Yesterday we drove from Jewell to Joplin, MO where we stayed at a motel.   I really didn't learn much that day because all we really did was drive, sleep, and eat.  This morning we left Missouri and drove to our condo near Big Creek, TX.  We stopped in Oklahoma on our way and checked out the welcome center.   There was a mural showing four famous Native American ballerinas.  This intrigued me because I also dance.   One thing we noticed was that off-road vehicles (ATV's/four-wheelers) are quite popular in Oklahoma and Texas.   People were even using them to herd their cattle.  When we got to Texas I thought it was interesting that they had a speed limit of 70 during the day, but 65 at night.   The roads are a lot more narrow in Texas.   We also noticed green grass that we don't see in Iowa at this time of the year, and we even noticed some Pansies still in bloom.   I was amazed at the amounts of oil wells in Texas.   I knew there was a lot of oil in Texas, but I guess I wasn't expecting to see quite that much.   Not long after checking into our condo in Texas we went to Shreveport, LA to watch the battle of the bands.  It took us two hours to get there and two back and we only stayed there for about two hours, but it was worth it.  The battle of the bands was fun to watch.  The we came back to Texas.

    One thing I forgot to mention was the incident in Paris, TX.  We were searching for a place to eat and a man next to us flagged us down and told us our tire was low.  So we stopped at a gas station to fill the tire, and it was very low.  We felt lucky we found out when we did.   Then we drove for a little bit and stopped in a church parking lot to check out the tire.  It had already lost a lot of air, so we put the spare on.   While he was changing the tire, Gina and I picked up pine cones and decided everything was bigger in Texas, including the pine cones.   Everything turned out okay with the tire; we will probably get new tires tomorrow.