From Oklahoma on to Amarillo

A day full of driving ends with: Follow the yellow sunset to Amarillo! After one of my now-famous cat-naps, I awoke to a beautiful sunset seen between the turbines of a wind farm outside of Texas, still in Oklahoma. Each state that we passed through now has an added musical element. On entering Oklahoma we had to sing the theme to the musical, of course. And Texas? Well, a little bit of the Dixie Chicks never hurt anyone.

On a more somber note, we made a stop in Oklahoma City to see the national memorial to the ’95 bombing. I am really glad we took that side trip. The memorial is impressive, and Oklahoma City is a city that I would like to explore more, after seeing just a small part of it. Empty chairs for the victims line the site where the federal building once stood. Some holiday teddy bears or flowers sit in some of the chairs. Two massive, marble gateways section off the site from the surrounding city. They are marked with 9:01 and 9:03, the times directly before and after the 9:02 explosion. The street in front of where the federal building once stood is now a black surface covered in a thin layer of water that reflects the surroundings. Everyone was quiet. There was very little to be heard beyond the flow of the water or a kid asking his parents a question. A fence on one side of the memorial site holds different artifacts or tributes to the victims. That fence was originally used to protect the site while it was under construction. People seem to have left behind a few license plates (some recent ’08 and ’05 tags), but I could not figure out the significance there.

There is not much that I remember specifically about the bombing – it seems to have become one of those historical moments in my early life that is blurred together with the OJ Simpson trial and the Clinton scandal. I would never say that they have similar significance, but they are moments that I recall seeing an event, but not necessarily experiencing the whirlwind of emotions that would go along with comprehending the wider national impact. I still felt a pain being on that ground. One that can not be explained because I feel for something that I never knew.