Sunday 4-23 = Oklahoma

After the storms of Friday night/Saturday morning early, we have decided to forego our plans to visit Missouri & Kansas until later in the summer. The spring cold fronts are still strong up here.

So, this morning, we decided to conclude this trip with a visit to the NPS sites in Oklahoma. We left Van Buren, Arkansas and traveled to Oklahoma City, our first stop to see the OKC National Memorial to those killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Bldg in 1995. We looked at the outdoor memorial, but didn't do the museum.. it was $15 per person, no discount for pass holders.

The Memorial

From OKC, we headed south to see the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, at Sulphur, Ok.

It is a beautiful place, and like all recreation areas, it is a hiker's paradise and had some really nice campgrounds. There is a number of springs & creeks in the area, some accessible by the trike!

Today's run total was 344 miles. We are overnighting in Ardmore, Oklahoma and will head south towards home tomorrow.

Saturday, 4-22-2017

Saturday was windy & cool. Tornado sirens kept us awake until about 2am, then it was misting fairly heavily at daylight. The local TV weather radar showed the front passing and clearing around 9am, so we ate a leisurely breakfast, loaded up & hit the road around 10.30.

Yup, we hit the road, all for a mile & a half, to our first stop, President Bill Clinton's boyhood home. A typical small two story home in small town America. Because of the mist, I took no pics, but got one from their archives.

From here, on the road north to see the Fort Smith National Historic Site. This place was right downtown Ft Smith, Ar, on the Arkansas River. There were still some foundations visible, all on top of a hill with a view of the entire area.

Views from the top of the hill

This is also the final destination for the Native Americans, forced to walk the Trail of Tears. Fort Smith insured they stayed on the Oklahoma side of the river.

The five Nations that were forcibly relocated:

Today was a slow day, only a little over 200 miles, tho we did get two more stamps for our NP Passport. From Hope, Ar to Fort Smith was a leisurely 2.5 hour ride along two lane roads. Resting tonight in Van Buren Arkansas.

It Happened Again ...

We got bored, so we decided to go for a ride. It ended up being 468 miles, we're overnighting in Hope, Ar.

We drove thru Louisiana, stopped at the Acadian Culture Center in downtown Eunice, La. A really nice older city, with businesses in restored buildings downtown. Looked at Pics and artifacts of the old Acadians.

From there, we headed north to visit the old Magnolia Plantation on the Cane River, near Cloutierville, La. (south of Natchitoches, La). It was interesting to see the old unrestored quarters

Obligatory trike pic

A few pics of some of the old quarters. All were two room buildings. Note the single chimney center of all the buildings.

Historically correct settings inside one of the cabins, two rooms.... a sitting/kitchen room, and a bedroom.

The fireplaces are butted up to each other, but with a brick separator between them, so each fireplace heats only one room, tho both use the same single chimney.

And the flowers around the front of the cabin, a type of lilly, the other two I'll need to look up when we get home.

We're overnighting in Hope, Ar, watching the cold front & clouds approaching. The local weather shows most of the rain moving north & south of us, possibly gone/passed thru by morning.

If our luck holds, we'll visit Bill Clintons childhood home, National...  something or other in the early morn, then head on north for more landmarks.  Stay tuned.

You can click on the pics for a larger view. As always, comments are open, encouraged. Let us know what you like/dislike. 

Another Beautiful Day, another beautiful ride

After all the thunder storms & wind yesterday, today dawned bright & sunny. Some say a little cool (for us southeastern Texans) but expected to warm up nicely. We goofed around lamenting that we really should work on our tax return (Uhhg) but as procrastination has a firm hold on me...  we decided we needed another day out riding.

Today, we went to see the Waco Mammoth National Monument, in of course, Waco, Tx.

We left late, and arrived late, around 2pm, wandered around the inside exhibits & curio shop, then decided to take the "tour" of the excavation where the mammoths were found. (The geezer pass doesn't help here, you pay full rate... or a dollar less for we old folks)

The excavation is about 400 yards from the visitor center, it is covered so it can be air conditioned & humidity controlled to preserve the bones that have not been fully recovered. Of course, we took some pics of the pretty short tour. Our guide was knowledgable about the animals & the history of their uncovering.

Some bones:

The guide explained this rather large piece was at some museum, so it was replaced by this plaster cast.

It was explained that the animals stood about 14' tall, & this was the only "nursery herd" found in the U.S. There were a number of young found with the herd, being protected by them being placed in the middle of the herd. The last pics are artist's renderings of the animals in their time period.

From there to a late lunch, then home around 8pm. Total of 336 miles for the day.

The weather is supposed to be nice for about the next 8 days or so...  I need a multi-state ride...

as always, the pics can be enlarged by clicking on them, comments below are open.

Later.....