More on our trip to Norman

The last time I posted here, I was in a hurry. Now I would like to give a few more details on our trip to see Richard Dawkins.

We started the day by my driving to QuikTrip to add some air to the tires. Then I went to Braum's and got two sausage and egg biscuits and took them home for breakfast.

We rendezvoused at Randy and Dawn's house at 1 pm. There were five of us. The Bradleys made the trip in their small convertible. In our car there was myself, J., and Marilyn. When we got to Chandler, we got off the turnpike and went south to Shawnee. From there we went west to the OKC area. We took I-240 to Moore. Our motel was just a mile off the interstate highway.

We checked in to the motel and then went to the campus just a few mile to the south. As we arrived near MsCasland Field House (site of the speech), we saw a large crowd gathered in front. As we approached, we recognized Bob N. waiting in front. We spoke to Bob, but Randy was hungry, so we made a bee-line to the student union. Once inside the union, we noticed that most of the restaurants were closed. However, there was one still open. We got some food there and ate it.

When we got back to McCasland Field House, we went past the security check point and entered the building. Inside were a group of people selling t-shirts. We noticed several people wearing black t-shirts with a bright red "A" on the front. The "A" stood for "Atheist." The Dawkins web site (RichardDawkins.net) has these shirts for sale.

The place was at 95% capacity as the program started. We had expected to see some protestors in front, but there were none. the only protest took place inside the field house during the Q&A session following the speech. Security came and escorted the protestor away.

Following the speech (I would give more details, but it was difficult to hear. We were more than a half-court away from the podium. Dawkins, from that distance, was unrecognizable as himself), Randy was again hungry (Randy eats a lot but he is not heavy. He burns up the calories in a hurry. He runs marathons.).

We walkd across the campus to a area were a lot of student go in the evening. We saw an Italan Pizza place and went in there for a late-night snack. The proprietor seated us in a separate area from most of the students. This was sort of a private area, which suited us fine. The proprietor asked us if the music was OK (It was Frank Sinatra singing), and we said it was fine. We ordered from the menu. I ordered Baked Halibut, but the waiter said they were out of the halibut, so I ordered the salmon. We soon had our food and ate it. After we had completed eating, we headed back to the campus. I led the way, but the others were not in a hurry. When I turned around to say something to the group, they were a long way behind me. The group had stopped to look at an historic building.

We got back to the car and drove to the motel in Moore. The motel was cheap ($44.10) and I was afraid it would be a dump. But the motel turned out to not be bad. There was a group of kids staying there who made some noise and the soda machine took my money but gave us no drinks, but after I went to sleep I heard no more from the noisy kids.