From the town of Norman, we stopped first at Chickasha (this is a fun town name to say!) in Oklahoma, for a quirky American roadside stop: a leg lamp! The sculpture, which is 12 meters (40 feet) tall and stands on a 3 meter (10 foot) box, is modeled after the prop that appeared in the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story". The leg lamp lights up at night as well.
The Holy City of the Wichitas
An hour away in southwestern Oklahoma is the Holy City of the Wichitas, an outdoor site designed to resemble biblical-era Jerusalem. It's been around since the 1920s, and is known for hosting the annual Prince of Peace Easter Pageant, one of the longest-running outdoor Easter pageants in the country. There are incredible stone structure that include replicas of biblical landmarks, as well as 3 crosses that are meant to look like Jesus and the two other men he was next to when he was crucified on the cross. It's very peaceful and quiet in the area, and you don't have to be religious or spiritual to appreciate the work that went into designing and creating these structures. We did speak to a gentleman trimming the lawn while we were there, and he did helpfully point out the poison ivy in the area, and showed us photos of copperheads (a venomous snake) he recently found in the area--so it's worth keeping an eye out if you visit in the warmer months for these!
The Holy City of the Wichitas is set right near the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, which has 60,000 acres of mixed grass prairie, granite mountains, and fresh water lakes and streams. We saw one bison as we were driving by, and despite the sweltering heat, it was trudging along the plains rather quickly!
Parallel Forest
Just outside the wildlife refuge was a forest that was supposedly handcrafted for government experiments. It was planted to counteract the effects of the Dust Bowl, with the trees acting as a wind block. Given the name, we though it would be a cool stop but as you can see from the picture, it was a big disappointment.
Museum of the Great Plains
Still in the city of Lawton in Oklahoma is the Museum of the Great Plains that goes into the region's cultural and natural history. It goes into prehistoric history and fossils, Native American traditions, as well as early homesteading, ranching, and agriculture.
Since we've been to quite a few places that have delved into prehistoric history and fossils, the highlights for us included the tornado simulator. We sat in a room meant to look like a home shelter underground, with witness recounting one of the worst tornados to hit Oklahoma as the shelter doors bang, the wind howls, and the light flickers on and off over a 7 minute experience. The exhibitions focused on early settler life were also fun, with a recreated Trading Post, a rebuilt chuck wagon (a mobile kitchen in a modified wagon to feed cowboys and other workers during long expeditions), and an area to have a go trying to lasso a wooden cow. The upstairs area is perfect for kids, with lots of interactive areas to play games and do puzzles.
The outside of the museum has a locomotive that used to travel between St. Louis to San Francisco, as well as the renovated Coffee's Post, which served as a hub for trade with Native American tribes, and today has several buildings including a store, sleeping area, and an elevated watch area to keep the area secure. A man was waiting for visitors to show up so that he could talk them through the Trading Post. There weren't that many visitors when we went, so he would have been waiting around for quite a while between folks dropping in, but he was very committed to his job, playing the part of someone from that era really well. We think he probably would love to act on stage in a play, if that's not something he does already!
Entering Texas!
About an hour and a half drive south, and we left Oklahoma and entered Texas! We'd already had a brief stop in Texas earlier on this trip (all the way back on Day 29, when we went through El Paso), so can't count this as a new state. What was new, however, was seeing the World's Largest Bowie Knife, in--surprise, surprise--the town of Bowie, Texas. The town proudly displays its Guinness World Records certificate at this roadside stop. A bowie knife is a type of long knife with a blade that is double-edged at the point (the official knife of Texas--do other states have state knives?). The town and knife is named after Jim Bowie, was an American military officer, landowner and slave trader who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution and who designed the distinctive knife.
Not far from this stop, we went to Walmart to get groceries, and ended up making dinner in the parking lot. It was already after sunset as we drove away, so rather than parking at the nature reserve we saw, we parked closer along, at a truck stop. Fortunately, it was much cooler at night, with a much welcomed breeze filtering into the RV. If only this breeze would happen every night after all the hot days we've been experiencing!
Route Map
