater. There's a vineyard, too, and we may take a look at that.

I can see why Marc liked Texas and Oklahoma.