Windmill Ridge

It is a little before 7:00 AM.  I am sitting on the tiny deck of the Windmill Ridge Cabin in the Tabletop Mountains of Southern Oklahoma.  The air is clear and the morning is crisp.  The sun is painting a muted pattern of pastel blues and pinks as it rises up from the valley to the east.  To the west is a deep gorge where the pre-dawn light has yet to penetrate more than the tree tops which are eye level from my viewpoint.

Sheila is still sleeping and will sleep for a while longer I suspect.  I got up quietly before daylight to play my guitar for a while on the deck, enjoying the last of the moonlight before the eastern sky began showing hints of dawn.  After a while, I brewed a cup of coffee in the  microwave using the tea bag style coffee singles I always carry in my luggage and sat down to write.  Combined with one of the sinfully good oatmeal cookies our host Tricia left for us, it was a fine “pre-breakfast.”  Later, when Sheila awakes, we will brew a pot of “real coffee” and have the delicious looking breakfast enchiladas Tricia left for us in the fridge, ready to be microwaved complete with red and green salsa! 

 

My mornings usually start with information, a news radio station talking into one ear as I scan the email, messaging programs, social media and the net for overnight developments.  This morning, I have broken that routine.  There is no no cellphone signal much less wireless so I have no digital news coming in.  You have to drive over ten miles to hit a cell tower.  I decided that I would rather listen to the sounds of the forest below me than a news radio station on my portable long range radio.  There is an amazing conversation going on in the canyon as the first light of dawn searches down into its depths.  Squirrels are chattering, crows are talking across miles of distance and half a dozen species of unidentifiable birds are chirping away.  I find that the electronic chatter of my normal life seems inappropriate on this crisp, Southern Oklahoma morning. 

We had a hard time getting out of town yesterday.  It began with a slow leak in a tire that I discovered Sunday afternoon.  It was slow enough that I aired it up before bedtime figuring it would have enough air in it the morning to make it to the tire store, which it did.  But, the news at the tire store was bad.  The tire was un-repairable.  Since the tires were nearly worn out anyway, two new Michellins and two hours later, I was ready to handle the next chore.  I found that I would not have enough of one of my meds to make it through trip.  So, I ran by the house, picked up Sheila and headed out by way of the pharmacy.  After that, the trip was uneventful.  Though it seem farther away, Hidden Hills is just a little under four hour’s drive from Tulsa including a lunch stop.  

We stopped for lunch in Purcell.  Our first stop was a cute looking little hole in the wall on old Main Street.  I will not embarrass the poor little old lady who runs it by identifying her.  After several minutes, we left a dollar on the table to cover her time for bringing us water and left.  On the street outside, we asked a local man in Marine Corp fatigue cap where to find the best place to eat in town.  He replied, “What day is it?”  We replied, “Monday.”  “Well, on Monday, it's Sonny's two lights down out  on  77.  Otherwise, it's that place down at the end of the bridge,” he continued, pointing back to the  northeast. Five minutes later, we were at Sonny's and found out where everybody in town was having lunch.  

The remarkable kindness and decency of the people of rural Oklahoma never ceases to amaze me.  We stopped the Dollar General in Maysville to buy ice and charcoal.  Maysville is less than twenty miles up the road from the cabin.  Noticing my limp, the husky young farm girl working the register insisted on carrying the charcoal and ice to the car for me.  This was less than forty miles from Duncan, Oklahoma where three black teenagers shot a young Australian student to death as part of a gang initiation.

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon. Hidden Hills Guest Ranch has two cabins.  Earlier this year, we stayed at the Coyote Moon, an incredibly cute little purple faux adobe.  It is completely solar powered so it is only inhabitable during the spring and fall.  However, the new owners tell us that they are beefing up the solar system so that this charming little cabin will be available for the entire summer soon. 

This time, we are staying at their larger, conventionally powered, Windmill Ridge cabin.  Like Coyote Moon, it is beautifully decorated in a Southwest theme.  There is a huge soaking tub next to a large bay window looking out over the little canyon to the west.  Less than an hour after we arrived, Sheila and I were in the tub, enjoying an iced Michelada made with non-alcoholic beer. 

