From Daniel Ring:

I originally had this journal entry almost completed for today, but in light of the last half hour of our day, I rewrote most of it.

We started off the day with a stop at the Women’s Museum in Dallas. Naomi, a staff member, spoke about famous women in the development of America and a timeline of the Women’s Movement. The museum didn’t speak to me that much. The exhibits were good, pictures, timelines, videos and showcases of women’s contributions to culture. However, I have grown up in a time when sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between men and women, and there are female only scholarships and programs, I can’t connect with the separation of the sexes. Even though I couldn’t connect, the museum was well designed and constructed.

After the museum we drove to Oklahoma City in the continuation of our excellent journey. When we stopped for lunch, my friends and I decided to “play full out” (as Billy always encourages us to do) and started talking with the people we saw in the restaurant. We just went up to some of the locals and asked them their story… and many of them told us their story! It was enlightening to talk to people in the middle of nowhere. It turns out that playing full out really works!

We finally made it to Oklahoma City. The state is full of open fields, lots of scrub grass (as the locals call it) and it was amazing to actually be in such a place… indescribable. The skyline of Oklahoma City made it look like any other city. We went directly to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. There in the heat we spoke with Mr. V.Z. Lawton, who was a worker in the building when the blast occurred. He spoke about his experiences that day and his belief that there is a conspiracy and cover up concerning the bombing. The next speaker, who is working on a documentary film on the bombing, was equally as interesting. He believes that there were multiple bombs and bombers of the building. They believe that some of the possible bombers have connections to foreign countries as well as people in our own government and there are connections to 9-11. These are actually pretty widely held beliefs by many people who live in Oklahoma City. Our speaker’s opinions and beliefs were amazing and we all admired their convictions.

Next, we walked across the street to the memorial located on the bombing site. It was big and I couldn’t see everything in depth.

We then went to the hotel to check in and out to dinner where the food was good and the staff was very friendly. After dinner we went bowling where we bonded and had a grand time. Finally, on the way back to the hotel, we took a slight diversion back to the Oklahoma City Memorial. Billy felt that we had not appreciated the power of the memorial during the day. Boy, was he right. The Memorial is stunning at night. The rippling water and the lit chairs representing each person who died were all so moving. I chose to sit on the edge of the large pool and just contemplate. My eyes started to tear up and that was only in the first ten minutes we were given at the Memorial. I realized when we met up to do our nightly wrap up discussion I was not alone in my feelings. I think the Memorial got to everybody. During the wrap up, most people expressed pain and anger over the senseless deaths caused by this act of hatred and most were crying. It was definitely one of the most powerful events on this trip. This day was one of the days that Etgar 36 was meant to allow us to experience.