Thursday and Friday

It was so nice waking up Thursday morning at the Swandarosa and the cool breeze rustling in the trees....We slept a little later than the beginning of the trip...what a treat... We made our way to Grandmother and Papa's house. Hot bacon, eggs, and toast were a real treat to us....Donna had a new experience---orange marmalade--and she liked it! I returned the key to the Swandarosa, mailed some letters, and set up a time to give the book to the Apache Library while Matt and Donna stayed at G & P's. Of course Grandmother had a great lunch for us....ham, potato salad, cantaloupe, and watermelon...Thanks...after lunch we headed to Lawton to get some new shoes for Donna and the car....it took a while so we sat at Starbucks and used the wifi...It was probably about 5:00 before we left, and then we had to go to Atwoods. We drove out to the Visitor Center in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, but it closed at 6:00...so after a few minutes of looking around we decided to put it on our list for Friday....We decided to go back to Cache and try to take a picture of Quannah Parker's house.... Well, we were in for a treat...we met some nice people sitting on the porch of the Trading Post...Jerry and Mickey from Lawton....they introduced us to Wayne, who gave us a tour of the Star House, Quannah's Home. This house was once a part of an amusement park called Eagle Park in Cache. I remember going to the amusement park when I was a kid.... The best part of seeing the house to me was the fact they have an original dining table in the house. They have a list of people that were guests at the table. It includes many of the people that are connected to the Abernathy story....Charles Goodnight and Burk Burnett are two examples....Thanks for the tour Wayne! A storm seemed to be approaching, but from the radar it didn't look like it would hit just yet, and since we were starving, we decided to grab a bite to eat in Lawton. Since we are trying to get to know locals in the places we visit, I suggested we eat at Bianco's.....This restaurant has been in Lawton since 1952.....they introduced pizza to Lawton......What a wonderful meal we had.....the garlic dressing is so delicious. We were able to visit with the owner....Rose Bianco....she told us several stories about her family and how she ended up in Lawton....How lucky Lawton is to have such a great lady.....So after getting absolutely stuffed, we headed north to Apache to spend the night with Grandmother....We knew that it was storming to the north, but we thought we would make it there before the storm hit....but I was wrong....when we were about 9 miles south (porter hill) the wind and the rain hit....Matt says that it is the 3rd hardest rain that he has ever seen....the wind was blowing so hard the rain looked like it was falling in horizontal sheets instead of falling vertically......I had been talking to Mike when it hit, but I quickly hung up so I could put two hands on the wheel....finally we arrived at G & P's and made a mad dash for the door....their large pecan tree provided quite a bit of protection from the driving rain.....I was very thankful Apache did not receive the hail that many other parts of the state received---Thomas had a horrible hail storm--I am thankful the Kliewer's are okay despite losing many windows in their home.
Thanks G and P for providing a place for us to rest Thursday night......
I slept in a little of Friday morning...8:00 Am....We had a light breakfast...more fruit for Donna...she says her body is going into shock! We made a pitstop at Mom and Dads before leaving Apache....it was fun to show off the pictures and see what they are doing with their decorations--good to see the giant rock again....At last though, we headed to Frederick...We did stop at the visitor center again... learned lots of things, and picked up the DVD of the wolf hunt....
After leaving we saw buffalo and lots of prairie dogs.....I think we were able to take lots of good pictures of the buffalo, but I haven't looked at them yet..I am thankful that Matt insisted we stop at the heart shaped rock...it really is worth the small hike...hope the pics turn out.. and get uploaded soon..we stopped at Joe and Linda Chebatah's house in Indiahoma.....thanks for the hospitality....Outside of Synder we saw some foals and colts...of course we stopped and took some picks...But at last, we arrived in Frederick...We went to the courthouse to see the statue of Bud and Temple...but we were distracted by the shiny red car over at the museum! And yes, they had the Brush out polishing it and making it shine for tomorrow......The Bud and Me display is so well done....the map and pictures are definitely first class! We met Virginia Walker there. We were in for another treat--the Crawford Collection! Bill Crawford and Ray Walker gave us a personal tour! I told him that when we see the Smithsonian we can say they don't have anything better than the Crawford Collection. It is a tremendous collection of big game from around the world....thank you so much for sharing it with us....We were able to go with the Cosby boys...these boys rode from Blanchard to Frederick with their dad...Way to go guys....We took Ray Walker up on his offer to house the horses at his place...thank you so much...it will make tomorrow easier logistically.... Sharon Bennett loading us up with all the things we need for the rest of our trip...Thanks Frederick Chamber and Tillman Historical Society..you have helped us so much with our trip, and we appreciate all you have done.....We met many other people today..we are double checking names and will give more of a report tomorrow after the big day...am really looking forward to meeting all of the people at the dinner....glad that the Hewitts arrived safely with the horses...was fantastic to see Rocky and Patriota again....will go see Little John when I get home...