After a few hours, we got to Tulsa, in what would be the most stressful part of our trip, right up there with the wind-blown night in the tent van. Even though it was still in the morning, it was already super hot -- near 100 degrees. Our GPS took us to the parking lot for famous Tulsa playground The Gathering Place. We parked and headed under a bridge, assuming that the park would be just on the other side. We hadn't gathered our lunch items together, so Amy was carrying the cooler. When we got to the other side of the bridge, we saw nice walking paths but no indication of a playground. We kept walking and walking and walking in the hot, humid weather wondering where in the world this park was. Finally, we went back over the road that we had gone under, and, a mile from our van, finally reached the playground.
And it was awesome -- so many whimsical climbing structures and imaginative areas. But after walking an hour, we were hot, tired, and hungry.
Amy, ever the good sport and a shining optimist, kept us in good spirits while we ate our lunch.
Since the regular play areas were too hot, we spent most of our time in the neat water play area.
And while Amy kept an eye on them, I walked back to the van to see if I could find a closer parking spot. And I did -- within view of the playground. I couldn't believe we had walked so far when it wasn't necessary. Lesson learned -- don't always trust the GPS!
The timing worked out to be happy hour at Sonic, so the boys got the rare treat of having a slushy to themselves (I usually make them share). We also were able to load up on Sonic ice, both for the cooler and for me (I LOVE Sonic ice!).
A little later, this whole-slushy-to-yourself came back to bite us when Cooper had to go to the bathroom and could not hold it another minute. We were on a toll road without many exits, so I pulled over on the interstate so that he could relieve himself. Again, I'm so thankful to have boys! A state trooper pulled over to check on us and even helped us merge back onto the interstate. Less than 30 minutes later, Cooper had to go again, and this time, I pulled over at an exit. Since I hadn't bothered to take the receipt at the last toll booth, though, I ended up having to pay the toll again, just for a two minute bathroom break. Grr...
Soon, we were back in Missouri.
We had dinner at our final AirBNB, this time in Waynesville, Missouri.
Amy whipped up an awesome salad with all our leftovers.
The big boys got in a game of checkers while the little boys slept on the sleeper sofa.
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