It’s hard to believe that its already been a whole week that we have been on the road. We’ve seen so much and still have so much to experience.

Today began in Dallas with a visit to the Womens Museum. Our favorite part of the museum was the music room that had musical selections from various women musicians. We the left Dallas and headed on a three hour ride to Oklahoma City. We drove straight to the sight where the Murrah Federal Building was bombed. It is a moving memorial to the lives lost. There are empty chairs for every life lost.

We were supposed to met with a member of the Oklahoma Militia but he did not show up. Fortunately, David Yeagley, who is meting with us tomorrow was so enchanted with meeting Etgar 36 last year that he was at the memorial sight just to hang out with us. He filled in to speak about what it was like to live in Oklahoma City when the America was introduced to domestic terrorism. He also enlightened us to a little known conspiracy theory about the bombing. There are many who believe that Al-Quida operatives had wired explosives in the building and that Timothy McVay worked with them and was a patsy for them. The U.S. government is hiding this story because it did not want to scare Americans by showing how lax security was and how vulnerable we are that enemies of our country could strike in middle America.

After walking around the memorial we went to a local synagogue and met members of their teen youth group. Together we went to the Oklahoma Redhawks minor league baseball game. It was a lot of fun meeting new friends and seeing the Redhawks win 6-3.

We were very upbeat from the game but the night ended with a complete 180 degree turn. Billy took us back to the memorial. As emotional as it was during the day, nothing prepared us for how beautiful, peaceful and impactful it is at night. Each chair is lit and the walls are lit. The night was more than emotional for everyone as the complete tragedy of this event sunk in. There were many tears shed at our nightly wrap up as many of us grappled with the loss of innocent lives and the question of why and how this could happen. Billy shared an especially emotional story of how some of his college friends and roommates were killed in the Pan AM 103 plane bombing in 1988 during his senior year at Syracuse University.

Etgar in the Bleachers

Baseball Game

More Baseball

Oklahoma City (federal building)

Daniel and Josh

Native American David speaking with group