Thursday September 19 - We're certainly not in Kansas anymore!

      Dudley decided man should not sleep past 6am, so he let Jim know in his persistent way (loudly whining!) that it was time to get up and take he and Rosie out.  Jim dutifully complied. The temperature was nice, low 70's, and we broke camp and departed around 9.
     Our 2 main goals for the day were to see the Oklahoma countryside and to visit the historic town of Guthrie.  The countryside in Oklahoma, at least when one is traveling on I35 or I44, is vastly different from the beautiful and colorful topography in Kansas.  Primary characteristics are: flat land, few rolling hills; an abundance of scrub trees; acre upon acre of brown grass, flecked with low lying scrub and plants.  The countryside, at least north of Oklahoma City, has numerous oil pumping rigs, generally rust colored and just plain ugly! There are grazing herds of cattle, and the same kind of farmhouse "clusters" that appear to be in the center of most ranges.  Overall impression is that the ranchers in Oklahoma weren't as prosperous as those in Kansas. 

     Historic Guthrie is a good place to stop and visit.  It is an attractive, turn-of-the-century town populated with friendly people and lots to do.  The main street Is typical southwestern in appearance and variety of stores.  The Guthrie Museum Complex is a good place to start enjoying the town.  It contains the Carnegie Library and the Oklahoma Territorial Museum.  Out in front of the Museum is a beautiful statute built to commemorate the coming together in 1907 the two territories, "Cowboy" and "Indian".  This marked the admission of the new state of Oklahoma into the United States as it's 46th state.

 

Becky is shown sitting on the wall in front of the Museum and reference library, soaking up the sun.  The photo on the right depicts the coming together of those who had previously faced each other,  primarily as enemies.  
     The Museum is well worth a visit.  It's not particularly large and flashy, but it does an excellent job of explaining the major events that shaped Oklahoma; they are (1) the relocation of Indian Tribes from around the US to Oklahoma, and (2) the Land Rush of 1989 into the "previously unoccupied lands". 
     The Territory of Oklahoma, with the exception of the panhandle, came to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.  The Panhandle came when Texas joined the United States.  The territories had been predominantly open range, perfect for the nomadic Indian tribes that were in the region.  The U.S government and many state governments, mostly made up of white men with European ancestry, exhibited a nasty distrust and dislike of the native tribes.  Andrew Jackson, the 7th President, formulated a plan approved by Congress to relocate all Indian tribes to territories west of the Mississippi.  Oklahoma got the majority of these relocated tribes.  The story how all this occurred, and the tragedy of what the U.S. government did, is sobering to read; the Museum does a very nice job explaining it all.   

     The second major "story" told by the museum is the Land Rush of April 1889, when the government opened the "unoccupied" lands to homesteaders and speculators.  These people lined up for the rush at Guthrie and other places, and with the starting gun hundreds of people rushed forth to claim their share of this "free" land.  This photo, which is a huge wall painting in the museum, measures roughly 15' x 25'.  An interesting fact we found our was the origination of the word "Sooners".  The term was applied to people who were able to claim their stakes in the land rush "sooner" than the "hoi polloi"; generally politicians, army personnel, or other "favorite sons".

 

     There are a lot of other artifacts and photos throughout the museum, and we quite enjoyed it.  We had originally planned to visit some of the other sites in Guthrie, but after re-reading some of the brochures decided to head on to Texas.  Guthrie was the original state capitol for Oklahoma when it was granted statehood, but was moved shortly thereafter.  Other major sites of note in the city are the Carnegie Library, which is a large research facility; the State Capital Publishing Museum; the Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore and Apothecary Garden; and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame Museum. 

     Shortly after leaving, a tremendous thunderstorm blew through the area.  We drove right through it, with some heavy buffeting and more leakage onto Becky's lap.  Here's a photo she took as we drove right into its path.

     Fortunately the rain only lasted for an hour or two, and we apparently missed the worst of it.  We drove straight through to Wichita Falls, and crossed the Red River.  The River, which is the dividing line between the two states, is so named because of the Red sand and dirt that make up it's bed and banks.  Because of the draught conditions, the water level is real low and one could almost call it the Little Red Stream!

We arrived at our campground around 4:30, and were surprised to find we're the only overnight transient campers here at KOA Burkburnett/Wichita Falls.  There are a lot of folks here that apparently are here for a long stay.