REUNION WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

May 1 and May 2

We angled across New Mexico from Corona to Amarillo, Texas and then on through the desert to the Oklahoma state line.  Texas was just as I expected, flat terrain as far as the eye could see.  Soon after crossing the state line, though, we began to see green grass and trees.  Oklahoma is much prettier that I expected.  As a California a girl I only knew about the dust bowl and tornados.  There is much more to Oklahoma than that.

We continued on our marathon drive, switching off drivers every hour.  Trexie, Don’s new GPS, guided us right to the door of Don’s high school and college buddy, Gary Taylor.  We had called ahead and given Gary an ETA and he was waiting out in the front yard, tapping his foot and checking his watch as we arrived, 3 minutes late.

It was good to see Gary again after all this time.  My memories of Gary are telephone calls at 2am telling us to get to SFO because he had just flown a plane in from some military base and had to leave in a couple of hours.  We would jump out of bed, scramble around and groggily get ourselves dressed and in the car and off to San Fran for a quick visit.

Gary introduced us to his gracious and lovely wife, Pam, and he and Don were off, talking six to the dozen.  Pam showed me around their comfortable home and we talked about decorating because she has a real flair.  The decorator touches throughout the house were charming.

Off went Don and Gary to check out Gary’s 1500 square foot outbuilding, full of guy toys.  They were still talking nonstop.  Pam is a realtor, so we talked real estate for a while.

We had a delicious dinner at a nearby restaurant and after returning home for more conversation we retired for the night into our high, canopied bed. 

The next morning we had breakfast and then we had to tear ourselves away and get off to our next appointment—Don’s Aunt Ethlyn in Texarkana.

Oklahoma continued to be green and pretty for the whole trip.  The weather was warm and a bit cloudy, but no rain.

We pulled into Aunt Ethlyn’s house just about 5pm.  It was wonderful to see her again.  Ethlyn has all of her vim and vigor, spirit and humor that we have always loved her for.  She greeted us and showed us around her cozy home and while we unpacked she bustled around her little kitchen cooking dinner.  We talked and visited all evening, reminiscing about Don’s childhood pranks and how Ethlyn would be his protector.

The following morning Don took the car into the local Toyota dealership for it’s  20,000-mile checkup while I did my exercises and talked to Ethlyn some more.  Ethlyn’s son, Wayne, came by around 11 and we had lunch while we got to know him.  Wayne is about 15 years younger than Don, so he didn’t really know him when they were growing up.

After lunch we all said goodbye and went our different ways—Wayne back to work, Ethlyn to her hair appointment and Don and I to our road south.