Seventy-two degrees at 6:00 this morning...didn't bode well for the home-team! By the time we pulled out of camp at 9:00 it was up to 82...and it never looked back, clocking in at 95 when we stopped for the evening at 4:30! At any rate, we did have a beautiful day with blue skies (at least until we ran into smog near Tulsa) and very much enjoyed our drive.

Heading South East from El Dorado we traversed part of The Flint Hills . The Wikipedia explanation of what The Flint Hills are follows:

"The Flint Hills historically known as Bluestem Pastures or Blue Stem Hills,[2] is a region in southeast Kansas named for the abundant residual flint eroded from the bedrock that lies near or at the surface. Oklahomans generally refer to the same geologic formation as the Osage Hills or "The Osage." The Flint Hills Ecoregion is designated as a distinct region because it has the most dense coverage of intact tall-grass prairie in North America. Due to its rocky soil, the early settlers were unable to plow the area, resulting in the predominance of cattle ranches, which are in turn largely benefited by the tall-grass prairie."

These were not as dramatic as some of the mountains we have passed on this journey, but certainly had their own beauty. We enjoyed our drive through there very much even though the air was becoming hazy as we reached this point in our trip . By the way, Laura and Tom...we got on US 75 during this ride...just a mile or so (more or less!) up the road from you two! Stopping for fuel in Independence, KS we paid $3.29/gal. Again, we have been running the generator anytime we leave the motor home for very long in order to keep things cool inside, so we didn't figure the mpg.

Now for the highlight of the day...Linda H. and Laura...are you ready? This one's for you! We saw a sign as we drove down the road advertising "Little House on the Prairie Museum". Linda, since you have been imagining Ma, Pa, Laura, Carrie and Mary living in every older house that I took pictures of...this was a required stop! Laura, I remember when we were having a garage sale in Farragut (the first and the last we ever had!) you came out and discovered that I had all of your Little House books in a box to sell. I think you were in college at the time and I figured you would be OK with it...was I ever wrong! You set to work like an avenging angel, practically snatching one of the books from the hand of a prospective customer and picked up the others out of the box, and walked back into the house with them . Enough said! This stop was for you too!

The information in the brochure says it all: "It all began in a one room cabin on the Prairie...It is just a simple one room cabin on the prairie. But the prairie with it's open skies, seemingly endless horizon and tall grasses waving in the Kansas wind attracted homesteaders from the world over in the late Nineteenth Century."

"In 1869 Charles P. Ingalls and his family left their home in Pepin, Wisconsin heading west looking for the "perfect place" to settle. While Pa had a case of wanderlust, itchy prairie feet, and always thought he had not found the "perfect place", Ma thought each place they settled to be perfect since she wanted to settle and put down roots and raise their growing family. When Charles, his wife Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls and their daughters Mary, Laura and Carrie lived on the Kansas prairie little did they know it would change their lives and children's literature forever . At Little House on the Prairie Museum you can walk the paths and prairies that little Laura Ingalls Wilder did as a child."

We very much enjoyed out stop at the museum. We were the only visitors while we were there, so we could get the full effect of what the sounds and feel of the prairie must have been like when the Ingalls lived here. The Little House is a reconstruction and sits about 75 feet from its original location, which now has a house on it. That house is now the gift shop. This location is an "Official Laura Ingalls Wilder Homesite", and this particular one is where the first book, "Little House on the Prairie" is based. I know I read all of the books as a child and that both of our daughters, Laura and Kim did also as I made sure of it. I know that many of you ladies reading this blog must have read them too...good memories!

Leaving Little House at 12:45 we continued our trek towards Tulsa, OK, crossing into Oklahoma at 1:00 and into Tulsa at 3:00 . We plan to be in the Tulsa area for both tonight and tomorrow night...and we have a good reason for this. I know many of you at DWLP have seen the trio, "The Cowgirl, The Diva, and The Shameless Hussy" perform at the Club. We have always enjoyed their shows, and have actually gone to a couple of other venues to see them. At any rate, in June we went downtown to see them once again. Talking to Becky Hobbs, The Cowgirl, she told us that she had written and was in the process of producing a musical based on the life of her 5 times great grandmother, Nancy Ward. The play is entitled, "Nanyehi--Beloved Woman of the Cherokee" and is an original musical based on the life of one of the most influential women in Cherokee history. Nancy Ward is referred to as "Beloved Woman of the Cherokee. The musical is the story of a legendary woman who was first honored in the 18ty century as a Cherokee war woman, but then as a peacemaker during the American Revolution. This play is Becky's homage to her grandmother.

This is all leading up to telling you that during our conversation with Becky that day, we told her that we might be in the Tulsa area around the time the play was having its grand opening, and as it happens, we are . We stopped by the Hard Rock Casino where Nanyehi is to be performed (opening night is tomorrow evening) and bought tickets. That means that tomorrow morning we won't have to be jumping out of bed and getting ready to "hit the dusty trail" so quickly. We likely will get out and about in the area sometime tomorrow as we have never been in Tulsa before and may do some laundry. The play starts tomorrow evening at 7:30 and we will probably eat at the casino.

After getting our tickets we drove to our campground for the night, Mingo RV Park and Campground, which is located about 5 miles from the Hard Rock Casino. We have a good site for the next two nights...level, great electric, and (maybe!!) wifi. It is MUCH better than the park we were in last night, although it also appears to have long term workers staying. We thought and talked about what D. Crip said last night about workers that travel from place to place (such as our own Amazon facility in Wilson County) and have come to believe that there is a nomadic society that we are not aware of in our daily lives moving all around us all of the time. Something to think about... At any rate, we got to the park at 4:30 and are situated for the night.

We drove 199 miles today.