Almost there ... Thurs-Sat, 9/21-9/23

A couple of long driving days netted us nearer our Baton Rouge goal.  Tomorrow should be the magic day.  We haven't stopped to hike or play much because of the heat.  So ... we drove!  When we left Foss St Pk, OK, Thursday morning, we hoped to travel a short distance to overnight at Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, OK, a Harvest Host location. Unfortunately, no electric hookup was available at this site, and it was too blamed hot for us to spend the night without Tergel's air conditioning.  Call us wussies, but it was hot.  We did, however, tour the museum.  Tom Stafford was born and grew up in Weatherford and the town has done him proud with this collection. 

One last pretty shot before we left Foss St Pk.

The museum has worked closely with the Smithsonian Institution, NASA, and the US Air Force Museum to assemble one of the finest collections of aerospace artifacts in the central United States.

Lost in space.

This museum is chock full of interesting exhibits:  Aviation and space, rockets and shuttles. space suits, and quite a bit of Tom Stafford's personal stuff.  Much of it was "over my head," but I enjoyed the museum nevertheless.  Jimmy, of course, was fascinated.  The spot lighting was such that picture taking was tough, but here are a few.  If you get a chance to stop, please do.  The fee is minimal.  If we return via Oklahoma and have cooler weather, we'll overnight via Harvest Hosts.  If you haven't checked out Harvest Hosts, click on the link here.

Jimmy reads up on the Apollo Command and service module.

This Titan rocket was immense.

Stafford was a famed test pilot and astronaut.

Tom Stafford was born in 1930.  Here is parents' wedding announcement -- they don't write 'em like this anymore.  I like the personal touches in an overwhelmingly technical museum such as this.  I hope you can enlarge it and read it.  Click your back arrow to return to this post.

We didn't spend too long inside the air-conditioned museum and hit the road traveling east on I-40.  A few extra stops for groceries and gas, through OK City and then we returned to back roads.  We spent a quiet night at McGee Creek St Pk in southeastern OK, and continued on those back roads till lunchtime on Saturday.  In the process, we clipped Texas (again!) and Arkansas, the ArkLaTex.  Then it was I-49 to Shreveport and an overnight at the Elks Lodge there.  The photos below are from McGee Creek, the lake and environs.

Hundreds of Black Vultures (Buzzy Buzzard) were sitting on or near the dam,
or circling over it.

But my favorite is the Gulf Fritillary butterfly on brilliant Marigolds.

The past two-and-a-half weeks have been very enjoyable for me and Jimmy.  We've seen a lot of new special places and hoofed it over some of the best areas in the country.  We'll spend time with my sister and BiL in Baton Rouge and then go camp out in Mobile AL for a while. It'll be good to see family and friends again.

Past and Present = Now ... Thursday, 9/21/17

The sun gets up late here on the western border of the Central Time Zone.  I was up well before dawn and drinking coffee.  At the right moment, I stepped out in front of Tergel to capture this "red sky in the morning" photo.  Glad I'm not a slug-a-bed or I'd miss a lot.  The morning air felt cool enough, though more humid than we're used to, and already a fair breeze blew from the south.  Our plan was to hit the road in Smartie, aiming for Washita NWR.  Alas, I knew we were too early in the season for fall migrating birds, but you never know what else you might see.  We knew WE needed an early start or we'd wilt before Noon.

Abutting Foss Reservoir, the NWR covers over 8,000 acres, through prairie and farmlands, over gently rolling hills, with the shallow and slow-moving Washita River winding through it. Local farmers grow crops here, taking part of the harvest and leaving the rest for wildlife.  I would've been thrilled to see the thousands of geese, ducks, cranes, etc., that either stop to refuel before moving on or spend their winters at the refuge.  As it was, our drive was scenic, but we saw no critters, and made the decision to drive to Cheyenne to visit the battlefield.  We certainly had the road to ourselves.

Something we were surprised to see an abundance of,

and didn't recognize at first, were large fields of cotton.

We stopped at the old McClure Bridge and walked across it.  Hundreds of empty swallow nests were under the newer bridge to the right of the photo.

