A Devil of a Time

I considered headings for this post and couldn't come up with anything very pleasing! Now I know the Devil doesn't live here...but I think he sure could right now! It is once again 110 degrees today. We are maintaining day by day...completely out in the sun with no shade trees! DH actually went with the neighbors this morning and played golf on a golf course near here. I have not been feeling too good. Actually went to a walk in clinic yesterday afternoon and that alone was a pleasant suprise, finding an open clinic on Sunday! No lines and no waiting and once my meds kick in now, I'll hopefully feel much better, but for now, I just will stay in and stay down. No need to be outside anyway. I really do like it here, and we will definitely make another trip down here at another time.
This past week we have gone into Oklahoma City and toured the site of the OKC Bombing and Memorial Gardens.






It was eerily quiet and a somber site, but structurally interesting and amazing at the memorials still left on the fence by people that visit. We must never forget those that lost their life by the hands of a deranged individual, mad at our government.
We ventured from there down along Brick Street and had lunch at Tobey Keith's Bar and Restaurant.... I love this Bar!

Another day, we went West to Kingfisher, which is the Birthplace of Sam Walton.

We toured the Chisolm Trail Museum, which was boasted to be the greatest cow trail in the world.






It served to get Texas cattle north to the Kansas Railheads from which they were shipped to other parts of the country.

Jesse Chisolm was a mixed-blood Cherokee guide and trader. Born in 1805 and died from food poisoning in 1868 from tainted meat. Guess they didn't refrigerate much back then. I think that I like my washer and dryer much better than these that I found outside of the Dalton Gang's Cabin!




We went back east yesterday about 5 miles from Edmond...to a fun location. After a 5 mile drive on the old Route 66 we stopped at a real Landmark, a futuristic building holding over 500 glass bottles of Soda.

The corner is marked by a 66 ft. tall LED Pop Bottle, complete with straw!Surely it would be much cooler lit up at night! It is named aptly, Pops museum!

It is also a convenience store and restaurant. We got there about 12:30 and the place was rockin...absolutely packed and over an hour's wait for a party of 5.
We, being a couple and willing to sit at the counter, got right in. It was a very fun atmosphere.
We had Buffalo Burger Specials and got some pop to go!










I think that is the end of the touring for this year. I have begun to trace my family tree and with Cherokee lineage, I want to do some research here, but will come back at another time for that. We are headed north and hopefully away from some of the heat on Wednesday. Will get a good early head start!

Enduring the Heat

I can't believe it is staying this hot, this long! Day in and day out the temps go up over 100 degrees. Tuesday we left Arkansas and drove almost 300 miles west and a little north to Guthrie Oklahoma. Our first stop in Oklahoma was to a Welcome Center where I was very happy to see it was clean and modern and had lots of information about the state.

The travel aides answered all our questions and volunteered extra information and literature with things to do and places to see. I had a couple of things in mind and we are staying in the midst of four golf courses, so I thought I would have the activities covered.

It's too hot to play golf! These four courses were designed and built by a pro golfer, Duffy Martin, who owned a great part of the countryside where this RV Park and Courses are located.

DH has enjoyed visiting with him and Duffy has told DH a lot about the area in just a couple of morning visits. This morning he honked (horn sound like a cow and he has a roo bar on the front of his Lincoln TownCar)and waved and told us he was going into OKC to a singles dance! Only 95 years young!

The first night we were here, we happened upon Roma's Italian Restaurant. It is an authentic Italian Eatery, family owned and operated,very reasonable. We have taken a couple of trips into Guthrie and browsed in the downtown gift and antique shops, had lunch at the Stables restaurant, which was excellent, and looked at beautiful art, pottery and other items made in Oklahoma by local crafts people and artists. Many of the buildings are of beautiful old restored Victorian Architecture.
I am totally impressed with this place and it will warrant another trip down here in the future, hopefully when it's not so hot and DH can get a few golf rounds under his belt. Guthrie was the first state capital of Oklahoma until they took a vote and moved it to Oklahoma City.

There's a lot of history here,there's also tornado damage from a storm that came through here about a month ago and wreaked real havoc on the east side of the golf course next door to us, and through north part of town.

