Day Eighteen; Stillwater, Oklahoma

Well thank goodness the summer heat wave has finally broken...at least for the time being. Temps have dropped into the low 90s here in Oklahoma and I might actually venture outside the RV for a little fresh air. Who knows.

***

By mid-morning, I unhooked from our campsite in Guthrie, OK and went out in search of Gunnar as he was making his way down Highway 33 towards our next stop: Stillwater, Oklahoma. It was close to 11:00am when I picked him up on the side of the road, and we drove the rest of the way to Stillwater in the RV. Gunnar was excited because a guy driving down the highway recognized him from last night's Oklahoma City Channel 9 news broadcast about ASM4P. http://www.news9.com/Global/category.asp?C=116601&clipId=3965194&autostart=true
He stopped his truck and ran across the hiway just to shake his Gunnar's hand and congratulate him. I agree, that's pretty cool!!

By 11:30am we rolled into Stillwater, a very quaint town with lots of historic buildings. They say it's one of the first towns settled in Oklahoma. We parked the RV in a shaded residential area and walked a few blocks to the center of town looking for a place for lunch. We stopped for cheeseburgers at Louie's pub, and afterwards, swung into a western store across the street called The Territory.

Just FYI- if you ever wanted to dress like a cowboy, The Territory is the place to come. Not only do they have western shirts, belts, buckles and boots as far as they eye can see, but they have all the area rodeo schedules posted as well...so once you are all dressed up like a cowboy, you'll have somewhere to go! The store decor was fascinating and I wished I had brought my camera with me to take a picture of all the colorful boots lining the walls.

Oh well. I'll get over it, I thought.

We spent a few more minutes browsing around, and after buying matching cowboy hats for my girls, Gunnar and I headed back to the RV. While walking back to the RV, however, I realized I wasn't going to get over it. Nope, not at all. I couldn't stop thinking about that picture I wanted to take. I really wished I had brought my camera. After another block, I was thinking about it even more, and by the time we made it back to the RV I was in full-fledged obsessing mode.

When am I ever going to be in Stillwater, OK again? When will I ever be back to The Territory again? This may be my only chance in my whole life to get this picture. I simply HAD to go back with my camera, and that's all there was to it. (Of course, I was well aware of how irrational I was becoming, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. This adventure seems to bring out the crazy in me some days.)

When we reached the RV I non-chalantly said to Gunnar, "that store was so cool, it sure would have been great to have taken a picture while we were there." I was skilfully working my way into asking him if we could drive back in the RV to get some shots before heading to the RV park together, however, after only two weeks of co-habitation, Gunnar had me completely figured out. He knew the real meaning of that comment was: I AM going back to the store to take a picture and I'm going to try to convince you to go with me. Before I could say another word he cut me off declaring: "I am exhausted and I am N-N-NOT driving all the way back to that store and sit around just so you can take a picture of a bunch of boots."

Well that did it. That just pissed me off. Who was this guy thinking he can just lay it on the line like that? And how dare he see through me so quickly?

So, once again, we had ourselves a situation where he drew the line...and it was my job to cross it.

"Well I'm going back anyway," I said, "and I will walk to our campsite by myself if I have to. Besides, I feel like getting some exercise."

Okay, that last part was a total lie. I wasn't really in the mood to exercise at all, let alone walk SIX MILES to the campground. I was in the mood to take a nap, actually, but I could tell we needed some separation pretty fast before we ended up in a big fight over pictures of cowboy boots. At this point the best thing I could do was stop talking, grab my camera, shut the door of the RV behind me and head back into town. So I did.

Note to Gunnar's future wife: When you are at the shopping mall, you know those guys that wait outside the dressingroom and hold their wives' purses while they try on clothes? Gunnar's not going to be that guy. I can tell you that right now.

So I went back to The Territory and took my pictures. Satisfied with that, I also discovered some adorable cowboy boots on sale that I didn't see the first time around, so I bought a pair before starting my six-mile trek to find Gunnar and the RV park.

A couple miles into my journey, I was on the side of Hwy 177 taking a picture of the Cow Creek sign when I was startled by the ear-splitting wail of a police siren directly behind me. I nearly jumped out of my sandals as I spun around to see a squad car pulling up.

Was it illegal to take pictures of signs with weird names in Oklahoma?

As the officer got out of his car and approached me I immediately asked if I was in trouble, but he just stared at me from behind his menacing cop shades and began asking me question after queston: where are you going? where do you live? where is your car? do you have identification? why are you carrying a box of cowboy boots along the side of a highway? On and on!

I sighed and warned him it was a long story. He said he had time and wanted to hear everything, so I took a deep breath and started from the beginning; from my partnership with Gunnar, the long email, the children suffering in Iraq, my former fashion career, the 1,000-mile fundraiser walk, what a hero Gunnar was, the hundreds of dollars of RV-repair bills, the unbearable heat, eighteen days of cohabitating in 50 square feet of living space with someone who leaves the toilet seat up, my intense need of personal space, the cheeseburger at Louie's, the tone that Gunnar took with me about the picture taking, my stubborn personality, the great deal I got on the boots, how I know I'm driving Gunnar crazy but just can't seem to stop it, the photo of the Cow Creek sign, and that I had no other way to get to the RV park other than walk.

There. Now he knew everything.

By the time I was done telling him the story I felt pretty sure he wouldn't be asking me any more questions...so when the second squad car pulled up on the scene and the next cop wanted to know what was going on, Officer Rouse cut me off before I could get started again. "Sounds like she and her business partner could use a little space," he said.

It's so nice when someone just gets you, you know?

He said I was free to go, but pointed out that it was still a long walk to the RV park and offered to call me a cab. Then I pointed out that because of the fundraiser I needed to save money, and strongly hinted that he might want to just give me a ride instead. So Officer Rouse graciously opened the back door to his squad car (my first time!!), I hopped in and we had a very enjoyable ride to the RV park together listening to his Patsy Cline CD.

Oklahoma folks sure are friendly. Thanks Officer Rouse!

Stay tuned for the next adventure!


Love, Dina