Along the way, on Hwy 33, was this historic marker:  Cheyenne-Arapaho Cattle Ranch, (Hodge Site) -- Cheyenne-Arapaho Cattle Ranch, Western Oklahoma's million acre cattle ranch was established in 1882.  The main headquarters were located on the Washita River at the mouth of Quartermaster Creek.  Also known as the" Apple Ranch" and the C&A Ranch, the ranch is listed as the Hodge Site on the Historic Places National Register.  I looked up Hodge Site and came away no wiser.

A modern and attractive VC was our introduction to the battlefield site.  It was quiet; one other couple inside and us, and that was it.

We'd seen these trees, which I initially thought were apple, but no.  The green fruit was too big for walnuts, so what were these things that looked like oranges, I asked the young ranger at the VC?  His eyes lit up.  Orange it is, Osage Orange.  Planted in abundance to save the land and used as fence rows during the Great Depression, the fruit is inedible.  He said his Mom used to place the oranges in their house when he was growing up to "keep bugs out of the house." 

We walked the half mile track at the VC, read the informational signs and learned a thing or two.  Above, Jimmy stands next to a "dug out," a sort of prairie dwelling used before a proper home of logs or lumber could be built.  Tiny.

A working windmill was nice to see, with a full tank of water below it (including three goldfish).  You could view the mechanism that brought water up to the tank.  

We drove the mile to this National Historic Landmark and walked the mile-and-a-half trail; another Trail of Tears.  We walked alone, accompanied by the wind and whispers of hundreds of spirits.  I viewed each blade of grass and every bright Black-eyed Susan as a symbol that those who suffered here and at other sites like this would rest in peace.

Winds sweep across the prairie.  Native grasses wave and bow to the will of the wind. Summer sun burns us and the wind dries our skin.  Buffeted by the winds, leggy Black-eyed Susans droop, their faces pointed every-which-way.  Cicadas buzz in the trees, grasshoppers zip in every direction, whapping into us as we walk, a caterpillar crawls across my shoe while I stand still, and millions of big red ants scurry to and fro along the path ....

Yellow Woollybear clings to a Dotted Gayfeather stem.

A pile of scat is reduced to nothing, I guess, by these busy dung beetles.  What is the grasshopper doing?  Overseeing the workers, maybe.  We've never seen dung beetles at work before.

I had to hold the blossom still to get the picture.

It was a moving experience walking the trail.

At 1pm, with the temp in the low 90's, we were overheated.  Passing through Cheyenne, we found a restaurant called Las Casuelas and pulled in.  The building looked like a small church and, indeed, it had been a Catholic Church prior to 1961.  The beautiful painting graced what would have been the apse.  The food was good, the water was cold, and the owners were friendly.  It was a good respite for us.

As we made our way back to Foss St Pk and Tergel, the Bison herd was out in full.

One of the big guys was kicking up a dust bowl of his own in the wallow.

And this youngster was playing in the muck!

Western Oklahoma.  We visited and may never return, but seeing it in late summer and feeling that gusty wind is something we'll always remember.

Foss State Park, Oklahoma 9/20-21/17

We made another short hop, as in a really short hop (like 40 miles east) from Sayre City Park to Foss State Park on Wednesday.  The plan is to investigate both the Washita NWR and the Washita Battlefield on Thursday, at least for as long as we hold up in the heat.  Daytime temps are in the 90's here, with a hot sun and big winds.  This time of year the park is fairly empty and, in fact, only one of the campgrounds is open.  Uncrowded and quiet, as we like it!

This is a pretty lake and again, we're parked overlooking it, with lovely shade trees. Our site has W/E ... and thank goodness for air conditioning. We circumnavigated the lake, just looking around, popping in and out of air-conditioned Smartie ... Tergel is on the opposite side (red check mark far right, above).  

Built to control flooding (etc) on the Washita River, Foss dam was finished in 1962.  At over three miles long and a structural height of 142 ft, it's one of the world's largest earthen dam structures.  Normally, the lake has a shoreline of 58 miles and an average dept of 24 feet.  Normally, as in not a drought year, and the lake is full this year.  We've seen fish jumping in the lake, and a fishing boat or two on the water aiming to catch some of those fish!

A small herd of Bison roam 300-400 acres at the state park office across the highway.  Foss St Pk used to be the home of several Plains Indian Tribes, people who lived along the Washita River, and who relied on large herds of Bison for food, shelter, clothing and much more.  Prior to statehood, the area was part of the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation.  We learn so much as we travel about.

