Little Rock and Oklahoma

I'm posting this and the previous from my favorite office Paneras!

We finally arrived at Little Rock AFB and had a nice drive through spot. When I unloaded the car (very easy) I noticed that one of the straps had a wear spot so now I had to find a new tow dolly tire strap – that is a problem for another day – we are here for three nights. After that I needed a walk to clear my head – I know some socializing with some military retirees. I walked down to pay my $45 for my three nights when I started talking t this one guy who is full timing. Sold up his house and now just travels. The next guy I spoke with he has a newer Holiday Rambler 40 foot diesel. He was a BB stacker (munitions) in the Air Force. After he retired from the Air Force – he stayed in England. His wife is English and comes from Ipswich. They sold up everything over there and decided to travel the US. The second night her and Joan had a good chin wag. 
One of the reasons for catching I-40 at Little Rock for our Route 66 somewhat tour starting at Oklahoma City is that we had not checked on our property here since like 1983 when the kids were little. It hasn’t changed a bit just more weeds and we drove right past it the first time. We had o go to a realtor with our plat map to find it for sure. You see all of the surrounding roads leading to it have changed dramatically. What do you expect it has only been 35 years? There is a beautiful lake just on the other side of the property.
Joan & my theme song “is on the road again”. It seems like that is all we do – the gas companies love us. Oh by the way we have not spent over $2.50 a gallon yet. Our best gas price has been $2.35. We know as we head west that is going to change abruptly. You would think that with what we spend on gas taxes we could do something about our highway infrastructure. That is why we are having so much trouble with the dolly. The interstates are beating us to death!
Well we got the tire strap and it works fine – it’s a bright orange and the other one is black. We headed out bright and early – Oh speaking of bright and early my wife who likes to sleep in at home has a new attention getter. At Little Rock AFB they have a very loud revelry at 0630. So we departed for Tinker AFB just east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The only problem is this time is you can’t make reservations and they only had three vacant spots. Thank goodness when we arrived hey had space for us. We parked in and instead of relaxing we jumped into the car and started exploring. I couldn’t have done that if I had to wait on a rental car. I looked at a map and we are already halfway across this great country of ours and have met some really nice people.
Our first stop for our Oklahoma visit was “The Cowboy Museum”, well worth the visit. For a person who grew up with westerns, it was great to see how others portrayed the west how it was. After our visit or perusing the museum Joan and I needed a break so we drove around down town and took in the sites via car. We ended up down at the stock yard. I was talking to a young man there. He informed me hat on the weekend they bring in 6,000 – 8,000 head of cattle. They auction them off on Monday and Tuesday. After that we went to the Cattleman’s Café which is around the corner – not what I expected. I’m looking for a large slab of beef. Welcome to the 21st century! On our way back to the base and motorhome there was a small Lama ranch. We stopped in to have a look see. They wanted to sell us one – they are expensive. And we complain about buying a dog!
We were talking to this young lady who told of this buffalo ranch up the road a piece. It is called Woolaroc it is put side of Bartlesville OK. It’s an interesting story and place created by one of our oil barons of the 20th century – Frank Phillips. It was only a three hour drive there. It was an interesting place to visit. If I remember correctly – it is 27 thousand acres. No wonder the only buffalo we saw were in a pen for the most part. Mr. Phillips though loved the old west with the Indians and bandits. One of the reasons he bought the pace because that’s where the bandits would hide out. He would have a day once a year where the Indians, out laws, law enforcement, and influential people all meet up. The outlaws had a free pass for the day. There are a lot of other interesting stories – well worth the drive.
The city (town) outside of Woolaroc is Bartlesville OK (this was the test site for the first experiment in pay cable television – the movie was “The Pajama Game, with Doris Day and aired in 300 homes) in the North Central OK, south of Kansas and south west of Coffeyville Kansas (where four of the Dalton Gang had been killed in 1892). On our way back south through the different small towns we came across Jim Thorpe’s one bedroom home in Yale, near Prague OK. Burt Lancaster portrayed him well in the movie about Jim Thorpe. 
Also during our drive south we kept crossing the Cimarron River. It took me back to the TV series Cimarron Strip. It was about the time the Indian lands were opened up for settlers to grab up land. It is 166 miles long and 34 miles wide. The next time you watch one of those old westerns and they talk about the Cimarron Strip just think how big the place is. 
Our next adventure was to actually start driving the old Route 66. Unfortunately the iconic road is not what it is cracked up to be – at least not in Oklahoma. As we departed the hustle and bustle of a city we looked for a way to access it from I – 40 – no signs. OK, we will drive out to Clinton and then catch it there and drive it back. Unfortunately, Route 66 is now part of I-40 or OK-66. Then when you were on the actual road it makes you feel nostalgic – but there is nothing there. When you do go through the small towns that have it listed – it is commercialized. Some towns don’t have anything and you don’t know which way to go. We depart OK in a couple days hopefully Texas will show better. But for the next two days it is the state fair and hopefully get back to the stock yard and see all of those cattle!