🎶…Livin’ On Tulsa Time…🎶

 Our takeaways from our few days in Tulsa, OK, are…..

Wind, Churches, Oil, and highway tolls.

While Wind will remain at the top of the list for the foreseeable future, the last three ebb and flow according to the whims of the current conventional wisdom. When we arrived in Tulsa, it was early afternoon, so we decided to begin our exploration of this mid-America city. Boston Avenue runs roughly north and south, and is the beating heart of the city. Millions upon millions of oil and mineral dollars have flowed through this city and have resulted in graceful churches and impressive buildings, almost all of them located along or near Boston Avenue.

The Presbyterian Church is a grand example of the honor and glory Oklahomans give to their churches.

Other places of worship are located nearby.

The downtown “Blue Dome” district is a microcosm of Tulsa history.

The Mid Continent Tower was built in 1918 by The Cosdon Oil and Gas Company.

The Oklahoma Natural Gas Building was constructed in 1928 and is an example of “Zigzag Art Deco” architecture.

Modern Tulsa has not forgotten its roots and both old and new buildings give the downtown a unique vibe.

But, dominating downtown, and impossible to miss, is the Bank of Oklahoma.

Late on a Sunday afternoon, as we faced a wind tunnel wind whipping around the sharp corners of silent buildings, we looked up to see two window washers working their way down the side of an office building. They didn’t need to propel themselves from side to side….the wind took care of that!

Old Route 66 has been our companion for many hundreds of miles on its way to the West Coast. As it passed through Tulsa, businesses sprang up along it, providing much needed services to travelers and wealth to the city. Very few remnants of that busy time remain, but the Meadow Gold sign is one of the most famous. This dairy was one of the first to retail dairy products in a large way.

A mural on the original dairy store pays homage to the travelers passing by.

And, of course, we couldn’t leave Tulsa without taking a picture of Tulsas mascot, The Golden Driller.

We stayed in Whispering Oaks RV Park in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Sapulpa is named for a native american who opened a trading post southwest of Tulsa back in the day. The park is neither whispering nor growing oak trees, but is adequate just the same, as long as the 24 hour drone of the adjacent beer bottle manufacturing company next door doesn’t present a problem…..

We have enjoyed spending time in Tulsa. We may return some day….who knows?

Cherokee Strip, September 16, 1893

There were several land “rushes” in Oklahoma Territory, but only one has captured historical headlines: The Cherokee Strip. Both Donnas grandparents and my grandmother were part of that excitement. 

The Oklahoma Territory had been given to native Americans by treaty after the removal effort known as the Trail of Tears, but population pressure from the east created a situation that is today considered to be horrible mismanagement by the federal government. Immigration from Europe was increasingly encouraged, and along with an increasing need for prime land in the east created an unsustainable life for native Americans. Add in cattle from Texas being driven across “Indian Territory “, and there was no turning back the tide.

Right or wrong, it is history, and both Donnas grandparents and mine acquired quarter sections of land accordingly to established regulations. For the Cherokee land rush, nine departure points were established, five along the Kansas line and four along the southern edge of the Strip. Additionally, four land offices were located throughout the area, and once a land claim was made, it had to be registered at the land office. Imagine the confusion when thousands of people descended on those four offices! 

We left Oklahoma City, heading north on I35. Our destination was the Cherokee Strip Museum in Perry, Oklahoma.

This small museum primarily focuses on the local aspects of the rush. This saddle was used by Mansfield Jerome in the 1893 run.

This shawl was brought to Oklahoma by Anna Tetyak from Czechoslovakia in 1893 and carried by wagon into the Cherokee Strip.

Interestingly, one of the founders of Sonic is from the Perry, Oklahoma area. An american success story, Marvin Jirous started with a Dairy Boy store, partnered with Charlie Pappe, named their restaurant Sonic, “Service at the speed of Sound”, and never looked back.

Next, we headed west toward Enid, OK.

 My grandmother was born in Enid, in a sod house, to James Hill and his wife, who died soon after Grammas birth. We had an enlightening conversation with the archivist at the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, trying to find records of Grandma Violet, but didn’t have much luck. Records are still being digitized, and incomplete. Aaron did turn us on to several research tools that we will explore in the future.

The Heritage Center takes a broader view of the Cherokee Strip than the center in Perry. We came away with a much better grasp of this turbulent time, aided in large part by a number of maps.

Pictures of “soddies” showed just how tough life was for the first settlers of the Strip.

Laura Crews caused a huge uproar when she rode a horse “astride” in the 1893 land rush. 

She was successful in obtaining land and lived to 105, the last survivor of the Cherokee Land Rush. At her 100th birthday, she told her great, great nephew “If I were younger, I’d like to homestead on the moon.”

Family history tells of Enid being a small farming community. These days it is a thriving, Heart of America type of town, and with over 50,000 population, is the ninth largest city in Oklahoma. Locals at the Heritage Center told us that west coast escapees are flooding into Enid. 

