It’s amazing how when you have all the time in the world it can take just as long to get where you are going than it would if you were rushed. I would have thought that with the head start on travel, we would reach our cabin near Hochatown Oklahoma by early afternoon, but with all the “meandering” and what my grandpa would call “slow-poking,” we still didn’t arrive until just before sunset. 

We were hoping for a sunset (or sunrise) view from the cabin. We had no way of knowing ahead of time as the pictures on AirB-N-B were not forthcoming and neither was the description. The cabin is situated on a hillside near the top of a ridge, so the view IS pretty spectacular, however it’s also nestled between a series of hills and as rays of sunshine disappeared from the canyon below, we could not see where the sun was. The drive here was twisting and turning and by the time we arrived, we had no idea which way north was. In any case, it all became clear this AM when the sun came up directly out our bedroom window which faces the canyon. The sky was very clear this morning so it was completely unremarkable. It’s going to be a good day. 

But hold-up, I’m not quite done with yesterday yet. 

As I was walking on the treadmill yesterday and daydreaming about the HIE free breakfast, marveling at the rain, I had almost completely forgotten it was a pandemic. That’s pretty incredible. It’s somewhat become the focus all the time so to not think about it for a while was good. I was, however, brought back to reality when I left the exercise room at the hotel and went to partake of said breakfast. There were no scrambled eggs or bacon or cinnamon rolls or orange juice. There was just a woman behind a makeshift desk who promptly asked me if I wanted a breakfast sandwich. Jimmy Dean sausage, egg, and cheese to-go sandwiches from a hotplate was the only hot selection. Pre-packaged muffins were the only other item besides little boxes of cereal or oatmeal. The juice machine only had cranberry and the refrigerator only had 2% white milk or chocolate and a slim selection of yogurt. I chose the hot sandwich and sat and listened to songs on my iPhone and stared out the window. The sandwich was gross. I hate sausage and the cheese was nasty. I ate it anyway, hungry and not wanting to waste the food. Whatever. 

Congratulations. That last very long paragraph was brought to you by a girl who is hungry and jonesing for some really good food. When I packed food to cook here, I underpacked this time. I still brought all the stuff I would need to make Jim meals for his delicate stomach, but not so much myself. The last place we stayed had a full pantry of supplies and so I half expected the same here. Not so much. They have coffee grounds for the coffee maker and that is it (well, and a salt and pepper shaker). No oil to cook with or sugar for the coffee or anything else. I’ve already made a list in case we decide to find a grocery store today. 

Wait, though, brain. My brain keeps wanting to wander to today and I haven’t really even gotten to the rest of yesterday yet.

I haven’t yet talked about the really cool drive through Arkansas or Ouachita National Forest. I haven’t yet talked about driving through Missouri or into Oklahoma. Some parts were pretty and it was neat to see the landscape change from what we are used to in Nebraska. Other parts of the drive were disheartening as there were stretches of road with so much trash I could not believe it.

An hour north of our final destination and we pulled off the side of the road on a scenic turn-out to see the view from the top of the ridge we were on and there was so much trash in the ditch by the turn-out I was disgusted. I had to zoom in on the ridge in the distance and valley below in order to get a picture without the trash. Human beings are so dumb.

Finally we zeroed in on the area we were staying and followed the step by step directions to get to our “secluded” cabin in the woods. There are lots of cabins in the area, some are pretty close by but it still feels very private. We unpacked the car and it was a lovely 67 degrees out still so we spent some time outside enjoying the view (with freshly made margaritas of course).

We drank and talked, played music and danced around the Cabin to the vacation playlist Jim created. He got the Roku set up on the TV and made sure that was working for the “R and R” part of our week. The hot tub was cold when we arrived but we had turned it on right away and when it got to 100 degrees it was time to try it out. The sky was completely dark and the stars were out. By then the moon had disappeared from the view from the back deck so we just sat and talked there too. I don’t even remember what we talked about.

After that the night became a little fuzzy. I had only had a few drinks but the day had been sooooo long and the night before was a short one, so I slid into the bed to go to sleep. Sort of anti-climatic for our first night of vacation, but it was only Monday and we have all week. 

I’m excited to get outside today and explore. There’s a creekbed just below us on the property line and not too far away there are some good hiking trails. I don’t think we have any activities planned for today. Just exploring the area. It’s 46 degrees out now. The high will be mid-fifties and it looks like it will be a bright sunny day. That’s a whole heck of a lot better than the drifted in mess back in Omaha. I’ll take it. 

Cheers to Day 2,

~Miss SugarCookie