Notes on an Oklahoma Turnpike

oh heavenly day
all the clouds blew away
got no trouble today with anyone

the smile on your face
i live only to see
it's enough for me, baby
it's enough for me

After being cooped up for three days, it was great to get out and drive today. On the way from OK City back to Tulsa, I paid more attention to my surroundings than usual. For a moment I wished Ryan was with me to capture some of the delicious details on camera (he's great at that), but then I remembered I too can capture those images...with words.

So I looked around and took note of some of the things that make Oklahoma so special to me:

The way the turnpike, long and straight, cuts through the rolling landscape of brown grass....the grooves made by mowers on the side of the highway, filled with snow and forming patterns of white lines---both curved and straight---in the dead grass.

The clusters of trees, many broken at their tops by heavy ice accumulation...the snapped branches hanging down at strange, unnatural angles...these are the remnants of a devastating ice storm that hit over a year ago, and it's become a sort of trademark of Oklahoma trees.

The starkness of raised bits of red dirt against white snow...black cows against the snowy brown-and-white landscape...a dirt road turned solid white, curving through muddy hills.

The way you can top a hill and suddenly see for miles and miles.

The blue sky that seems to go on forever.

That all helped the drive pass pretty quickly, and it also made me grateful all over again to be home.