We were able to spend 3 days with Randy’s sister Tina and her family in Oklahoma. About 3 months ago their son Brandon married a beautiful Chinese lady named Summer. He met her while he was in China last year on a mission trip and decided he couldn’t live without her, so they came back to Oklahoma and got married. There is a ton of red-tape to get through so she can stay here, but they are working on it. Tina's house is in the country, where we saw some beautiful sunsets across the fields.

Friday Brandon had to work but we joined Summer, Tina and Garrett on a drive around the area. The nearby towns are small but we found plenty of stores to check out. We got some groceries and then looked through an antique store where Randy found a Chinese cookbook for Summer. That night Summer cooked us a fantastic dinner - not from the cook book, but from memory of her mother’s cooking. That event Tina’s daughter Erica and her husband Nathan stopped by for a visit, although they couldn't stay for dinner.

The next day we taught Summer to ride a bike. She can’t get a driver’s license here yet so she needs another way to get around. In return she taught us to use Skype, which she uses to talk to her family in China. For dinner that night Randy made pulled pork - something Summer had not tried before.

Sunday Garrett and Tina drove us to Oklahoma City for a day of tourism. First we went to an Oriental store called Super Cay Nguyen Market where these guys caught my eye - all lined up and ready for someone's dinner pot.

Then we parked at Bricktown, a section of the city that is being developed into a nice area to walk around or take a boat ride. We got good nachos at Texadelphia and great gelato at the Candy Company.

Monday we had to leave again; we got as far as Downstream Casino. Downstream’s road entrance is in Missouri, its parking lot is in Kansas and the casino and hotel are in Oklahoma. They have free electric hookups for RVers, as long as you go into the casino to get a Player’s Card. I lost $5 again - I think my system may need some work.

By the way, altogether we spent $31.25 in tolls in Oklahoma, and the toll roads weren’t as good as you would think.

Tuesday we stopped by Bass Pro in Springfield to get the tip of Randy's fly fishing pole fixed. There are several Bass Pro shops around now, but this is the original and they feel required to make it the biggest. I could not begin to count the number of stuffed and mounted animals they have set up on the walls and ceiling.

Then we went to Bennett Springs, which was our first stop on our journey west back in 2009. And on Wednesday Randy not only caught his limit of 4 trout, but we still had time to drive over to Lebanon.

Thursday we arrived back in St. Louis. We haven’t been here for almost 2 years, so a few things have changed - like the work on Clayton road is done! We decided to celebrate being back in St. Louis by going to Carl’s Deli for a pastrami sandwich and to World’s Fair Doughnuts for dessert. These are two places we really missed - they are must-stops for anyone in the area.

. . . .What happened to the weather here? Is that snow in tomorrow's forecast?!?!