Wednesday, July 9, 2008 | by nathan

The Great Oklahoma Road Trip #2: The Panhandle (Part Three)

When Jayson spoke to his family the week before we left, they informed him that they were planning a trip to Durango this week. They decided that, since Durango is only six hours’ drive from Black Mesa, they’d go ahead and meet his family in Colorado. Brian and I, having to be back at work on Monday, prepared Sunday morning to leave the Black Mesa Bed & Breakfast and drive home. We packed up, readied the dogs, and Vicki fed us a wonderful breakfast. I promised her to tell everyone I know to come stay at her place, so here goes:

YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD STAY AT THE BLACK MESA BED AND BREAKFAST. IT’S WONDERFUL.

Okay - whoops, okay.

On our drive in to Kenton we’d passed a Dinosaur Quarry on the highway near the entrance to Black Mesa State Park. We’d been ready to arrive at our destination by then and so we hadn’t stopped; Brian and I decided we’d give the Quarry a quick look-see on our way out:

There’s a big, mounted dinosaur bone on a pedestal by the road there. The Oklahoma Panhandle has been a hotbed of paleontology for quite some time, as evidenced by our visit to the dinosaur tracks the previous evening. The Quarry is a place where a fairly-large dig had taken place in the past; unfortunately for fossil lovers and Panhandle guests, the large bone by the road was not labeled. From whence and what dinosaur had it come? THE CURIOSITY WAS KILLING ME.

Across the road from the Quarry was Black Mesa State Park, which was host to some incredible rock formations:

After checking out the Quarry, and becoming horribly distraught at the lack of information on the Large Giant Dinosaur Bone, we got back on the road:

I had asked Brian if he would mind changing our route. I’m writing a novel that’s set along the Kansas-Oklahoma border, and I wanted to see more of the countryside. So, we took this route home:

We got to see some very, very cool stuff on this drive, including the town of Hooker, where, as one might expect, all the signs sound dirty. Not kidding - you try driving past a sign labeled "Hooker Health Club," or "Hooker Horny Toads" (honest to God that’s their high school mascot), and not laughing like an idiot. Even something that normally would be innocuous, like "Dan’s Upholstery," in a town called Hooker, takes on a whole new level of funny. Still, a certain sense of decorum prevented me from stopping and snapping photos; it just seemed wrong somehow. Also, I was tired.

The towns in northwestern Oklahoma are fantastic. Lots of small towns all over America, including many parts of Oklahoma, are falling apart, it seems, due to poverty and an aging population that’s not being replaced, as young people flee to the cities. This may be happening in northern Oklahoma, but for the most part the towns seemed really nice, very clean and in general were doing well. For instance, the town of Gate, Oklahoma ("The Gateway to the Panhandle"), featured a cafe named after our buddy Laurie:

And across the street was this little piece of Americana:

The plains in this part of the state were rolling and hilly, unlike the Panhandle. Calvin would struggle a little bit up a hill, and then we’d have an awesome rollercoaster ride down. Our eventual goal was the city of Alva, where I’ve set the story I’m working on, but where I’d never been. Kinda dumb, right? So, we stopped and I got some photos. They’re terrible, and awfully uninteresting really, though the whole thing did help me get a sense of what I’m writing. We only stopped in Alva for some lunch at McDonald’s and drove around the campus of Northwestern Oklahoma State University before getting back on the road, where we encountered a wildfire:

And got pulled over in the city of Hennessey before finally making our way back home. Boys and dog were very glad to arrive back at Casa Okay City, where the garden and flowers were in desperate need of some water, but where everything else was mostly in order.

Thanks for riding with me through this three-part debrief of this trip. It really was the best three-day weekend of my entire life, and I feel completely refreshed coming back from it. I haven’t worked through the whole thing spiritually, except that I know it was good, and I feel good about where I am right now. Thanks, Oklahoma Panhandle, Thanks, good friends and my wonderful husband, and Thank You, Jesus.