I've been through Oklahoma and Arkansas during cross country drives as a kid.

I cannot recommend them, though I do remember Arkansas as being hilly/mountainous and pretty. Which you cannot say about OK.

Emmett is going to be in Oklahoma in April for Maggie the Girl's wedding!

I lived in the Texas Panhandle for a number of years and visited Oklahoma several times. Parts are quite pretty, actually, if it rains. Not stunning like the mountains in Colorado or the Big Sur area of California, but still pretty. And it has some interesting historical places to visit. Mind you, I'd never want to live there - the politics there are about as bad as Texas, alas.

I've never been to Arkansas.

I (who feel like I have never been anywhere) have been to Oklahoma. I was there for my aunt's 70th, so I didn't see a great deal of the state, though. Seemed nice while visiting. Enjoyed the Cowboy Hall of Fame (which kinda surprised me). Downtown OKC - "Bricktown" - was pretty cool.

Site leadership at work (who are apparently irony-impaired) have decided to do a pancake breakfast for "Employee Appreciation Day" - announced the same day as the widespread insulting annual reviews. The woman who is stuck organizing it (who is amazing, yet got a review even more insulting than mine), doesn't know anything about gluten-free pancake mixes. So I said I would ask my friends. Steph, any other gluten-avoidant types - do you have a pancake mix you can recommend? Thanks ever so.

Go to Oklahoma, Dana! Why not? Find a restaurant or a park or a sight and go there and see if there’s anything else to stop at on the way! I went to Idaho for the first time because I was nearby and hadn’t been!

I often have the impulse to sell my house and get rid of all my stuff and….do something/go somewhere. But now I not only have the house and the stuff I have a dog, so it feels more complicated than ever and less possible. Also probably not a good plan.

Steph, any other gluten-avoidant types - do you have a pancake mix you can recommend?

Bisquick brand and Krusteaz brand have GF pancake mixes, and they both make pretty good pancakes. Those probably hit the sweet spot of easy to find and not overly expensive (and avoids the problem known as This Is A Good GF Product But Why Is This Package So BIG All I Want To Do Is Make Like 4 Pancakes But This Will Make 400 Pancakes). Like, *I* buy the big-ass bag of stuff, but I know I'm going to bake a lot of shit and use it up. Someone who's just making pancakes one time, for a handful of people, should get the smallest package possible, and that's going to be Bisquick or Krusteaz.

I had a few points in my life where I picked up on very short notice and moved somewhere I'd never been. I think that's where this is coming from.

At the end of high school I planned to stay in San Diego and go to Jr. College for a couple of years and figure things out. Instead I made a last minute decision to go do Whitworth College in Spokane which I'd never seen in a city and state I'd never been to. My summer was already booked with camps and retreats and all manner of things, so from the time I made that choice to when I got in the car I only had 7 days actually at home that summer.

I made a last minute decision to try to get into CalArts for grad school, and moved from San Diego up to Valencia on about a two month notice, and then moved to Ohio for the last two years of grad school with about 3 weeks of notice.

All of those were big decisions that ended up being life changing for me.

I think my lizard brain is looking at the world and the best thing it can come up with is these few times when I got in a car on a very fast decision the world did change for me, and so looking at the world and and feeling like there is so little I can do it's turning to that feeling again.

Now don't get me wrong. I have a pretty great life here. Kristin is my one true human, I have great pets, we have a great house and a place that we love. So no, I don't really want to leave. I just want the world to not be like this.

So yeah, that's where my headspace is right now.

Thanks, Steph. Info forwarded to awesome organizer-gal.

I do remember Arkansas as being hilly/mountainous and pretty. Which you cannot say about OK.

Southeastern OK is very hilly/mountainous and pretty.

Dana, one of my favorite drives is still the Talimena Scenic Drive, for it's dips and climbs and twists and turns and overlooks of some very scenic views: [link]

On the eastern end, before you descend from the top of Rich Mountain, there is Queen Wilhelmina State Park, which is worth a stop. A nice lodge there, and more nice views: [link]

That totally makes sense, ND. I have a vivid memory of getting bad news and just wanting to open the window that was behind me and crawl out and run away so I didn't have to hear it and that feeling is what I was associating with your urge to drive.

I stayed for something like a week at Lake Ouachita in Arkansas and it was pretty great. A long time ago. But that's my main association. Have also driven through several times on my way to somewhere else. OK I have driven through more than visited, but I'm pretty sure I have at least stayed the night somewhere in the state once or twice, but probably not anywhere big or interesting. I don't remember anything in particular. I have a vague memory of ordering a steak at a restaurant because I was in Oklahoma and that seemed called for but I am not sure if that is an actual memory of something I did or a memory of an intention I had. Anyway, I support Dana going places she hasn't been just to have been there. Or anyone.

BTW, that 5 miles to get lunch was, in fact, too far. The light where I usually get on the highway was blinking so that was a big mess and a slow down and even knowing that and saying to myself "come back a different way and avoid this" several times by the time I actually got my lunch I forgot and came back through and it was even slower. But now I have lunch.

Oh, I think I've been to Queen Wilhelmina! Maybe stayed in the lodge? Maybe not. But been there, I am pretty sure.