Road Tripping to Oklahoma

Last weekend, Jalen and I went to Bartlesville, OK to shoot the Lady Bisons basketball team playing in the Great American Conference basketball tournament. I took this photo while driving on the Muskogee Turnpike. There is something charming about the geography of Oklahoma. I feel like any second a cowboy on a horse might come riding up over one of those gently rolling hills.



We stopped at a McDonalds for our pre-game snack of McBites and fries. As we came out with our food a really cool old car drove by and got in the drive-thru. I wanted a photo of that old car so I got my phone ready to shoot it as we exited the parking lot. Unfortunately, neither Jalen or I was paying attention to the giant coke sitting on the dash board instead of the up holder and it tumpt over spilling everywhere. We pulled in a parking spot and I got out and went in to get a bunch of napkins to clean up our massive spill. I got my photo on my way in for more napkins.



On the way out I asked the dude what kind of car it was and he told me it was a Studebaker Grand Turismo. It reminded me of my Uncle Wayne's Ford Thunderbird from the early 70's. I always kinda felt like that Thunderbird was round on the inside because of the huge curve of the back seat.



I am torn between the color and theB&W version of the photo so I think I will post both.

We made it to Bartlesville and as we checked in at the gym the man that gave me my press credentials asked if Jalen was with me. When I said yes he said hold on and he proceeded to make Jalen his own press pass so he could stay with me on the floor of the gym.



Jalen thought he was something else with his own press pass. He shot both games with me and we had a ball (pun intended).



We did a Montgomery hotel tradition and as soon as we were back to the room and ordered a pizza, half no cheese because Jalen doesn't eat cheese.



After pizza, we edited our photos. Jalen used my laptop and I used my new iPad. I am still new to the iPad and I have only used it for these two games in Oklahoma but I believe we are going to be good friends.

Oklahoma

The Homecoming/JF Musical this year is Oklahoma. This is not a musical that I am familiar with. I knew Oh What a Beautiful Morning but I really didn't know any of the other songs well except the theme song. I was surprised to learn that I did know another song. I knew the Surrey With The Fringe On Top. When I was in High School I would get up early on Thursday morning sometimes and watch the Boston Pops on PBS. As I recall it came on at 4 a.m. Go on and start your jokes know about what kind of a nerd HS kid I was to get up at 4 to watch the Boston Pops on PBS. Well I found it purely by accident one morning when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Why might I be watching PBS you might ask, we had cable but we only had 30 stations back then and the cable box had a slider switch on top to change channels so you had to go by all the channels to get to any channel I should also confess that in HS I was into music. I was in band from 7th through 12th grade and Chorus 9-12th grade. I was even President of the Chorus my senior year (1988). And yes I have been out of HS 20 years. Anyway I was watching the Boston Pops one morning and some dude sang The Surrey With the Fringe On Top and I thought it was awesome. He had a beautiful voice that was so rich and clear and I have always liked that song ever since. I just bought that song from iTunes and it is playing as I write this blog post while my camera cards are downloading. I also learned about the Canadian Brass by watching the Boston Pops but that is another story.

If you live in Arkansas and are looking for something to do this weekend you should come to Searcy and see this production. Every year I think this is the best musical yet and this year is no exception. Here is a link to the Oklahoma press release on the HU web page. Check it out, you will not be disappointed.