Oklahoma is OK!

Whew. We made it. Early mornings followed by long days of driving (and endless hmm-ing about what/where to eat. The roadside options tend to get a bit... stale after a while, and considering the "options" in the last few days was more like "what's the lesser of the evils here?" Rest assured, I've had my fill of roadside eateries for a bit.), but we managed to roll on to Vance AFB just in time for Greg to get his check list of inprocessing duties. It's 5 pages, front and back. It's plenty to keep us busy for a bit!

Our humble residence for now is a luxurious 15x30 "apartment." I put that in quotes because while it has a kitchen (with a dishwasher!) and a bathroom, as well as a living room and a bedroom, let's not kid ourselves here: an apartment would imply a hallway (unless we're talking about a studio, right?) or some distance between the bathroom and the kitchen or the kitchen and the living room or the bathroom and the living room for that matter! Let's just say that we are happy to have some space to ourselves, but oh wow, are we redefining "space!" Thankfully, we have taken refuge at my sister's house most days of the week, for hours at a time. And dinner. She's been an angel for welcoming us to dinner - I can't imagine cooking in our tiny little place in this heat!

Nate's keeping busy with his cousins (and they love to entertain him!) and we are working hard at keepng cool. Today, it's balmy: a mere 85 by 8:30am. It was cool enough for Nate and I to go for a run this morning outside! Earlier this week, the high temperatures around the peak of the day reached 115 degrees. Really. Even the weatherman on the evening news noted that "having temperatures 100 degrees and above from 10 am until 10 pm was just plain ridiculous." Glad we're all on the same page.

On our second day here, I bought pool passes for us. Seems that might be our nightly ritual . It's refreshing for all of us, and Nate sure enjoys being a "water baby."

There are a few things that I forgot, having lived in the  northwest for so long:
Cicadas. They are like tree crickets, and they make noise all night long. After a while you don't hear them, but in the early hours of the day, there's quite a symphony!
Hot pavement. I know it's hot outside, but somehow I managed to disconnect the temperature fromt he pavement baking in the heat. Both Nate and I have been caught "just running outside really quickly" to only get three steps down the sidewalk, yelping in pain. Wear shoes, or flip flops, folks. It's hot.
Thunderstorms. We saw them during or drive, but I forgot how quickly they start and how quickly they end. And within 10 minutes, you can barely tell it rained, hailed, and was even windy for a few minutes.
Short(er) summer days. It's dark by 9pm here!

We're still settling in an figureing out which end is up, but we'll be sure to keep you posted as we learn about things like... oh, a house. And an address.

Keep cool out there, we sure are working on it here!