And then we decided to drive a few miles north to the town of Butler, thinking we might find a gas station there, so Jimmy could splash a gallon or two in Smartie.  The earth in this part of Oklahoma is red, iron red, lighter or darker, it's red.  Above we spied someone's abandoned homestead in the middle of a plowed field of red dirt, lovingly surrounded by shrubs, and with a tree hugging its north side.

Butler?  Well, we found no gas station, a handful of houses, and not much else.

I think everyone in this county grows these things.

Nice earrings.

Symbolic of a lost era.

By dusk, the air was quite pleasant, so after dinner, a walk in the coolish evening breeze sounded like a fine idea.  The marina is closed for the season, but we saw a few fishermen (and boys) throwing a line in the water, hoping for a Blue Gill.  On the way to the marina, we spotted these creatures below:

A golden butterfly.

A HIDEOUS MONSTER.

And three goofy geese.  (Hey lady, got any corn?)

The sunset was stellar with that humongous thundercloud reflected in the water.  Glad that thing blew east.  I nearly keeled over when I saw a tarantula walking on the road toward us. Ohmygawd, I yelled, look at that thing!  (it was big)  Oklahoma has tarantulas!  Jimmy said I should add this:

Question: Why did the tarantula cross the road?

Answer:  To scare the beejaysus out of Nickie.

(Nightmares ahead)

Continuing East ... to Wednesday, 9/20/17

Time to move on.  East.  Leaving our beloved west for other lands waiting to be explored (by us).  On Sunday, we passed by Window Rock AZ (below) and continued on till we got to Bluewater Lake St Pk, New Mexico, a short 140 miles away.  Jimmy thought it might be a fun spot to camp.  He was right.

Window Rock.  Love the colors and textures.

Out for a walk.

Tergel is in the distance, dead center.

When we pulled into the park, a kiosk said to pick a site and put $8.00 in the envelope, no hookups. We looked around, confused. Where were the sites? A dirt road (or a combination of dirt tracks) led to the lake, so we started toward the lake. It's a wonder we do what we do, because getting down to park on the grassy edge of the lake was pretty bad. Let me just say that when I opened the fridge door, I did it very carefully, 'cause I knew bottles and jars would be catawampus! We were all by ourselves there (red arrow, below).

All by ourselves?  Wait a minute.  Two dogs came to visit.  A beautiful and very friendly grey and white male and a shyer brown and white female.  I think the dog, "Fluffy" (below) would've come home with us! Jimmy crawled under the RV to attach something and Fluffy was all but in his lap.  The two stayed with us the better part of the day, didn't bark, didn't beg or whine.  Just friends for a day!

Other dogs were around, too -- prairie dogs had a small town established.  In late afternoon, I heard coyotes howling across the lake, and again at bedtime.  Then I heard a repetitive (and on and on) call I decided had to be from a bird.  Nothing else "sings" like that.  While I laid in bed (windows open) that night, I tried to call forth its name out of the air and into my brain, but no go.  The next morning at coffee, I announced, "Whip-poor-will."

A pull-behind trailer made it to the lake, but not close to us, so we were two sets of brave, intrepid (crazy) campers at lake's edge.

We left Bluewater Lake Monday morning and hopped on I-40 to cross NM.  We ended up at Ute Lake St Pk, on the eastern border of NM, and found a fine lake-view site with W/E.  We appreciated the electricity and switched on the A/C as soon as we plugged in.  A nice place to overnight for 14 bucks.

I think we were in Texas the next morning when Jimmy said, "Get your camera ready!" He'd been watching the odometer for a few miles, waiting for the big line-up!  Crossing Texas on I-40 was done on purpose, since it's the shortest route from one side to the other and can be done in mere hours (rather than days on I-10)!  

Leaning tower of Britten?

Here we are, out of Texas (Yay!) and into Oklahoma.  We'd driven through OK before, but this year we'll spend a few days and scope out a bit of the scenery.

What a striking sunset greeted us on our first night (Tuesday) in OK!  Taken from Sayre City Park, which is another good stopping point for the night -- W/E for $12.  Lots of grass, and some sites have large trees to keep the hot sun off.  

Aha, and now, at last we know what time it is, what time zone we're in ... Central Daylight Time, and it'll be the same tomorrow as we go Out and About for an explore!