Tulsa Oklahoma.... and Wichita Kansas

 

In 1921, we learned only recently.... that there was a horrible racial clash that resulted in the white locals losing their s%@t, and murdering 100's of African Americans... throwing many bodies into the Arkansas river to never be found.  In recent days, numerous mass graves have also been uncovered.  Odd and pathetic that this was hushed over for all these years and we had never learned about it in history class. In the store below, we met and spoke with the owner- a sweet older African American woman.  We exchanged stories and also hugs.

 Our campground in Tulsa...

 

Our Tulsa campground above & below,  pictures of our walk through the Gilcrease museum grounds.

Moved further westward to Wichita...Kansas.  Below are pix of the Keeper of the Plains and some surrounding areas including the Troll in hiding....

 

Look carefully under the grate... there is a 6 foot troll lurking there!

 

Terrific place to eat... a place for playing Pickle  Ball, drinking and eating with your dog!

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IN Sallisaw, Oklahoma... so that's a Tornado shelter?

 Wow... its an underground for real TORNADO SHELTER here at the campground... not sure though if it could even hold a quarter of the campers here!!

CANADA BOUND.... UH .... MAYBE.

 We are taking a chance this year and heading with fingers crossed to do the trip to the Canadian Rockies which was CANCELLED last year due to Covid19.  This first post finds us in Oklahoma..... thus far we have passed through notable cities as follows: Columbus, Georgia

 

NICE CAMPGROUND, BED OF FLOWERS- ALSO HAD A VERY NICE COZY CHAPEL FOR WEDDINGS...

 

Columbus, GA has a pretty decent downtown with a riverfront walkway which is where these couple pics were taken... Darwin is a great traveler, at 4 months, he has never YET  got motion sickness in the car, RV.... or the boat for that matter!

 

Did a day trip to Jimmy Carter- ville AKA, Plains, Georgia, and gained a renewed greater respect for him...Had to visit his Peanut statue (google user commented that they were so drawn to it, that they wanted to hug it till they could turn it into peanut butter!!!)

 

Visited Carter's boyhood farm... Darwin wanted to play with the mules!

 

 

After Columbus, came Tupelo, Mississippi- boyhood home of Elvis, and potentially the END OF OUR TRIP!!! While at the Elvis place, (Pictured below)

 

 the FIRST TORNADO WARNING, complete with sirens blaring caught us by surprise & we made our getaway with the car... but then a few hours LATER, while at the campground in the RV, a second round of  weather warnings once again with the sirens blaring signaling it was time to retreat to the tornado shelters (the SHOWERS here!!!)

We did a stop over at a very mediocre BBQ place, but they did have a cool shirt:

 

A pleasant surprise was how much we really did LIKE Little Rock Arkansas!  We had a great campsite right on the Arkansas River overlooking Little Rock and their bridges...

 

In addition, they have awesome parks... such as the Big Dam Bridge (Longest Pedestrian bridge in N America which goes right above a huge dam)

 

Darwin had an encounter (or 50) with a Mayfly while crossing one of the bridges...

Also- the most unique business, the BARK BAR... kind of a combo of an indoor/outdoor dog park with a BAR!!! Darwin had a blast, and we did as well watching him and his buddies play around.

 

Then there was Little Rocks impressive sculpture garden- museum quality pieces, making it probably one of the absolute best we have ever seen...

 

 

This area is quite Artsy as well-

 

And then, can not forget the Duck Nachos with Cherry sauce- very YUMMY!

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NORTH CAROLINA FALL 2020 AUTUMN ADVENTURES

 

HIKE UP TO TOP OF TABLE ROCK MNT

 

SYLVA- AMERICAN MUSEUM OF THE HOUSE CAT (WAS CLOSED DUE TO COVID19)

 

IF BILL MOVES TO THIS TOWN, WILL NEED TO RENAME IT TOWN OF EIGHT DEVILS...

 

PRETTY BARN NEAR BOONE KOA

 

WE VISITED SO CALLED 'CHIMNEY ROCK' STATE PARK AND THE HIGH POINT BY SAME NAME.... BUT, UH... ONE CAN NOT HELP BUT NOTICE WHAT CHIMNEY ROCK KINDA LOOKS LIKE WHEN DEPICTED ON ONE OF THEIR OLD SHIRTS!!!!

 

HIKED CASCADE FALLS OFF OF THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY...

 

TOOK A DRIVE UP TO THE GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN SWING BRIDGE- THE HIGHEST OF SUCH IN THE USA.

 

THIS IS THE COURTHOUSE IN SYLVA.... NOTE THE PROTECTIVE CAGE AROUND THE STATUE WHICH AS ONE MIGHT GUESS, HAS AN IDIOTIC CONFEDERATE "HERO". ALSO OF NOTE, THIS IS THE TOWN WHERE THE MOVIE 'THREE BILLBOARDS' WAS FILMED.

 

TUNNEL TO NOWHERE... SO DARK INSIDE, YOU LITERALLY CAN NOT SEE SHIT IN FRONT OF YOU (AND THERE REALLY IS SOME, AS HORSES GO THRU IT!)

 

FONTANA DAM

 

DRY FALLS OFF THE GORGES HWY FROM FRANKLIN

 

FENCE FULL OF LICHENS GROWTH....

 

AT HIDDEN RV PARK HIGHLANDS, WE HAD A GAZILLION ACORNS PELT OUR RV ROOF... KINDA SOUNDED LIKE PEOPLE PLAYING CRAPS AT A CASINO ALL NIGHT!

 

WE DID THE HIKE UP TO WHITESIDE MOUNTAIN 2 MILE RT..