I don't think anyone was exempt from destruction this spring. Glad we missed it.

Ozark National Forest

Happy Independence Day! We aren't celebrating much...it's too hot! We got outside when it was barely daylight, rinsed and wiped the bottom third and the ends of the coach to get rid of the dust.
Yesterday before heading up into the hills and forest the car got an automatic scrub so that I could see out of the windshield to drive!

We took off headed North on SR 7 into the Ozark National Forest, stopping at a few highlighted scenic view sites and enjoyed the trees and winding drive for a few hours.

We drove deep into a wooded campground to see the falls that were listed on the map as a view.

Heavy smoke from several camp fires hung in the trees and as I got out, found it difficult to breathe!

Gone are the days when that sort of thing didn't bother me! The trees there were so dense that very little sunlight peeked through but the heat and humidity still intense.

While enjoying this stop over and a pretty little park, the dog has been spooked with the sounds of fireworks going off in town for the past two nights. We found a nice Steak house in town and that was our weekend treat.

Now we're celebrating this holiday with hot dogs potato salad and ice cream here at home! Tomorrow will be a long driving day with our destination being Guthrie Oklahoma. Clean Rig, Clean Car, rested people and hopefully low traffic. It's gonna be another scorcher so I think we'll get up early and go some miles before it really heats up.

Bird Dogs, BBQ and Battlefields

On Friday before leaving the state of Tennessee we took the day to tour some things that we like.

We left our park early in the morning and drove about 75 miles down towards Memphis to Grand Junction Tennessee, the location of the National Bird Dog Museum.

This location of three combined buildings, a combination of The National Bird Dog Museum, The Field Trial Hall of Fame and the Wildlife Heritage Center.
This is a wonderful tribute to some of the great Hunting Dogs and their owners/handlers. The displays capture 40 different breeds of Retreivers, Flushing dogs and pointers.



A meeting facility and library for teaching and understanding the different elements of Sporting Dog Events and Functions.

We took our own Pointer in to visit the Museum and she was very well behaved. We visited the German Shorthair Display on the walls and strolled through the facility viewing all of the wonderful paintings, prints and donated items.

Many works of notable Sporting Dog Artists. The Director talked with us and took pictures of us with our dog in front of the museum. This place is entirely privately funded and dedicated to preserving the past and protecting the future of the Sporting Dog and anyone who would want to experience the world of Bird Dogs. After a very interesting morning we decided to stop at a small roadside BBQ and experience some local flavors.

We gauged the place a success by all the trucks and traffic stopped all around. Waiting or eating and it was turning out to be a hot day.

We were parked at a camp in the location of a Civil War Battlefield and on the return trip from Grand Junction, stopped through Shiloh at the National Battlefield site and Shiloh National Cemetary.

These locations were very vital in the Civil War, and it's hard to imagine over 9000 Confederate Soldiers lined up and in the trees at these battlefields alone and many more Union Soldiers invading and fighting from the north.

Too much history for such a short time! Saturday July 2 we got up and got on the road early, committing two very big no-nos and I'll not be doing it again! After getting fuel in the town of Parker's Crossing, we got on I 40 and headed West.

After all, I thought it was a straight shot not leaving the Interstate. We traveled 316 miles....too far......and traveled not only on a Saturday, but a Holiday Weekend Saturday! Oh MY!!! Too many idiots in a hurry and we had more close calls in one day than in 6-8 months.... We'll not be doing that again!The whole 300+ miles we only saw ONE Patrol car. Interesting, on a Holiday weekend no less!

Thankfully we arrived all safe and sound in Russellville Arkansas, after crossing the Mississippi River at Memphis, taking pictures of where some of the flood waters stood and making our way over half way through Arkansas, about 75 miles past Little Rock.
We will be here for three nights until Tuesday when hopefully the Holiday travelers will be back at work and we will move on!The heat is oppressive and got to 104 today. I hesitate to even venture out and about...for fear that the vehicle will overheat or malfunction, we did explore some today though.

Stay tuned tomorrow for an account of our travels today into the back woods and Ozark National Forest.