We left Seneca, which is on the border of Missouri and Oklahoma, in time to enjoy the cooler part of the day. We stopped at a familiar sight on the Will Rogers Turnpike, the restaurant that straddles the highway. He wanted to let Julie and Redford stretch their legs at this familiar stop.
While Byron was walking them he spotted a few more vehicles from the Hot Rod Power Tour. The caravan is making it's way to another Oklahoma stop. Today they're making their way to Moore, Oklahoma which is south and east of Oklahoma City.
On the left is a Chevy Nova Super Sport. In the center is a Dodge Dart. Behind them to the right is a modified coupe from the 1930s. In front of the Dodge/Plymouth is a current-day Mustang. As we pulled out of the stop several other cars, vintage and contemporary, passed us. More info, if interested, is at http://www.hotrod.com/2012/powertour/.
Also in the photo is the statue of Will Rogers, Oklahoma's famous son. It is still standing where it did back in 1960 when the turnpike opened, welcoming people to this state. As a reminder, Oklahoma was the 46th state admitted into the Union in 1907. By the way, in 1960 McDonald's didn't have the franchise for the restaurant. At any rate, the arch was appropriate for McDonalds. The restaurant has become a landmark on the Joplin to Tulsa stretch.
We arrived in Oklahoma City in the early afternoon under cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. Despite new road construction that didn't show on the GPS maps, it did lead us to our campground (Council Road RV Park) where we will be stationed for the next four days.
We're in Oklahoma City to visit with some of Martha's family, Floyd and Joyce Shealy and children. They are are celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday. Byron is planning to sing a medley as a part of the celebration.
From the way things look, we're some of the very few travelers as it appears the park has a lot of full-timers or permanent residents in 5th wheelers. The park is adequate, but not necessarily our first choice even though it is endorsed by Good Sam’s Club and Woodall's. Though the drives aren't paved it is adequate and conveniently located.
While Martha was finishing some work Byron watched a documentary on the educational channel about Oklahoma's statehood. What a great way to be welcomed to a region of which we know little of it's history. On tidbit is that the "civilized tribes" that had taken up residence in the eastern part (then called Indian Territory) had organized and developed a constitution in preparation for statehood. Teddy Roosevelt, however, pushed to merge Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory (the state was to be named Sequoia) into one state. The fear was that if the two territories had become separate states that they would wind up with four senators in the Democrat party -- something the Republican-controlled congress didn't want to see. Politics!
After supper we made a quick trip to Walmart in the early evening to pick up a few items. The highlight of the evening was the dip of German Chocolate ice cream from Braum’s. We were pleased that for less than three dollars we both had a scoop in a waffle cone -- it beats the price we would have paid at Graeter's back in Louisville.
On day four we plan to catch the parade of Red Earth Festival here in OKC.
No comments:
Post a Comment