Monday, May 18 - Sequoyah State Park, Hulbert, OK

Monday, May 18 - Sequoyah State Park, Hulbert, OK - Day 2

When I came downstairs this morning a little after 5:30 I noticed it was 56F outside, and 61F in the rig.  That was a little cool, so I turned the fireplace on, setting it at 70, to take the chill off.  I slept with my window slightly open last night and it was great, except for the boat that kept revving their engine as I was trying to drift off.  Fortunately, it didn't last too long.  The forecast here for the day is SUNNY with a high of 74F.  This is the weather we have been longing for.  I still want to follow that map I've seen many times that will "supposedly" keep you in 70 degree temperatures all year long.

I enjoyed reading everyone's blog posts this morning.  It sounds as if everyone is finally experiencing some warmer temperatures although a few are concerned about how far the wind might carry them!  Lol!  We certainly had our share of that too, but for now it seems to have finally settled down.  As I was checking the weather forecast for our trip to Oklahoma, I was excited to see it would be sunny and in the 70's the entire time we are here, as well as our trip home.  

We love this State Park.  To date it's the nicest State Park we have stayed in.  Evidently others feel the same way because it is pretty full.  The trees are so beautiful and healthy, we often see deer and the bird watching is fun too.  Park maintenance does a good job of keeping things neat and clean.  The sites are concrete pads for the RV with a nice sized sitting area for each unit.  They provide fire pits, concrete picnic tables and a hangar for a light outside, as well as a standing open grill.  I should have brought my oriole and hummingbird feeders with us to hang outside.

Around 7:30 we headed out for our morning walk.  It is such a beautiful area, with so many gorgeous trees. Another reason we love this park is it works out perfectly for our 2 mile morning walk.  We make the loop here in the park down to the entrance road to reach 1 mile and then retrace our steps.  The best part is we get our heart rate up a little more here due to the change in elevation throughout the park.  

I took a few pictures during our walk - including one of Bentley & the truck.

As we began our walk around the loop back to Bentley we noticed Alvin, had his "Fire Genie" lit up.  Just before we reached their site, we saw Linda had come out to join him.   We stopped to visit for a few minutes.  Dean noticed he was using a different fire pellet pit than the Fire Genie he has used in the past.  Of course that led to a discussion on the pros and cons.  After visiting for awhile we headed home to have our morning shakes and go through our morning chores.  We'll join up again later this morning.

After our morning shakes, I browned some hamburger, then added taco seasoning for taco salads that we'll make later.  It is so nice out this morning.  It is already 67 outside and warming up quick.  

With all of the rain we've had at home, Dean put our awning out this morning.  It really needed a chance to dry out.  The water poured out of it.  

I'm glad I wasn't standing under this when he opened it.

As I mentioned yesterday, we found what looked like BB's on the floor when I put the slide out.  This morning Dean started investigating.  After we picked them up off the floor, Dean threw them away.  At the time we didn't think about it but wished we had looked at them closer.  We had taken the trash out before we left, but I thought we found them after the trash went out, so I dug through the trash (not too much in there) and found one.  He pulled the drawers out that are under the refrigerator and the stove.  We are pretty sure they are from the drawer glides. We picked up 6-10 of them from the floor.  Both of the drawers are opening and closing fine now, so he'll take a closer look when we return to Oswego.  (Our friends Bill and Patsy, mentioned they had these in a slide out drawer in their rig as well.)

Dean was outside looking underneath the slide to see if there was anything else that could be the problem.

I walked over to visit with Alvin and Linda around 10 or so while Dean was washing the wheels on Bentley.  I probably would not have noticed they were dirty, until he washed the first one.  Wow, they really did need to be washed.  Keith walked over later, then Drena and Dean joined us.  We had a nice visit outside under a wonderfully warm sun.  It wasn't long that some of us were feeling the sun was a bit too warm, but back in the shade it was a bit too cold.  Sort of like Goldilocks it wasn't just right!  We moved in and out of the shade several times.  At 1, Alvin put hamburgers on the grill that Keith and Drena brought.  Linda supplied the buns and condiments, as well as some homemade brownies.  Drena brought some peanut butter/chocolate chip cookies.  Alvin did a great job of cooking the hamburgers on his Blackstone grill.  

Alvin, Keith & Drena

Dean & Linda

Chef Alvin and his Sous Chef Keith

We visited for awhile after lunch, then dispersed until we will gather later this afternoon.  Dean and I drove to the nearby Dollar General.  I wanted to get paper bowls.  We don't use them often, but they are nice to have on hand and I was almost out.  While we were there we bought a package of cookies.  Chips Ahoy with Reese's.  They were good, too good to keep for ourselves - we'd eat them all - so we'll share them with everyone tomorrow.

Linda invited their neighbors who are also members of our Escapees club to come out and join us around 5:30.  We gathered back at Alvin & Linda's site where we visited for the next 2.5 - 3 hours.  It's surprising how quickly time can fly when there is good conversation between friends.  

Shortly before 8:30 I took this shot of the sunset, as we all headed back to our own rigs.  What a great day it has been!

Beautiful sunset over Gibson Lake.

 Goodnight all.