on the road day 2

Yesterday we put in a total of 6 hours of driving, ate all grocery meals, hand washed our clothes in the sink. Our destination of the day was Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City and it was awesome.

This morning after finding that the continental breakfast was a myth, we ate grocery breakfast and toured the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford OK. It was also awesome.

Adan’s friend Elena offered to drive an hour and a half to treat us to Italian lunch, so we hung around waiting, drying clothes on the roof of the car and paying bills. I misplaced my sunglasses but couldn’t find them even after I swept the museum twice.

Then Doug found out that one of his oldest friends had committed suicide. We couldn’t begin to understand how to process this, so we continued on with food and driving.

We reached the Don Harrington Discovery Center to find that the exhibits, while all science, were none of them about space. I felt confusion and a rising tide of panic.

“We’ll just chock it up to easy mistakes and keep going,” Doug encouraged. But I wasn’t ready to give up. I’d spent two years planning a trip. I had not made mistakes.

“Your website says you have a planetarium,” I pressed the staff attendant.

“Yep,” he agreed cheerfully, “But you’ve missed all the shows for the day. See,” he handed me a brightly colored schedule. “Solar System movie at 11am, Sun and Stars at 12pm, then live Q&A w an astronomer at 2pm.”

I tried to keep the tremor from my voice. “But we drove. All the way. From Little Rock.”

After a few more quiet, controlled conversations I was able to ensure that our payment for tickets today would be honored tomorrow. And we resolved to find a hotel, after a paltry 3 hours on the road that day.

But I was willing to give up our reason for traveling to Amarillo, TX.

After several calls to hotels that were completely booked, I found one that was ok for price and had our two requirements: pool and breakfast.

Next we had a communal panic because no one could find Jack’s medication. The thought of trying to coordinate our AR pharmacy and/or doctor over the weekend was almost too much to bear.

But we found it. So here we are.