A State at a Time: Oklahoma - Day 20 - Quartz Mountain & Route 66

Elk City/Clinton KOA, Foss
Thursday, 20 August 2020

Quartz Mountain was both more and less than I'd hoped, and the Route 66 Museum was somewhat overwhelming. I ended the day with 211 photos on my phone so it took some time to get this post put together.

I don't often see a double-yoke egg
but I did this morning.

Great Plains State Park campground
This is a nice little campground right on the shores of a popular lake, which is probably why there were so many campers on a Wednesday night, usually the lightest night of the week in any campground.

They have a Heart Healthy Trail that winds through the campground and off somewhere. The dogs and I walked along part of it and Dext spotted an armadillo making tracks away from us. Actually, it was a fair distance away and moving about as fast as it could, I think. Dexter, for some reason, just went nuts wanting to go check it out. Gracie didn't see what the trouble was, as usual.

This trail included some informational signs about the area, and I thought several of them were interesting.

nice depiction of the Wichitas -
text is blown up below

These mountains are far older than the Rockies, and they look it.

text below

The white type was hard to make legible in this photo, but I think it's okay.
I thought it was interesting how much these mountains have shrunk,
though they've had quite a few years to do it in.

my view of the Wichita Mountains -
I don't think they're that far away
- just worn down by the years

I thought these rocks looked interesting.
Next time I do trip like this, I'll take a geology class first.

On the road

today's route

As I passed Mountain Park Elementary School, I saw the kids out in the playground at recess. Part of me was distressed that not one of the kids or teachers had a mask on, but another part was glad to see little kids acting like little kids - playing on the swings and jungle jim and so forth.

I went through the town of Snyder (pop. about 1,300) and passed a large homemade sign saying, "Pray for Ukraine." Nothing else. I have no idea what that's about.

Traveling west on US 62 again, I found the land very flat so the mountains were obvious.

I passed grazing land and cows and a few horses, plowed land, and growing crops.

I passed several buildings labeled Southwestern State Sand Cooperative and looked it up. It produces sand - well, mines it, I guess. Used for building, apparently.

Another sign told me I was leaving the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation and, for the first time, didn't tell me I was entering another nation's land. Those maps I saw earlier this month showed Indian lands were almost all in the southern and eastern parts of OK, so apparently I've just come to the end of them.

On state highway signs asking people to not litter, they say, "Keep Our Land Grand," which I figure is a line taken from the state song - Oklahoma! - from the musical of the same name. You know, the part where it says, "We know we belong to the land, and the land we belong to is grand."

In the city of Altus (pop. about 19,000), established in 1891 their sign said, I passed the Thrive Church. Their sign says, "No perfect people allowed." Wonder if they've had problems with uppity people in the past. Online I found that there are several other branches in OK City and Tulsa and places and that they describe themselves as non-denominational Christians.

Altus is also the location of a Bar-S Foods packing plant, the folks that produce bacon and cold cuts and so forth. I always buy their bacon when I buy it. But when I looked them up online, what popped up was a local news item from July saying the company (and the state health dept.) had had complaints about coronavirus cases among employees. They'd tested 608 of their workers and families and found 181 positive results. They claimed to be taking steps to protect people. I know that's not what happened in South Dakota packing plants, possibly because the governor of SD doesn't seem to be taking the virus seriously. By contrast, the City of Altus instituted a face mask mandate at about that time, which should probably help.

In Altus I passed a business that had only one sign: "Donuts and Fried Rice." I still find the pairing hard to believe and looked them up. Turns out to be very highly thought of on Yelp. Who knew?

Altus also is the home of the Museum of the Western Prairie, and the Western OK State College (a community college).

I passed a sign outside a business that said, "If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss." True, but no schoolkid will ever believe it.

I turned north on state highway 6, heading toward Quartz Mountain State Resort (that's what the AAA map calls it).

I passed a sign telling me I had once more crossed into the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation, and another one saying I'd crossed the North Fork of the Red River (which wends its way into Texas toward Amarillo).

In the small town of Blair (pop. about 800), I ran across this very nice mural. You can see its location is undistinguished - it's beside a vacant lot on an alleyway - but I thought it was very nicely done. And surprising in such a small town.

Quartz Mountain Arts & Conference Center & Nature Park
That's what the park actually calls itself. It has a campground, but the campsites are first-come-first-served, no reservations, so I didn't stay there because I'm not comfortable traveling like that unless I have to. I still wanted to find out about this place with a name like Quartz Mountain.