God help them all.

And so we leave Oklahoma City. It’s been raining for four straight days. Maybe we can escape that as we move east!

The Oklahoma Standard

We’ve not spent much time in Oklahoma over the years, so we want to visit some of the places we’ve heard about.

One of those places is the Oklahoma Memorial and Museum, and the events of April 19, 1995, when 168 people died in an horrific explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The site of the building (now demolished) is a memorial to “a day like any other day.” Until 9:01 am, when the world changed forever.

At the west end of the reflecting pool representing the footprint of the Federal Building, the time is forever 9:03 am, the time that Oklahomans ran, not away from the destruction, but toward the wreckage to offer help.

168 empty chairs.

Parts of the Federal Buildings foundations have been left near plaques with names of building survivors. It seems strange to honor survivors, but somehow appropriate as well.

Near the museum entrance is the Survivor Tree. Originally in the backyard of a long gone farmhouse, it escaped damage during construction of the Murrah building. Losing all of its leaves and a lot of bark, it survived the 1995 explosion and is now a well tended, healthy tree.

Some 314 buildings in the area of the blast were damaged. This door was in the building across the street.

Rescue efforts continued for 16 days, during which specialists from Arizona and Sacramento, California, were called in. Every available rescue tool was used, including incredibly talented canine crew members. This pup is climbing a ladder extended from a fire truck positioned 60 feet away!

Acts of heroism were both quiet and elegant.

The Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a fireman carrying a baby was the inspiration for this sculpture.

Donations were made anonymously and often.

Only hours after the explosion, Timothy McVeigh was stopped by a trooper driving a car without a license plate. And on such small details the plan unraveled. The rest is history.

Across the street from the site of the explosion, a figure turns away from the destruction and weeps.

Presidents and pastors, funeral directors and plumbers, volunteers by the hundreds, all gave what they could. A fitting memorial, not only to the ones lost, but to the spirit of Oklahoma.

President Clinton, on April 23, 1995:

“If anybody thinks that Americans are mostly mean and selfish, they ought to come to Oklahoma. If antbody thinks Americans have lost the capacity for love and caring and courage, they ought to come to Oklahoma.”

Remember.

On the Road(s) Again, and Again, and Again

It turns out that every state has requirements. We had neglected to arrange for one of ours, and had to take a quick trip to South Dakota.

We moved the trailer from Mustang Run RV in Yukon OK to Twin Fountains RV in Oklahoma City in the morning and by that afternoon we were in Topeka Kansas. I35 is a toll road after it leaves Oklahoma and is one of the finest Interstate highways we’ve ever encountered. There are several service plazas along the route, but most are undergoing renovations and the fast food services are not available.

The scenery along the highway is pure Kansas! Mile after mile of plains with occasional farm and ranch buildings.

Just north of Wichita we moved over to US 77 to avoid Kansas City. Lots of small farming towns here, some anticipated sweets, and more range land.

We picked up our first Kansan avian souvenir near one of the few turns in the road! I guess you can tell we were bored!

We spent a fitful night in Topeka at an Endeavor hotel. I wouldn’t recommend it, but dinner next door at Hooters was delightful! Next days arrival in North Sioux City, SD, was uneventful with a nice room at a Hampton Inn and dinner at P’s Pizza. A vegetarian pizza cooked in a coal fired oven was a unique and tasty pie!

No pics on the return to OKC. Boredom had taken a firm grip on us. We didn’t stop halfway like we did on the outbound leg and drove all the way, a total of just over 1,100 miles all told. Thanks to Donna, who drove more than halfway each day, I was able to nap, read, and nibble on Oreo’s. What’s not to like?

Yukon, OK

 We left Amarillo mid morning and fought 40+ mph headwinds to get to Mustang Run RV Park in Yukon, Oklahoma the day after eight tornados touched down and killed three people! The wind on I 40 was definitely a force to be reckoned with as we saw two big rigs that had flipped over. Our truck and trailer were all over the highway, and we were very happy to arrive at our park!

We kinda enjoyed the first part of the trip out of Amarillo through mountain passes and on out to the plains. Rolling hills and thousands of acres of grass make the plains of north Texas and western Oklahoma a beautiful area.

We found a wide spot along the highway that Texas calls a rest area, but without a bathroom. None the less, we were happy to take a break!

The plains, where the wind always blows, is a perfect place for turbines! There are thousands of them out here!

Almost there!

Mustang Run is an extremely nice park, with wide, long sites. Sasha likes all the grass! Unfortunately, it’s near Interstate 40, and road noise is a bit annoying.

We’ve been here two nights as I write this, and will move to another park tomorrow, just twenty miles farther east, where we’ll stay most of a week. Today we did laundry and filled the truck with fuel. Diesel here in Oklahoma City is going for $3.44 a gallon, so we filled every container we had! 

Some big doins’ in the next few days, so stay tuned!