Today was another driving day – 335 miles from Oklahoma City, OK to Little Rock, AR – but not before I had visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum that honors the victims, survivors and everyone affected by the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

I visited this memorial in 2014and would not, normally, revisit somewhere so soon but I knew it had a strong emotional effect on me but couldn’t remember much detail and I wanted to return to learn more. The emotional effect was still there but I knew what to expect and today I was able to absorb more about the immediate aftermath, the investigation and the city’s recovery. It is a beautiful and powerful memorial that I would encourage anyone in the area to visit.

The drive itself was more pleasant than I had expected. When crossing the same part of the country further north there is very little to see except flat plains and farmland. At this latitude the roadside was green with many trees most of the way and there were gentle hills as we passed south of the Ozark mountains. The road video and map are here.

The Oklahoma Memorial occupies what was two blocks in 1995. There are numerous symbolic elements, such as the two Gates of Time, which act as entrances at either end of the memorial. One is inscribed with 9:01 symbolizing the minute before the bombing and the other 9:03 symbolizing the minute that recovery began.
The reflecting pool marks the location of what was 5th Street. This was the street where the truck bomb exploded.

The building on the right is the museum which is housed in the old Journal Record (a newspaper) building which was severely damaged inside and out. A total of 10 buildings completely or partially collapsed as a result of the bomb.
The victims are represented by 168 empty chairs in the footprint of the Murrah Federal Building. They are arranged in nine rows, representing the nine floors of the building, according to where each was at the time of the explosion.
This is the getaway car used by Timothy McVeigh who was already in custody when he became the chief suspect after being stopped for the missing rear license plate.