We've just gotten back from a trip to the wilds of Oklahoma to visit my sisters. My younger sister was very sick this winter and spent almost a month in the hospital with pneumonia and I wanted to go to Oklahoma and spend some time with her and my older sister.We're not from Oklahoma (my older sister and I were born in California and my younger sister in Missouri), but my Mom was from there and when she and my Dad moved back there in the 70's my sisters moved back there too.
They live in a teeny, tiny town named Vian which is about 15 miles north of Sallisaw and is really just a wide place in the road. As both of my sisters have very small houses we rented a cabin on the Illinois River in a beautiful park named Marval Family Resort. We figured that way Mac could fish while my sisters and I got caught up on all the family doings.
As it turned out both of my sisters fished with Mac, Susie, the younger one, loves to fish and this was her first chance since being so ill. Mac caught most of the fish, over the 3 days he caught about 25 fish including 4 Rainbow Trout which was the type of fish he was really after.
We'd worried that the fishing might not be too good as Oklahoma is one of the states that has been hit by continuous rain this spring. The Illinois River was at flood stage and they were constantly having to release water from Tenkiller Dam. So instead of a gentling flowing river that you could wade across just below the dam we had a roaring river that had flowed out of its banks. But still, he caught a lot of fish and the park and cabin were great.
It was so good to see my sisters and I was able to visit the cemetery where my parents are buried and put flowers on their graves.
Also had time to have a quick sit down with my cousin Lola who I had reconnected with on Faceback. Her sister Juda, who I never knew very well was there as was her Mother, my great Aunt Hazel, who is 94. She had a little trouble placing me at first but then decided that I favored my Grandmother Pearl.
Planning for this trip was interesting. It's about a 1,000 miles to Vian and we didn't want to drive but getting a flight there was a challenge. We ended up flying from Savannah, to Atlanta to Memphis, Tennessee to Ft. Smith, Arkansas and driving from there. Made for a long day though each flight was relatively short. Always glad to go and always glad to come home. When people ask why we don't stay longer I always say that we're like fish, after 3 days we don't smell very good.
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| My Sister Susie Fishing |
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| All the Fishfolk, Notice the trees in middle of river, that's the flooding |
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| Susie's Earring-sized Fish |
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| Rainbow Trout |
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| Our Cabin |
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| Water Being Released From the Damn |
Sounds as though you had a good time with your sisters, always good to catch up with family you don't see very often. The water being released from the dam looks pretty spectacular, the flooding has been dreadful - still is from what I can gather.
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