I ate my lunch and caught up in my journal, because I was nearly 4 days behind. Hit the road around 3, I think. Stopped by the park office on the way out to pay. I only had five bucks on me, so I was hoping it would be enough. The park ranger was very friendly, and so happy that I actually decided to pay, where I could have just left instead. I told him I only had 5 bucks, so he just charged me the senior citizen discount rate, so it was $3.50, and told me not to worry about it.
I decided to take Rt. 3 further to the town of Atoko, and stop there for lunch. Got some scenic driving. Along the way I decided that hay farms were rather surreal places. Rolling green fields, with then the geometrical forms of either cylindrical or rectangular bales of hay scattered about the landscape. Here's one that I drove past.
Hit an ATM, then hit the local diner for lunch. They had a great buffet, with BBBQ beef, chicken noodles, turnip greens, bread and biscuits, gravy, so I had two big platefuls. And also two helpings of their awesome apple-cobbler, which came in a big cookie sheet, and looked and tasted delicious. They were the apples that looked a bit like peaches, but ain't no peaches there. On the way out I spoke with a friendly couple from the area, who told me of some places to see near Tulsa and of some other state parks I could camp out at. The guy looked alot like my old boss Mitch, but with a cowboy hat. I left, and crossed the ol' Muddy Boggy Creek again.
The terrain was just like what you'd think of when someone'd mention
"Oklahoma". Grassy. Flat, with some rolling hills. Here's a cool shot of
my car, silhouetted by the prairie skies.
Went up to near Muskogee and stopped at the Five Civilized Tribes museum. It was closed, but I hung around there for awhile in the park, made some calls and saw an unfriendly duo on a motorcycle. Then I headed onwards, to 64, and took it NW up near Tulsa. I was hoping to stop there for dinner, but I somehow made a wrong turn and wound up on 169N, so I just decided to follow it up, and took 20W, right through the Osage Indian Reservation. This was out of the way, but I never went to an Indian Reservation before, and wanted to see what they were all about, would it be all fenced off, or like a national park of sorts?
Tulsa itself, ther area, was werid. They counted the streets down from the hundreds from North and South, with maybe 10 streets per mile. So you are in the middle of seeming nowehre, but then you see signs for 151st St. weird.
Here's a cool shot of the sun setting behind the prairie's grassy plains.
The Indian Reservation was not noticably different than anywhere else. I didn't see any welcome signs or anything. There are towns inside, along with gas stations, restaurants, etc. I took 20W into Hominy, then headed north on 99. around that time, Hillary called and we talked for the first time since she left from Austin on the 12th. We spoke for about 5 minutes, before we got cut off due to my shitty phone service provider. I was getting tired, and started to make way to the nearby Osage State Park. I took 99N to 60W, and then onto the main road into the park. Getting there, it was very dark and very empty, and I was a bit nervous about not finding the camping area, but then found a map at the main office, so I drove a little ways and came to a hoppin' place with lots of RV's parked. Saw a sign for more camping and scenic overlook, so I took that road up to a hilltop with much fewer folks camped out, at a nice area.
I set up my tent here, and called Uncle Gary, told him I'd be in Kansas City in about 2 days. He told me to check out Branson, Missouri on my way there, which seemed like a neat place to visit while I was out here. I fell asleep to a very rich cacaphony of crickets and other bugs creating the fullest forest symphony that I've ever heard. At some point I heard some funky sound, but it was some forrest critter that was rooting around in the trash can. I slept okay. The air was somewhat cooler than it's been for the past few days, but I was still kinda hot and sweaty.
| Location | Osage State Park, OK |
| Odometer | 132,732.0 Miles Total 3978.3 Miles On Trip 275.7 Miles Today |
| Coordinates | 36° 44.477' N 96° 11.232' W |