A big annual gathering of the McFarlins, and many extensions by marriage and their prodigies, on the 4th of July was underway. This year was bittersweet, we were regaling in the summer celebration but grieving the loss of the man that had traditionally been the heart of the celebration. We miss you Uncle Tommie.
I am sure he was proud to see that his family had pulled together to make the annual gathering a big hit again this year. Aunts/uncles, sisters/brothers, grandmas/grandpas and cousins of many generations came from far and near. From South Carolina and Georgia in the east, the mountains of New Mexico and the Coastal Planes and oil fields of Texas in the west and many places in-between they all came.
A virtual small army spent several days putting up decorations, mowing the acres of grass, acquiring the fireworks and shopping for, and preparing the tons of food. I can't imagine how many mouths were fed this week. But I can say that I got more than my share of the multiple cobblers that came out of the kitchen this holiday. Uuuummmhhh, cooobbbler
Since the focus of this blog is about life as a full timer, I should probably say a little about it. If you read the first couple of posts you may remember me saying something about a 6qt crock pot that had to go to storage because it was simply too big to fit anywhere in the rig. Regardless, that crock pot made the trip to Oklahoma with us. It just had to sit in the middle of the floor while we were traveling. But once we arrived in Claremore it was put to work. An early morning (7 am) trip to Walmart improved our chances of snagging a nice pork shoulder that was to be transformed into a tasty shredded bar-b-q pork dish. A trip to the same Walmart the day before yielded a practically empty meat counter. We were told that a delivery truck was due the next morning and that we needed to be there a little after 6am if we wanted to get the cut of meat we wanted.
We picked out the perfect shoulder roast and started the 24 hour transformation from hunk of meat to BBQ to die for. Keep in mind it was breathtakingly hot and our single, 13,500 BTU air conditioner was working its heart out but not able to keep the temperature below 86° inside the rig during the day. Cranking up a big crock pot inside was not an option. No problem, I just whipped out a 30' extension cord from the basement, plugged it in to the power pedestal, set the crock pot on the campsite picnic table and voila - outdoor kitchen.
No worries about anybody bothering the cooker while it spent all night outside. It is a rare, really rare day that someone bothers anything that does not belong to them in a campground. Of course, depending on where you are you might have to worry about Yogi Bear scouting for a pic-a-nic basket.
That shredded pork got put down with all the other goodies made that day and folks put on the feed bag.
A tradition was to have a bag of "little" fireworks for all the kids 10 and under. Right on cue, out came the bags and there was a palpable change in the energy of the kids, young and old.
While the kids were enjoying their bags of sparklers, smoke bombs, army tanks and black snakes, the big kids were assembling the pyro's for the main event.
This set-up is done on top of the dam to the pond. Everybody gathers on the other side of the pond to watch the show, but until it gets dark the pond attracts those who desire to do a little angling.
But soon enough, the sun sets and the right amount of darkness envelopes the pond that gets the crowd calling for a show.
The Colonel's troops did not dissappoint. They synchronized and fired off powerful and colorful fireworks continously for 40 minutes. Wow, our little family put on a show that many towns wish they could have.
This year there was a special addition to the show. At the end there was a lighting of "wish lanterns" in tribute to our sadly missed family member, Tommie Allen McFarlin.
It was an inspiring site to see 40 of these lanterns ascend to the tree tops and then have the winds aloft put them on an invisible conveyor belt heading north. It was quite a sight when all were airborne and stretched out for miles as they drifted towards Kansas.
What a great week.
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