Huddled Together for Warmth in Oklahoma City Along Route 66

Oklahoma City Tonight; Fort El Reno Ghost Tour Tomorrow Night

We're in Oklahoma City, on our way to California and visiting many of the places I wrote about in 'Ghostly Tales of Route 66." So far....so good.

The trip from Midway on Southwest was uneventful, although we were among the last to get on the plane, so we did not get to sit together. I sat next to a very courtly gentleman in a nice suit jacket, with white hair, who let me sit next to the window, while he took the middle seat (poor him). He was very nice and read his USA Today, while I was reading my Chicago Tribune. He had been out East attending a friend's funeral. Things went well until politics came up as a topic and he turned out to be from Stillwater (returning home) and a big Palin supporter. (Yikes).

We stopped (briefly) in Kansas City, leaving after 20 minutes in KC and landing here a little while ago (it is quarter of 6 p.m. CDT). We didn't have to leave for the airport in Chicago until 12:15, as our flight out was at 1:40 p.m.

The rental car is a Cadillac...a red one. Pretty sweet...and pretty expensive. However, gas here is only $1.79 a gallon! If it gets down to $1.51 that will match the nationwide average of what gas cost when Bush took office 8 years ago.

Airline tickets cost us $456 (for both) and flying home (LA) they will be $349. Car rental: $904 (we drive from now on; $196 in taxes, alone!) McDonald's food at the airport today: $10. Tipping the airport guy(s) $15, total. Snacks at the 7-Eleven (pop, beer, etc.). $25. Cab to Midway: $35.
Room here: $65 a night, and we said we'd be here 2 nights. Ghost walking tour (tomorrow night) $6 apiece, or $12. Dinner tonight: $50.

One souvenir from Shorty Small's: a tee-shirt that says, "My BBQ can cure hangovers and baldness, but, if you've been hit by the ugly stick, ain't nothin' gonna' help ya.'"($15) (Is it necessary for me to add, "Yee haw!"?) The little girl who showed us to a booth said, "Y'all." Then, she pointed out the location of the building with the milk bottle on top of it, a remnant of Route 66, which is on Classen, between 27th and 31st,.

So, now you know the cost(s) associated with this trip, so far. ($1,871).