Hidden Hills is a B&B and the new owners apparently take the second B seriously.  We breakfasted like kings on Tricia's excellent breakfast enchiladas, complete with fresh red and green salsa and finished the meal with her sinfully good pancake muffins covered with hot maple syrup.  All had been left in the fridge waiting for us, wrapped up and ready to be microwaved.  There was also fresh fruit, cereal, fresh milk and even fresh cream for our coffee.

After breakfast, we settled in for a quiet morning.  The temp is a delightful 72 degrees and there is a pleasant breeze.  Sheila has her watercolors out and after I finish writing, I will settle in with a book.  It promises to be the kind of quiet, no phones, no messages, no internet, no chores morning that we need every month or two to stay sane and recharge our relationship. We spent a pleasant day.  I did some writing.  We both did a little painting while working on our all over tans.  It was an incredibly relaxing time.

However, around 3:30, I was amazed to hear Sheila’s cellphone ringing.  Remarkably, she chose the only place in the cabin that receives an intermittent one bar cell signal and hung her purse there.  I checked the phone and saw that her sister Gwenda had called.  We knew that it was about a medical situation.

We tried calling back from the cabin but could not hold a signal.  So, we then drove ten miles back toward the interstate and parked on a hilltop where we got a solid enough signal to answer the call.  We were needed back in Tulsa.  While we were sad to have to leave after only one night, it wasn't the disaster it could have been.  The hosts at HH run a weekday special that gives you two nights for the price of once if you book a stay for a Monday or Tuesday. Consequently, we didn't lose that much money.  Within an hour, we were packed and on the road back to Tulsa.  We arrived at home at bedtime after an uneventful trip

And yes, as usual, a good time was had by all.

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Postcript:  Several of our friends have asked why we drive to the middle of nowhere to stay in a room that costs as much per night as suite in a good hotel in Dallas, Ft. Worth or KC?  One reason is that we like the solitude.  Cabins are a great place to concentrate on each other instead of the destination alone.  Cabins are a great place for a couple to have a glass of wine in the hot tub and watch the stars come out or spend a lazy afternoon in bed.

But, Sheila and I are also always looking for value in our travels.  Right now, the biggest value in the travel industry is cruising. We regularly get offers to book short cruises for $300.00 per person. These cruises are typically four nights. That figures out to $75.00 per night per person or $150.00 per night for a couple for everything, a room, all meals, all snacks, all soft drinks,Vegas style entertainment, a host of other free options such as pools, hot tubs, shuffleboard, water slide, discos, piano or jazz clubs and even a day or two in a Mexican beach town.

A lot of local cabin operators are pricing themselves out of this larger travel market. Why should you spend $500.00 or more for a long weekend in the woods at a place where the innkeeper may ask you to carry out your own trash when you can put another hundred or so with it and spend that same long weekend on a cruise ship with FREE room service and steward who not only carries your trash out but makes the bed for you, turns it down at night and even folds a towel into a cute animal figure to entertain you?

Hotel chains also know how to work the discount game.  Their primary occupancy is during the week for business travelers so they often discount weekend packages.  Right now, you can book a package at the Sheraton Fort Worth for $179.00 for the first night and then pay the same figure as the date of your birth for the second and third.  For boomers like us, that means the second and third nights are around $50.00. While that does not include any free food, spa services, etc. it does include use of the house's pools, hot tubs, exercise rooms, etc.  That figures out to $94.00 a night for a luxury hotel room in downtown Cowtown.  

But, savvy local cabin operators realize that they are not just competing with the cabin down the road but also with the major hotel chains who offer inclusive weekend packages and even the cruise lines.  Hidden Hills Guest Ranch is right on the edge of this curve with their two for one weekday special.  At less than $70.00 per night including Tricia's scrumptious breakfast fixin's, HH is a tremendous bargain for a quick get away if you can arrange your holiday at the beginning of the week instead of a weekend.