Tucumcari to Oklahoma City

We spent some time in Tucumcari looking at some of the murals painted on the walls of local businesses (including the Blue Swallow).

The Tucumcari Murals are well-known, and a little research discovers that they were painted by local artist Doug Quarles (who has since moved away).

We are back on the road, and in no time we are in Texas, big flat Texas, and suddenly there are windmills again, and cattle grazing everywhere along the road - beef country.  We are looking for a rest stop and find "Parking Areas" and "Picnic Areas" but no facilities, and no Welcome Center, either. Welcome to the Land of Disenchantment?  We finally do discover facilities, but there are rocks and tall grass everywhere along the sidewalks, and a sign which warns about rattlesnakes in the rocks and tall grass. 

In order to try to understand Texas a little more, we stop at the Big Texan Steakhouse (ca. 1960) in Amarillo. There are big Cadillacs parked here with steer horns mounted on the hoods, and I briefly wonder what our Mini would look like decorated like this.

The Big Texan is known for its famous 72-ounce steak, which is free if you can eat the whole thing in 60 minutes. This is a massive piece of steak, and by comparison I find myself completely satisfied (on those occasions when I want a steak) with a 6-ounce steak.  Or maybe an 8-ounce steak after I have run a marathon.

Wait staff and customers alike appear to be well-fed!  Our pretty waitress, dressed like a cowgirl, gives me a funny look when I ask if they have veggie burgers.  I eventually order the buffalo quesadillas, the appetizer portion, but can only manage to eat half of them - what a loser I am!  Has anyone ever eaten the 72-ounce steak, I ask. "Somebody did just yesterday," we are told, "An Australian."  It turns out that the record holder, however, is one Molly Shuyler, a 120-pound housewife, who ate one in 4 minutes and 58 seconds.  Then she ate a second one in 9 minutes and 9 seconds.  (Urp.)

As we continue east toward Oklahoma, everything seems to be more verdant, and signs of the great droughts of the western states begin to disappear.  Hay is being baled in big rolls out in the fields.  Somewhere along the way we cross the historic Chisholm Trail.  We roll into Muskogee, which brings to mind the Merle Haggard song:

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take no trips on LSD
We don't burn no draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, and bein' free.

 

I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all

Kind of the opposite of going to San Francisco and having flowers in your hair!  But I should report that I spotted some casinos and adult bookstores down near the courthouse.

The Sooners were historically a progressive people, and abolitionists, and Oklahoma City is a vibrant and beautiful place.  I cannot help remembering what else I know about this city, though - the killing of 168 people (including 19 children) by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in 1995.  So sad! - our first incident of domestic terrorism.  What a beautiful country this would be, from Sea to Shining Sea, were it not for the tragic violence that seems to be woven into our fabric.

Our hotel is in the Bricktown area, which has been restored very successfully - brick streets, safe to stroll in as evening approaches, and little sidewalk cafes.

We walk down to Crabtown, which Tripadvisor advises has the best seafood in the Midwest, and that proved to be an accurate description.

"What brings you to Oklahoma City?" the desk clerk asks us, and we say, "It's a long story."  When we see the invoice the next morning we see that someone has written:

Reason for Visit:  LEAISURE