Oklahoma City - English

I´m writing this from the Days Inn South in Oklahoma City. The drive from Tucumcari was.. FLAT. So we´ve definitely reached the plains that goes all the way from the middle of Canada down to the gulf of Mexico, roughly. Oklahoma is called the "corner of the USA." There are two major intersections meeting here, 40 and 35. So if you´re going somewhere, you´re very likely to pass by here. They also have an interesting climate because they get warm, humid air up from the gulf of Mexico and cold, dry air from Colorado and the northern parts. So this is perfect for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes! When we came here yesterday it was in the 80s and pretty humid, kinda like the Mid-West during summer. And the forecast said thunder with possible tornado! So if the siren went off during my performance, we would have to stop and find shelter. 

It was fun to meet the scandinavian community in Oklahoma! It seems like more and more Norwegian-Americans merge south. Probably because of both the climate and because the economy is getting better here. Oklahoma has oil for instance. Later I´ll also perform in Atlanta, Georgia, and there´s a pretty large group of Norwegians there. Believe it or not. The concert was held at a church close to the big University in Norman, OK. For the first time, I played on an upright piano and not a grand. I like to see everything as possibilities rather than limitations. A piano will obviously have limitations compared to a grand. Especially in a piece like the Ballad of Revolt of Sæverud which requires maximum power. But with an upright you can do things more intimate and quiet. So I think the concert turned out pretty nice after all. It was also a bit different to perform in dens, humid air, but that was kinda cool. 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a nearby gas station to pick up a couple of beers. And my father was asked to show ID! He was pretty shocked and perplex there for a while... And he didn´t even have an ID, it was in a suitcase in the car somewhere. So my Mom had to step in and flash her visa-card with a picture ID. So in other words, my father was denied to buy beer. Hahaha. Ok, fair enough that they have a policy that EVERYBODY has to show ID. But when you´re over 60 years old, rules like this become pretty ridiculous and weird. But we had a good laugh, including the cashier who probably finds it equally stupid and embarrassing to ID everybody. 

We have the day off today. I have a good amount of administrative work to get done. But we´re hoping for a round of sight-seeing soon. Maybe to the Zoo or a Cowboy Museum. There´s also a kind of museum or memorial about the Oklahoma bombing a few years ago. So we´ll have to see. I think Zoo is high on the list today. The temperature has dropped at least 10 degrees since yesterday, and it´s supposed to drop another 10 degrees tomorrow. So it will be cold and wet in Texas... Welll.. they´ve had dry and warm weather up until now. The exact same thing happened in California! So if it wasn´t for us, they wouldn´t have any rain this year. We´re not that happy about it. We don´t care if they have water. We want to get tanned and enjoy the heat!.. hehe.. just kidding.