Thursday, September 28, 2017

The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Pawhuska, OK



From our campground in Osage Hills State Park in northwestern Oklahoma, we drove about 12 miles west to the town of Pawhuska, OK to reach the entrance of The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, which is owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy. The Preserve, which contains about 39,000 acres, is the largest tract of remaining tallgrass prairie in the world. The original Great Plains stretched from Texas to Manitoba, Canada.





The road through the Preserve is unpaved and dusty. The Conservancy burns sections of the preserve each year to stimulate new growth of grasses and to kill any invasive plants.









There are about 2,500 bison roaming freely. The Conservancy maintains this number to keep the population in check.

Bison eat about 30 pounds of grass a day!
 




The grass is greener on the other side of the road!
Thank goodness for zoom lenses!
We were able to hike through a portion of the preserve that was closed to bison. The views were beautiful.


There were a variety of wild flowers along the path.






The bison began retreating over the ridge, but we decided to stay to watch the sunset. A storm was brewing.



Lightning strike!

Sunset on the Prairie



Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve, Bartlesville, OK

The view of the grounds as we entered the preserve
Deer
Woolaroc (short for Woods, Lakes, and Rocks) is located on 3,700 acres in the Osage Hills of Northwestern Oklahoma. Originally the ranch retreat of oilman Frank Phillips, of Phillips 66 fame. Phillips turned the grounds into a wildlife preserve for over 30 species of animals both native and exotic.


Water Buffalos 

Llama


Bison roam freely






Museum entrance
























In addition to the wildlife preserve, Woolaroc has a world class museum containing a collection of western art and artifacts and Native American materials. 
Closeup of entry door

Pottery
Woven Blanket







  


Chuck Wagon
Examples of Phillips' plane and oil trucks
                        

The Trail of Tear
The Cowboy





Sunday, September 24, 2017

Memphis, Beale Street, BBQ, Blues and more

We took a ride over the river into Memphis proper to check out some interesting things we'd read about. We were in Memphis in 2012 on our first RV trip and hit a lot of the "must see" attractions so this time we saw some old and some new things we missed last trip.

We'd heard about a new mile long pedestrian/cycling bridge called "The Big River Crossing". The bridge allows walkers, runners and cyclists access to both ends of the 32 mile long Mississippi River Trail. The walkway was built attached to the Harahan Bridge, a cantilevered through truss bridge which was completed in 1917. The bridge is 4973' from end to end, the longest span is 791' and it rises 109' above the river. Pretty awesome when you consider it was built 100 years ago.

The Harahan Bridge and The Big River Crossing



 A very nervous pedestrian. Note the truss bridge construction above the walkway.
Massive riveted truss construction



A view of downtown Memphis taken while straddling the AR/TN border 


 The Big River Crossing lit up at night
The Rt. 40 bridge with her pearls on














We were famished after our long walk so we headed into town for lunch at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken. We both had a leg/thigh combination with slaw. Once again Lynda had fried okra and I opted for baked beans. Experience has taught us that Memphis style fried chicken is crispy, juicy, SPICY (!) and delicious!





From Gus's we waddled down the street to the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum is inside the former Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated and extends to the boarding house where James Earl Ray fired the fatal shot.
I only took two pics outside.



The wreath on the second floor balcony denotes the spot where MLK was shot. The cars in the foreground are representative of those driven by MLK's party.











The entire motel has been turned into a museum dedicated to African American history in the U.S.and their struggle for equality from the 1600's to present. The tour ends with a walk by MLK's preserved room at the Lorraine. The boarding house across the street is filled with evidence about the assassination and it's ties to James Earl Ray as well as the bathroom where the shot was fired.
It took us close to 3 hours to tour the museum and I was and still am disturbed that African Americans are fighting the same battles they have fought since their emancipation.

After that we needed a lift so we headed back to Beale Street, home of the Blues, to cruise around and listen to some music.
There are huge art deco guitars everywhere that beg to have their picture taken with you. So, we obliged.

 Lynda with one of her favorite country singers
               Me and one of my favorite blues singers



















Once again we were hungry so we stopped at the Blues City Cafe for some BBQ and Blues. The ribs were great but alas, no decent pic. The band, "Brandon Cunning" was fantastic with their renditions of 50's and 60's Blues, Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc.

The band was great but the lead gutarist, on the right, was unbelieveable






















This was a great end to a, mostly, fun day.
Tomorrow, off to Branson, MO

BUT WAIT...




OH YEAH, we almost forgot about Irma, that hurricane we ran 3 days and 750 miles to get away from. Well, she caught up with us the next morning! We woke to driving rain and high winds but, after much debate, we got on the road and finally outran Irma for good about halfway to Branson. Whew!


Saturday, September 23, 2017

Starting the "Odyssey" and running from Irma


A lot of you have been wondering when we were going to start blogging about our present trip, "SW Odyssey" Well, here goes...
On Sept. 5th we started out for South Carolina to visit my mom. Our plan was to stay in SC for 4 days and then head west, however, Hurricane Irma had different plans for us. After a visit of one day we decided to get out while the getting was good so off we went to Lake Oconee in Greensboro, GA. We stayed at North Shore Resort where we had a beautiful lakeside spot.


Day 2 we stayed in Hanceville, AL where the highlight was dinner at Top Hat BBQ. THB was featured on Man, Food, Fire thus the first detour of our trip.
We had pulled pork, fried catfish, fried okra and coleslaw. Yum! We took beer but were told that THB is in a dry county so the beer went back in the car. But...as we were waiting for our meal the waitress brought us two "to go" cups and told us to be discrete! Haha!


Because we were still running from Irma we took off again and several hundred miles later we landed near Memphis, TN. We stayed in Tom Sawyer's RV Park which is on the Mississippi River in West Memphis,  Arkansas. We were so close we could watch barges moving cargo up and down the Big Muddy.
















The view from our site.



Next up, Memphis, Beale Street, BBQ, Blues and more.
Ta ta for now.