Friday, May 13, 2022: Norman OK to Oronogo MO

Friday, May 13, 2022.  Norman OK to Carthage MO

We were very comfortable overnight parked in front of Ruby’s house with power for the air conditioner.  The temperatures were not quite as hot, reaching the mid 80’s, but then cooling down to the mid 70’s in the morning, but with pretty heavy humidity.  

Ron arrived with Shipley’s donuts for breakfast.  These are a Texas based donut chain.  Their basic glazed donut is very much like the Krispy Kreme donuts, with a soft melt-in-your-mouth texture.  We walked around Ruby’s back yard which features a cherry tree that was started from a shoot from a cherry tree in Carthage, and a large pecan tree.  She has a large back yard that she has someone mow periodically for her.  

We bid Ruby farewell and went with Ron to park the RV at a Cracker Barrel in Oklahoma City, and then we rode with Ron to visit their cousin Jimmy, who lives west of Oklahoma City in El Reno.  

We made a brief stop at a Tractor Supply Company store in the town of Mustang so that Ben could buy a replacement two stage propane regulator for the RV.  While standing at the check out, Ben got a call from Jimmy who said he was on his way back from OK City.  When Ben told Jimmy he was at the TSC store in Mustang, Jimmy said he’d be there in 5 minutes because he was very close by.  While Janet and Ron were sitting in Ron’s SUV in front of the TSC, they saw someone frantically waving at them and were wondering who that could be.  It took them a while to realize it was Jimmy, who had hopped out of his truck and walked up to Ron’s window.  That was a surprise to Janet and Ron because although Ben had texted Janet that Jimmy was on his way, she had her iPhone notifications turned off.  

We followed Jimmy to his home in El Reno.  He lives on several acres down a gravel road.  His house is practically hidden by vegetation and quite a collection of rider mowers, farm equipment, vehicles and industrial equipment.  

Jimmy is a handy man who has always had a knack for taking in and fixing broken equipment.  His collection includes a recently acquired military surplus 60KWH diesel generator capable of running a field hospital, a Genie man lift, and more tractors than you can shake a stick at.  His machinery is organized in collections around the yard and he also has rows of shelving with collections of related equipment and odds and ends nestled among the vehicles and pieces of equipment.  He and his daughter Jessie had just returned from an auction where they had purchased a number of kerosine lanterns of a collectible nature.  His prize lantern is an Aladdin model lantern that supposedly burns bright enough to read a book by and produces enough heat to keep a small room warm.  

He claimed that many Texans could have avoided freeze damage in their homes during the record cold spell a few years back if they had these lanterns in their homes.  

We had lunch with Ron, Jimmy, and Jessie at the Golden Corral in Oklahoma City.   This apparently was a favorite haunt of their parents, and is still Jimmy’s favorite restaurant. We ate way too much there.  The clientele there was a mixed bag.  There was a table with gun toting transsexuals in full drag but with Glock semi-auto pistols in thigh holsters.  One was having real trouble with their super short miniskirt riding up, and we were afraid of what might pop/drop out when they bent over the buffet steam tables.  Oklahoma apparently is an open carry state, but this made for an unusual lunchtime spectacle.  

We then made our way through Oklahoma City traffic with Ron’s guidance on our way to Carthage MO.  We parted ways in Tulsa where he owns a home and we found Janet’s cousin Gloria and her husband John in the town of Oronogo MO.  We learned this was not an Indian name, but a contraction of a saying from the tin and lead mining days where if you were headed into Joplin to the bars and houses of ill repute, you had better have your load of Ore, Or it’s a No Go to head into Joplin.  It’s just a short distance from the farmland that sprouted the Hancock and Fullerton families.  

Gloria and John have an older miniature schnauzer “Spud” who is well tempered and trained, although John says Gloria spoils Spud.  

John builds/rebuilds classic cars in the shop that we parked our RV in front of, and installed a 30A 120V RV power receptacle in the shop for our RV to use.  That was extremely thoughtful, handy and generous of them.  

They have a beautiful house on a 5 acre lot that is adjacent to 30 acres of wheat fields.  It is quite picturesque, although when they are harvesting the wheat with Combines, the air is filled with wheat allergens and chaff for a few days.  Gloria loves it because it is very reminiscent of her grandma’s house on the farm.  We visited and had dinner with Gloria and John, took nice hot showers, and retired to the RV for the night.  

Tomorrow, Ron and some other cousins will arrive, and we will go tour the old farmstead in Carthage/Joplin, and perhaps even see the acreage that Janet and her sister Terri own.