I left not knowing any more than I came with about the composition of the mountain. I have to assume it's got a high quartz content, based on its name and on the way the rocks looked. But none of the information I got at the park office told me and the only sign was this one honoring the CCC for making the camp in the first place.

detail of the sign at left

CCC memorial

As I was driving through the park toward the office, which was in the lodge on the far side of the park, I couldn't help but notice these mountains (below). The road was aiming directly toward them and then winding around their flanks. I learned at the office that it's actually not 2 mountains but 1 - Quartz Mountain, but it has 2 peaks and is known locally as Twin Peaks. My photo is misleading because one peak appears higher than the other, which I don't think it is, or at least not as much as it looks here. I couldn't seem to capture the colors - maybe because the day was overcast at this point - but it reminded me of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings I've seen. Very desert-y but colorful.

Quartz Mountain, aka Twin Peaks

The road included a hairpin turn where, naturally, I met a piece of heavy machinery coming around the corner toward me. I was lucky that there was a narrow pull-off area for the downhill traffic, so the guy gave me some extra room. I'm not a fan of hairpin turns, but if you drive in the mountains, I guess you need to expect them.

The dogs and I walked around the large parking lot at the lodge and came to this unusual bridge over a riverbed. No water in it right now, but I feel sure there's plenty of water at other times. The bridge led to a performing arts theater and apparently patrons park at the lodge and walk across the bridge to the shows.

Just outside the park boundaries are numerous private businesses offering a variety of activities for families who get tired of what Nature has to offer, I guess.

Back on the road

This is what I've been saying is maize.

This field shows
there's a lot of it here.

I passed through the town of Lone Wolf (pop. about 400), established 1901, named for the Kiowa chief.

Farther down the road at Hobart (pop. about 3,500), I saw an establishment that advertised "BBQ & Soul Food." And in case their message wasn't clear, there was a separate sign saying "Gumbo."

Often as I've been driving along the roads I'll see a thick high plume of smoke on the horizon. When I get closer I usually see that it's dust raised by a vehicle on a dirt road or by someone plowing in a field.

OK isn't far out of drought status, I learned earlier this month, and parts of western OK are still in it. All this dust that I see so much of makes it a little easier for me to understand the Dust Bowl.

In the tiny town of Rocky (pop. 160), I passed Tall Paul's Meatball Co. and Bakery. This being about as strange a combo as the doughnuts and fried rice, I looked it up and found this surprising note about it. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/oklahoma/tall-pauls-meatball-co-bakery

Farther along the road I learned that OK has a town named Corn (pop. about 500) and another named Bessie (pop. about 180). Several road signs urged me to turn toward Bessie to go to the Ben Kienh Monument. I didn't but I was curious and looked it up. That was another surprise. https://www.waymarking.com/Benjamin-Kiehn-Bessie-OK One of the biggest surprises to me is why a marker of local note only (except for the American Legion inscription, which is a classic) from 1928 should warrant several highway signs directing me to it.

I passed the Peace Lutheran Church, with its large attached cemetery, and wondered if Scandanavian immigrants had settled around here. I didn't find anything online about that but I did learn that both Corn and Bessie were founded by German Mennonites emigrating from Russia, bringing with them the Crimean hard wheat that revolutionized agriculture in the US.

Then on to Clinton, with about 9,000 residents. Its claim to fame seems to be the Route 66 Museum, which of course I visited. The day had turned so hot that I left my generator running so I could turn on the AC for the critters.

Route 66 Museum

This museum is loosely arranged by decade, with a primary focus on Oklahoma, though they do have some photos and other things from other states along the route.

Route 66 in the 1920s

"Row of completed Cadillac touring cars
come[s] off the assembly line ca. 1917

Route 66 in the 1930s

Filling a new need: gas stations

(sorry, I couldn't make this any clearer)

Needles, CA

on the Missouri/Kansas state line

St. James, MO

The Dust Bowl

dirt drifts taller than a man

Route 66 - the mother road

Road building in the New Deal

Accidents on the road

a wreck near OK City

Driving in the 30s

This photo of mechanics during the 1930s
reminds me of how poor people were. It's not
their clothes but their thinness and air of
doing their best against all the odds.

Water bags were helpful to prevent
overheating during early stages of
auto development.

Route 66 in the 1940s

On the left side of the wall:

On the right side of the wall:

On the opposite wall, on the left:

Opposite wall, right:

Filling a new need: parking meters

Buses

I love this photo. It makes life in those times so clear.

Trucking

a weigh station in Missouri

truck cresting a hill in a no passing zone near OK City

The Military

the buying influence of the soldiers during WWII

Hitchhiking

near Los Angeles, CA

transportation for servicemen

an acceptable way to conserve for the war effort

even families did it - 1937

Eisenhower's interstate plan

Route 66 in the 1950s

Aah - the Burma-Shave signs

cafe lingo

more of the same

Route 66 in the 1960s

The wall on the right:

The wall on the left:

Route 66 on TV

I didn't get to watch it much - my parents said I was too young. But what I saw was addicting and who could ever forget the music. For those with as little memory as me, here's a link. https://www.imdb.com/Route-66/plot-summary

Sleeping on the road