Today actually started yesterday.
I got up early for work, drove into downtown Chicago, worked my last day in the office before vacation. Then, I walked 5km in the Chase Corporate Challenge (a race/walk to help the Chicago Food Bank and qualify runners for the national and international race bearing the same name).
My original plan was to drive home, grab a few hours sleep, wake a friend at 3 a.m. for a pre-arranged ride to O’Hare International Airport, and fly to Oklahoma City. I was still so awake from the 5K walk, that I asked my friend to take me to the airport Thursday evening. So we went!
I could not sleep in the airport, so I just waited until the check-in counters opened around 4:30 a.m., flew the first leg to St. Louis Lambert Airport. There, I grabbed breakfast at the Chili’s Too restaurant at the airport (where the waitress really had to hunt to find jalapeno peppers for my eggs). Who knew it would be so hard to find a pepper at Chili’s (where the word ‘pepper’ is all over the menu)!
From there it was on to Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers Airport. I rented a car so I could run errands. I made a run to Oklahoma University in Norman, OK (where I bought some used meteorology textbooks at a great price). Then I swung back towards downtown and continued to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. I’ve been to Oklahoma City dozens of times, but never made it to this amazing place before now.
Here’s a smattering of the 50 photos I took (at multiple exposures, making over 200 images):
(Right-click on an image and select View Image to enlarge any of these photos.)
At the end of the day I was fall-down tired, but the day was very gratifying. After putting in so many long days for other people (at work, at church, etc.), it felt really good to put in a long day for myself. My feet were tired (after the 5K walk and trapsing around the museum for 2 hours), but my spirit was filled with great memories.