Eastward Expansion - Days 5 and 6: Amarillo, TX to Tulsa, OK

In Part 3 of the "camping our way east" blog series, we spent time in Amarillo, Texas, including an extremely rainy day (we kept ourselves amused eating our way across the city).

Bea soaking up the sun outside Tulsa, OK

As I mentioned in the previous blog, we all slept much better on Tuesday night than on Monday at the Amarillo KOA Journey, crashing hard and not waking up until our alarm dinged at 7am.  With the rain thankfully over, I immediately headed to the laundry room to start a load of wash; since the RV park was partially dirt, we had mud everywhere, and our designated set of dog towels desperately needed a refresh. For his part, Chris started coaxing the girls outside; Zoe went pretty willingly, but Bea, still convinced she'd be as cold and wet as the day before, was a harder sell.  Eventually, it was time to start coffee/tea and breakfast and get ready to pack up.

Bea says she'll stay warm and dry inside, thank you!

Behold, our mud pit - significantly smaller than on Tuesday

Starting to dry out at the KOA - these puddles were much, much larger the night before.

The poor little KOA golf cart was up to its running boards in water

It normally takes us about two hours from alarm to departure on travel days (we can move faster, but we prefer to enjoy making caffeine drinks, having breakfast, etc.), but the need to be extra careful slowed us down; we didn't want to slip and crash into a mud puddle, having to start the whole shower cycle over again.  Finally, at 10am, about an hour longer than normal, we were ready to head out.  The road to our next destination, the KOA Tulsa NE at Will Rogers Downs, was once again mostly freeway and gradually decreasing in elevation, which helped with gas mileage (we'd been losing elevation throughout this adventure - Grants, NM was at 6200 feet, Amarillo was around 3500, and Tulsa sits around 1500).  The road was decent, but we experienced some cross winds this time, which made the drive extra tiring for Chris.

In the Sooner State at a great rest area near Erick

Passing Yukon, OK, Garth Brooks' hometown!

Downtown Oklahoma City - sadly, we weren't able to visit it on this trip, but maybe someday

Cool freeway/overpass architecture in OKC

We arrived a bit later than initially planned at the KOA Journey just Northeast of Tulsa (actually in Claremore), due to the windy drive and delayed departure.  However, check in was once again easy and friendly, and we found our site, number 24, without any challenges.  The KOA is on the grounds of the Cherokee Casino and Will Rogers Downs horse racing facility, and our site backed right up to the track!  The spot had an incredible green area directly behind the camper, and we put it to good use romping the girls, who were absolutely insane after being cooped up for two days straight due to rain and travel.  Putting together a quick dinner of a bunch of random leftovers we had in the fridge (including my sirloin from the Big Texan Steak Ranch), we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching tv.

Although it was quiet and peaceful at the KOA, I was up early, so I blogged (hi!) and surfed my phone until Chris woke up; once he was awake, we did our standard coffee/tea service and then made chilaquiles from a bunch of leftovers we had in the fridge for breakfast.  We also got the monsters out for a stroll; the day was gorgeous - sunny, but a bit chilly, since the wind was blowing decently hard.

Snuggling with my girlies before breakfast

Zoe is all smiles in front of the horse race track

Romping the nutters

The Cherokee Casino and Will Rogers Downs - Zelda is way at the end there

After romping time was over, we showered and changed, then packed the monsters into the truck and headed west, back into Tulsa proper (about 40 minutes away).  Our first stop was a roadside classic - the Blue Whale of Catoosa!  As I mentioned to Chris, you may have never been to the Blue Whale, but you've absolutely seen pictures of it; it's a mainstay of kitsch on Route 66.

Zoe and I with the whale - Z has her eye on some Canadian geese in the lake.

"Mom, those look mean." "They are, kiddo."

Bea and Chris on the whale

Some weirdo, rundown former attractions - that was some kind of pen or atrium on the left

(for velociraptors, clearly), and that's a ring of busted glass and metal mushrooms on the right.

We continued down Route 66, making our way to downtown Tulsa and Ike's Chili; started in 1908, it's the oldest continuously operated restaurant in the city, and on a windy day, their namesake really hit the spot!

Chris with his Frito burrito - a burrito covered in Fritos and chili - it was delicious!

I had the (much smaller) Frito pie, which was also quite good.

With the Route 66 mural at Ike's

Driving through more of downtown, we parked at the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, dedicated to the remembrance of the horrible race riot that occurred in 1921 in Tulsa.  The massacre isn't well known in our country's history, so here's a pretty good primer about it on Wikipedia.  During the two days over which the destruction and loss of life occurred, the Greenwood section of Tulsa, known at the time as Black Wall Street (due to the numerous, prosperous black-owned businesses in the area) was essentially burned to the ground by a white mob.  Although some folks and buildings survived the violence, they are very few, and it's taken the city quite some time to reconcile itself with what occurred and how to move forward.  The Park is a peaceful, reflective space to learn about what happened and ponder how we can attempt to prevent things like this from continuing to happen;  it seems particularly salient given our country (and world) today, as certain individuals seem hell bent on fanning the flames of hate that make these types of atrocities a continued possibility.

The Tower of Reconciliation sculpture

Chris and the girls in front of the Historic Vernon AME Church,

the only intact, black-owned structure still standing from the Black Wall Street time period.

The Reconciliation Park and Black Wall Street Memorial/Historic Vernon AME Church are joined together by a walking trail, and we all enjoyed the short stroll.

We ended up missing the educational walking path, but we found a great route through downtown instead,

which took us past ONEOK Field, home to the Tulsa Drillers, the minor league team for the Dodgers.

Having seen some sights, learned more about important history of the area, and eaten well, it was time to head back to the KOA and chill for the rest of the afternoon (and do laundry and tank maintenance - two tasks that never end, seemingly).  We made a few stops on the way back, including a grocery store for water, snacks, and beer (Cabin Boys was delicious!  We wish their taproom didn't open so late, as we would have stopped and sampled other options, too), as well as the farm store for the local dairy, Swan Brothers.

Lounging in the sunshine - please ignore the floormat hanging up to dry -

this was the first time we had a chance to rinse off all the mud from Amarillo!

Local snacks by the track!

In the next blog, we move further east once more - this time, to St. Louis!

Later!

Amy