Eastern Oklahoma

To broaden our experience in Oklahoma, we took a drive to Claremore (northeast of Tulsa) and Tahlequah for a couple of new sights.

Claremore, OK is near the birthplace of one of the most famous Oklahomans, Will Rogers. We visited this rather large memorial which was built on land that he purchased for a homesite. Never having had the chance to build the home on the property, the family used the land to house a memorial for this amazing entertainer, athlete and statesman.

The Rogers family is interred near the gravesite for Will Rogers and is marked with the striking statue of a mounted Mr. Rogers.

The memorial is surrounded by a large plot of land, as shown in this photo taken from near the mounted statue.

Being a museum, photos weren't allowed of most of the exhibits. We toured several rooms within the museum that documented Will Roger's achievements as a cowboy, entertainer, actor, author, columnist and statesman. We enjoyed seeing more of his famous quotes within context, such as:

'When I die, my epitaph or whatever you call those signs on gravestones is going to read 'I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like'. I'm so proud of that I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved. And when you come to my grave, you will find me sitting there, proudly reading it.'

The museum offers a comprehensive review of this man's life - from the humble beginnings in rural Oklahoma, to the independent working as a cowboy, to the surprising jump to entertainment and the Ziegfield Follies, to acting in movies and of course, the columns and radio work. We enjoyed several highlights of his rope tricks and couldn't leave without picking up a video, a CD highlighting his Sunday night radio broadcast and a small book of quotes.

We think his life demonstrates a real American success story and find his humor refreshing, even today.

From there, we moved on to the city of Tahlequah - chosen because of its status as the capitol of the Cherokee nation and designation as the end of the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee Heritage Center pays fitting tribute to the Cherokee history and also serves as a research center for tracing family roots to the Cherokee tribe. We didn't have much daylight left by the time we made the drive over, but we enjoyed touring the grounds and enlightening ourselves regarding the Trail of Tears.

The stories told here seem to share a common thread with other sights we've seen in Oklahoma - of a population with great resiliance and determination despite circumstances beyond their control. The tribe not only survived after being relocated, but has preserved their heritage (including language), emphasized education amongst the descendents and achieved a prosperous future for many members. We'll be reminded of their stories as we trek eastward along some of the same ground crossed in their infamous journey.

That adventure closed out our sight-seeing in Oklahoma and we were off to Arkansas before another snow storm arrived. Along our way, we saw evidence of Okie humor in the dog walking section at a rest area:


Off to beat the snow and Arkansas....

Fast forward - Oklahoma!

We wrapped up skiing in Arizona and high-tailed it across New Mexico to Amarillo. After a quick detour to Abilene, we returned to the panhandle to find we had a lapse in judgment. We had left the trailer in an RV park during our trip to drop off Christmas decorations, etc. in the storage unit and celebrate a couple of family birthdays. During our absence, Amarillo had received 10" of snow and had had temperatures well below freezing. We had left the furnace on, but had not left the automatic switch over feature on the propane tanks - so the propane had run out sometime before our return. We also had disconnected the water hose, but didn't drain the lines. The housing around the water filter had completely exploded, incapacitating our water systems. Fortunately, Craig was able to handily replace it and everything else was fine. Whew! Lesson learned with a very inexpensive consequence - less than $20!

We also took advantage of an on-site RV tech to coat the rubber roof for continued UV and water protection. The techs scrubbed the whole roof, brushed on the coating and had it returned in one afternoon. We feel like we're in good shape to continue our trek to the eastern states.

First stop - Oklahoma!

This RV park is centrally located in Oklahoma City, but has an attractive appeal with the beautiful trees. We parked well out of the limbs' reach, however, with recent ice storms on our mind! No falling branches for us! The club house features a huge sitting area with a large fireplace and several large screen TV's, a pool table, ping-pong, game tables and huge puzzles.

The park is within a mile of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, so that was our first stop. We forgot our camera on this outing, but more than 1/2 of the museum doesn't allow photos anyway. We enjoyed touring thousands of square feet of paintings, sculptures and exhibits for the entire afternoon.

The next day was a much more sober activity with a visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, paying tribute to victims of the horrendous April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal building.

The inscription reads 'Welcome here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort strength, peace, hope and serenity.'


The memorial is framed by the Gates of Time. Mounted over the former crosswalks on NW 5th street, completely destroyed along with the building, the monuments display 9:01 and 9:03 - marking the time of destruction 9:02 am on April 19.

The Reflecting Pool spans the width and length of the former street with a serene flow of very shallow water and gentle sounds.

The Field of Empty Chairs pays tribute to those killed in the blast and collapse of the building. Arranged in rows reflecting the 9 story building, smaller chairs represent the 19 children killed in the day care center.

Opposite the chairs stands The Survivor Tree, a 90+ year-old American Elm that withstood the horrific blast. The inscription for visitors reads 'The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated, our deeply rooted faith sustains us'.

At the entrance to the indoor museum is a precious wall, decorated with tiles created by hundreds of children in the aftermath of the bombing. One side of the wall is simple handprints while the other side reflects simple drawings and messages of hope and comfort - expressed as only children can!

Alongside the Survivor Tree, the Rescuers' Orchard was planted with nut and flower bearing trees to honor the thousands of helpers that rushed to aid the victims and their families.

We did not realize or remember that over 300 buildings were damaged within a 16 block perimeter of the Murrah building. Directly across the street from the blast stood a rectory for the oldest Catholic church in OKC, St. Joseph's. The rectory was so severely damaged that it had to be torn down. The church erected this statue, entitled 'Jesus Wept' in it's place. The church also sustained much damage, but has been restored.

As said before, this was a very sobering experience for us all - along the lines of visiting Mount St. Helens. This day was much more grievous since it was caused through human hands and the violence delivered with such callousness. We hold deep respect for the Oklahoma City community for their resilience and determination to recover from the tragedy and also to provide an appropriate remembrance of the victims. We can only hope that someday a fitting tribute for the 9/11 tragedy will be in place.

The sunny day did not stop a very cold wind from chilling us all, so after leaving the memorial, we sought out a Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolate at nearby Bricktown.

We enjoyed seeing the unique buildings and beautiful landscaping, but were not up for the water taxi ride!

Developed primiarily for night life, things were very quiet during our visit - suited us fine!

Warmed up, we returned to the RV for a quiet dinner - everyone seemed very reflective, as it should be.