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N o direct flights went from Boston to Oklahoma City. I was going to spend a lot of time flying the friendly skies, for my trip was so convoluted that I had to go around my elbow to kiss my thumb. The day that started at 2 a.m. had me in Oklahoma City 16 hours later, and then we had a three-plus-hour drive to boot. There were the normal delays and mechanical problems, and I couldn't figure why I had to fly west to Denver to go back east to Oklahoma. It is what it is, and my only concern was that my shotguns and gear would arrive with me, on time, and intact. I had a long layover in D.C., and that was a rip. December is critical for football season, and everyone was talking ball. The folks in the bank of chairs behind me weren't citing stats or bowl positioning like SEC and ACC fans do. Instead, they belabored the allegedly politically incorrect name for their home team. They sucked all the air out of the room, and I couldn't take it anymore. "I'm going to Oklahoma," I said to the arguing group. They looked at me kind of funny. One young fella said, "Who cares?" Destinations by tom Keer OklahOma is mOre than Ok. "I figured you fellas would," I said. "It's right in line with your conversation." "How so?" he said. "The state's name is Choctaw Indian. 'Okla' means red, and 'humma' means people. When you're done arguing about your Redskins, you might need something else to do. But not until you get a new quarterback, offensive line, and defensive secondary." The silence that followed was wonderful. Now why couldn't I get a long layover in Oklahoma City? The National Cowboy Western and Heritage Museum is located in town, and I'd have enjoyed that as much as a cathead biscuit and sausage gravy for breakfast. But I wouldn't make these stops on my visit; my business was to see if all of this wild quail talk was real. I'd heard enough of it for the better part of the year, which is what brought me to The Sooner State. The 2015-2016 quail season was prematurely touted as "the year of the comeback." For decades everyone bemoaned the lack of birds. Hunters, conservationists, biologists, and state officials cited a cadre of different reasons for the birds' decline, and that's what motivated the state, Quail Forever, and their Oklahoma chapters to reclaim habitat. They wanted to bring back the bobs and blues so their dogs could get a whiff of scent. Word on the street this year was that during both the Spring and Landowner Field days, guys and gals working bird dogs heard quail whistling everywhere. Later on, farmers working their fields saw blues and bobs hopping around like fleas on a dog. It was Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever's Jared Wiklund's post-reproduction survey comparison that made me book my ticket. According to his numbers, in September 2012, which included the worst drought and accompanying heat wave Oklahoma had ever seen, a kennel-worth of dogs ran 39 one-square-mile transects across several western Oklahoma WMAs. Their findings? A paltry eight detections. The 2015 comp numbers produced 80 detections in a one-square-mile transect. Quail Forever? It sounded like it to me. My friend James Dietsch from the Oklahoma 89er Chapter picked me up at the airport. We drove out of the city and past hundreds, maybe even thousands, of wind turbines. Up to that point the biggest wind 74 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S farm I'd seen consisted of five fans, but the sheer magnitude here made me question if it really was green energy, anyway. Soon enough they were far in our rearview mirror, and that's when the prairie's splendor began. I was whooped up, but sleep wasn't an option. I don't sleep well when my wife travels or if the kids are out late. I'm up in a flash when I hear my bird dogs whine. But no matter how tired I am, I never sleep well the night before a hunting or fishing trip. The lead-up for this one was staggering, so I spent the night pacing around my hotel room like a derby dog waiting its turn. I'm seldom prone to barking and whining, but when the sun rises you can bet I'm the one pawing at the kennel door, hoping it'll tear loose. I forgot to mention: today was Opening Day.