As I was feasting my plains-accustomed eyes on the rolling green hills of Oklahoma, I suddenly laughed as I remembered a previous trip through the state; how boring it had looked then. Living in Lubbock has made me a much more appreciative person.

Oklahoma City was only our first night's destination. We were headed to St. Louis, MO, a scrambled decision after the flooding started (or at least became newsworthy) in San Antonio just three days before our intended trip there. Our criteria for choosing was simple: a place without incipient thunderstorms. Well, ok, there were other reasons for choosing St. Louis: It was new ground; it was historical, and it had lots of free activities. Cool. So off we trudged with our hopes high, our Gameboys in hand (David and Daniel), and with promises of an alternative to Six Flags (Megan, David and Daniel. Ok, and us).

On the way there, we saw camels grazing in a field. Really. I am not kidding. We stopped and took a picture, and later saw elk (another picture), deer (got pics of those), turtles, llamas, cardinals (too fast for pics), and a large tarantula crossing the road in front of us. Wait - that was a different trip. But I still remember it because that had to be a pretty gargantuan tarantula to be identifiable from our vantage point.

Oooh.....and there were fireflies. I hadn't seen a firefly since Nashville maybe six years ago. For some reason they inspire such wonder and delight in me, wonder that doesn't wane no matter how often I see them. They were all around our campsite, and at each glow I smile a little smile up to God.

There was also a whippoorwill which was charming until it refused to stop.

We saw more than feral camels and such, of course. The Arch, the zoo (which Daniel got a migraine at and therefore he and I missed the whole thing), the Cahokia Mounds in nearby Illinois which had a geocache that Mark got poison oak at, the Art Museum which had a Rembrandt, a couple of Van ##### and a Caravaggio-influenced painting, the Science museum, our 21st anniversary minus the Riverwalk, the Six Flags alternative in Arkansas (oh, hey, we passed through Hope, AR, the hometown of Bill Clinton, showing in the pamphlet what I swear looked like his chamberpot), the Texas Motor Speedway on the way home (we could go 75mph in OK but that didn't quite satisfy our Nascar urges) and, despite our efforts to flee it, rain. It - actually the wind - tore the rain fly off the top of our tent and insisted we stay up until 1:30am drying everything out. I was supremely grateful that our campground was a civilized one this year, replete with showers and yes, a dryer.

One of these years we'll have a vacation where everything goes right. Right?

We did hear, though, that San Antonio, although the flooding was receding, had fire ants climbing on everything in an effort to get to dry ground. I get the feeling that camping would have been a mite more uncomfortable there than our soggy one was.

All in all, it was rather fun. And hey, for those of you who remember old 70s shows, we stayed in Room 222 on the way home.