Happy Birthday Dad!

For your birthday dad, you get to drive two and a half hours to come get us from the airport! (Thank you, by the way!) Happy Birthday!!!

The only reason Dave and I did not miss our flight that morning is because we were the only ones on it. We got lost trying to find the long-term parking lot at the Fort Lauderdale airport and wound up paying more for parking than we did our airline tickets combined. At any rate, I couldn’t imagine my dad driving to DFW for nothing. I suppose it could have been a good reminder that their cell phone doesn’t belong in the kitchen drawer, but thankfully, we made it. And like I said, we had the plane all to ourselves.

Dave knew exactly where we were as we were flying over this west coast spot. Not that I doubted him, but I thought it was pretty cool when I compared the photo with the map to check his accuracy. And right on, he was! The GPS on the photo verifies it as well. So honey, here you go, the award for knowing where you are!

We got to Hastings and my dad gave us a tour of his Okra project – a drought-resistant variety he had been working on. We were looking forward to some fried okra with dinner.

He informed us that they had planned to take us to a barbecue they had been invited to for dinner and they weren’t planning on cooking. I tried to hide my disappointment, knowing that my dad would go out of his way to make some if he knew, which he did. He made some fried okra and served it up as an appetizer before we left for the barbecue. That was my dad.

We then went to the strangest barbecue I have ever been to. All due to my expectations, of course.

FPL was hosting this “barbecue” for Cotton Electric customers in Jefferson County, Oklahoma, which I thought was pretty funny!

The following day, we drove two hours north to the buffalo ranch. That would be the Wichita Buffalo Company at Sandy Springs Farm, owned and operated by my dad’s cousin. It is truly a sight to see.