My month in Oklahoma

My take on Oklahoma

where I went this month

As you can see, I really tried to get around the state but ended up missing that whole east-central area.  That's where Lake Eufala, OK's largest lake, and McAlester are, both of which I'd wanted to visit.  But I didn't push myself as hard this month as I've done in the past and something had to give, because Time sure doesn't.  Fortunately, I've seen that area before, in fact, just a few months ago when I headed south from Joplin down to David & Anna's house for the stupid virus hiatus.  It just would have been nice to see it now too.

Oklahoma's land
I had no idea there was such a range of geographic features in this state. 

From about Tulsa east there're forests and mountains and boggy land - well, Arkansas and the Ozarks are the neighbors to the east and landforms don't stop at state borders. 

The farther west I went, the drier the land became - and the more stickers we saw.  What the west had mostly were farms of various kinds and evidence of prehistoric geographic changes.  The land became less hospitable as I traveled west, and I'm guessing life became harder for the folks living there.

Basically, what OK has is mountains in the south and east, and plains in the central and western areas, with lots of rivers throughout.  Because OK was in partial drought all this month, with little rain falling to alleviate that, the rivers and lakes were shallower than usual.

Oklahoma's people
Most of the people I met were pleasant and friendly.  And not one of them showed any enthusiasm for where they live.  At first, I thought I'd just found the wrong folks to talk to, but as the month went on it became striking.  I asked more and more people just to see if I could find anybody who liked their town and never did.  Many people said there was nothing to do in wherever we were.  But in general what I got was just a shrug.

OK's Indians are proud of their heritage and want to educate as many people as possible both about their heritage and also about their dealings with the US government, past and present.

Other than what I've already said, I can't tell you the feelings of white Oklahomans.  I don't know if they're proud or ashamed or indifferent of their heritage and their present.  Nobody volunteered much information, though they were willing to answer questions.  It made it hard to get a clear impression of them.

Driving in Oklahoma
This went better than I'd expected.  OK being immediately north of Texas, I expected drivers here to behave a lot like Texans and am glad to report that they didn't.

The roadways are mostly in good repair, or were being repaired while I was there.  Highway signs were pretty clear both in telling me where I was and in explaining what they wanted me to do.  Some of the towns were pretty casual about street signs, assuming local knowledge I guess.  But the highway department didn't let me get lost very often, which I really appreciated.

The only time all month I heard a horn honking was when somebody's car alarm went off.  Nobody at all honked at traffic lights or on the highway or anywhere.  Most unlike Texans.

What I didn't see that I wanted to see
Quite a bit, actually.  In the daily posts I've already mentioned several places that I hadn't planned for or that were virus-closed.  And as I said above, I'd have liked very much to spend some time in the east-central part of the state - there's a lot to see there.  But here's a partial list of what I missed - mostly due to time constraints:

• various tribal museums that were temporarily virus-closed
• Tallgrass Prairie Preserve
• a windmill museum at Shattuck
• Langston & Boley, among 24 towns established by Blacks early in OK's history, some of them with historic buildings and Black heritage exhibits
• Guthrie, unchanged since the late 1800s, including OK's Territorial Museum
• Norman, home of Univ. of OK and various other sights
• Arcadia, site of the only round barn still standing along Rte. 66 - after learning about round barns in Indiana, I'd have liked to see this one
• McAlester has a memorial to coal miners I wanted to visit - OK isn't a state I connect with coal mining, but apparently it still goes on

My conclusion
In general, I liked Oklahoma.  I felt comfortable here almost all the time.  That's not at all what I expected but it's a fact.

I think OK's attitude toward life might be exemplified in its approach to the coronavirus.  State government doesn't seem to have taken much, if any, of a lead in combating it, but local and tribal governments are.  In many areas I found few or no restrictions but in many others I found city- or county-wide mask mandates.  At the tribal casinos, not only are masks required at all times (except eating) but they also take the temperature of each person coming in, and refuse entry to anyone with a fever. 

What was interesting to me is that in the places where there were no virus controls, people generally acted as if nothing were wrong; but in the places were there were controls, people obeyed them. 

OK is a very Republican state and support for Pres. Trump is very strong throughout the state.  It looks as if the folks here are taking their cues from him about this virus and ignore its existence where at all possible.  But unlike him, they're also respectful of authority.  I'm wondering about the internal stresses this dichotomy might be causing on the social fabric here.  This might be something interesting to watch in the future.

What I'm sorry I couldn't get a handle on, though, is why the universal feeling here seems to be that this isn't a great place to live.  Except for the stickers throughout the west, I liked it here, though I too don't think I'd want to live here.  It's not a 2-party state and it's too far from an ocean to make me happy.