Hogs, hills and howdy!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — New day, new state! We had another good day, with sunshine and blue sky – and plenty of that in Oklahoma’s wide plains. It got up to 70 degrees today by the time we got to our KOA campsite, so we celebrated by cooking burgers on the barbeque for supper.

Before heading out from Russellville, Val found the lyrics of the musical “Oklahoma!” on the internet so I could do a proper rendition of the title song as we crossed the state line. I got to perform a couple of bars for the ladies at the Oklahoma Welcome Center when we stopped for maps and literature. I think Val was pleased that there weren’t too many people in the office at the time.

Our trip today took us past rolling hills and wooded sections near the Arkansas state line, as well as several rivers, including the Arkansas River and another called the North Canadian River, and lakes. But the main impression of Oklahoma so far has been one of wide prairies with yellow grass, farm buildings, grazing cows and a big, big sky.

There were several large concrete teepees decorating the Oklahoma Welcome Center’s front lawn, and inside was a huge painting of Indians and covered wagons trekking across the plains. Indians, as the Americans call their native peoples, appeared to have an important place in Oklahoma’s history and culture, and after our visit to the center, we found out why.

In the years around 1830, as the Europeans began to settle the eastern states of the US, they expelled Indian nations and forced them to relocate westward to an area designated as Indian Territory. The territory was parceled out to each nation, including Pawnee, Choctaw, Cherokee, and dozens of others, who had to walk from their homelands in the east with whatever possessions they could carry to this new land and build a new life. One Indian chief called this trek a “trail of tears”.

Indian Territory became Oklahoma. Today there are more than 39 tribal nations here, and some 250,000 descendants of the original 67 nations still call Oklahoma home. The Indian heritage of Oklahoma is now celebrated and honoured in museums and visitor centres in several parts of the state. All this history was quite new to both of us; we had never heard these accounts before today.

Several times along the way we passed road crews working on the highway. The road bed is made of thick slabs of concrete, reinforced with rebar, so it provides a really solid base, but over time, small gaps develop between the slabs. As a result, in many places along the way, our truck and trailer endured a rough ride, going ga-dunk, ga-dunk, ga-dunk over the gaps. I could just picture our plates and glasses in the trailer cupboards jumping up and down with each ga-dunk. But, fortunately, we found no damage when we reached our destination.

Large billboards were peppered along the roadsides, enticing travelers to turn off for juicy steaks, to seek salvation, to hit the jackpot at casinos, or to fill up with low-priced fuel. A theme that we had encountered both in Arkansas and Oklahoma was the pig. The razorback hog appears to be a symbol for Arkansas, and barbequed pork is a popular dish. At the filling station where we stopped to fuel up after lunch, there were three large pigs out front made from oil cans, in front of the Pig Out Palace. When we are in a location that allows us to post the photos I took, you'll be able to have a look!