Need ideas

[Nat]

OK, our trip is on for the first 2 weeks in April. It will be Vickie and I, and another couple. We pull a 33' 5th wheel and the pull a 29' TT. We want to see the area of TX from just S of I-20 from LA to maybe just W of Dallas. Probally not even go into big D, just cause I'm an old country boy skeerd of big cities. We have been to the Hill Country several times and although we love it we want to see some other places. I have a couple ideas, but thought I would post new, so they would all be in one place. We want to see the Tyler/Longview/Kilgore area, so load me up with info on stuff we will want to see. I know some of the smaller towns have little museums to show off their towns and they are neat places, so if yours has something you want to show off let me know. I know Pat, Bird,Cowboyup, and hudr had some suggestions, so please post them again so they will all be in one place.
We want to spend a week there and then N to OK. From TX N. to maybe just N. of I-40 and from OK City to the Ark line. The Runestone Pat told me about will probably be a stop, so give me some more. We went to the OK City Mem. and to the Cowboy Hall of Fame or whatever the name is, but didn't see any of the River walk or whatever the name of that is. Any other stuff we need to see? fill this up with suggestions and we will apperciate it Thanks , Later, Nat

[Pat]

Nat, Runestone State Park was one of my best suggestions you have not already seen in these parts. The Museum of Natural History in Norman OK (Think OU) is world class.

Gutherie, original capitol of OK, was founded in a land rush and went from population = 0 to pop = 10,000 overnight which according to the rules forced it to become 5 cities for a while. Eventually someone came up from OKC and stole the state seal to force them to move the capital to OKC.

There is a "trolley tour" for tourists that gives an excellent tour of Gutherie and its many Victorian houses. You pass the saloon where Tom Mix was bartender and bouncer. You pass the saloon where the owner invited Carrie Nations inside. He later posted a sign declaring "Every Nation welcome, except Carrie."

The Illinois river in the eastern part of the state has outfitters who can supply you with a canoe for a float trip down the river. You can stage it such that your rigs are downstream waiting for you. Been there done that, quite pleasant. Take a picnic lunch. Local advice available as to how far away to put your rig for the number of drifting hours you want. I gave it the better part of a day. No white water, just fun.

If you want white water try the Buffalo River in Arkansas. Been there done that, plenty of excitement for a middle aged couple in an aluminum canoe (No dents and only took on a pint of water in one sharp turn going over a small waterfall. Outfitters do not supply aluminum canoes! They aren't stupid.

Just across the border into Arkansas (Fayetteville) there is an air museum. It is in the oldest/largest still standing wooden hangar of its type. It is a donation requested situation. When I went through, the docent was a retired USAF Col. The first display I saw was a Link brand model C-11-c instrument trainer/simulator. These were configured as single seat jet fighter (Shooting Star.) The significance to me was that this is the precise make and model of Link that I went to school on for 8 months prior to operating one and teaching instrument flying on it for 3 years in the garden spot of the Strategic Air Command, Minot ND. You start to feel old when the equipment you used is in a museum! Anyway, it is a pretty nice little air museum and if you can go through Fayetteville it is worth a couple hours, for sure.

The Buffalo river in Arkansas is the nations first set aside natural river. It has no flood control and varies from widely separated ponds conected by dry river bed to a raging torrent depending on the rain. There is a ranger HQ and several historic buildings to see. My wife's cousin is a ranger historian there and did the interpretive signs etc.

It rained the night after our first day trip in the white water on the river. The next morning the wife's cousin's husband (enforcement and rescue ranger) took us down to the river and showed us the difference between our white water experience and the river after a good rain. It was 25 feet deeper than the day before and whole cottonwood trees 3-5 feet in diameter in the trunk were tumbling end over end down the river where we had done our white water.

Hope some of this may help.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Nat]

Pat, if the air museum is anything like the one in Pensacola FL it will sure be a stop. That is the kind of things I'm asking for. I would never have known about it and don't know where you can find stuff like that without asking.
It looks like we will be leaving NC on Mar 29. We'll overnight in TENN. There is a place called the Lost Sea just S of Knoxville we want to see on the AM of the 30th.prolly not out of Tenn. on the 30th. We'll stop in Ark. and overnight on the 31st then into TX on the 1st. 5 or 6 days in TX and then up to OK. Maybe a couple days around OK City then your way. I plan to stop and see your spread if you are going to be abiut. I'll PM you for a #, Thanks, Nat

[Pat]

Nat, You got me there , I haven't been into the air museum in Pensacola (Haven't been to Pensacola.). I worked 3 weeks of 12 hrs a day 5 days a week at Ft. Lauderdale a few years ago (during college spring break and Hwy 1 was wall to wall naked flesh... you know, from a few yards away you can't see monofilament fish line used as bikini straps) and the office spaces our team used were in old barracks buildings. The building I was in had a "day room" (break area with soda machines etc.) with a huge mural on the wall depicting a flight of WW II torpedo bombers circlling to a landing at the Ft. Lauderdale Navy air field.

The plane in the foreground (subject of the mural) was Bush's plane. The offices we were using were the barracks rooms for Bush and his fellow squadron members. Yet another pleasant surprise between the potholes of life. Oh yeah, and the BIG DEAL that brought nearly a hundred folks from all over the country together for 3 weeks went UNFUNDED. Just as well, I guess we didn't really need a BILLION dollar SONAR improvement project considering the Soviets quit coming out to play.

Oh yeah, Turner Falls is worth seeing and makes a grand picnic locale. It is near Davis OK just off I-35 not far from the Arbuckle Wilderness. Here is the chamber of comerce site for Davis..

http://frontpage.brightok.net/~daviscoc/recreation.htm

While in that area you might want to see http://www.horseshoeingmuseum.com/article1.htm If you are into horses.

and http://www.kencole.org/turnerfallsok.htm is pix of falls.

The Chickasaw National Recreational Area at Sulphur OK is pretty nice too. Among other things there is an artesian well flowing copious quantities of sulphur water. There is a water fountain for the curious. Yes, we all tasted it. Yes, it tastes terrible but it won't kill you.

A lot of this is on hwy 77 which parallels I-35.

A great way to get to Arkansas from OK is to drive... Talimena Scenic Drive in Oklahoma and Arkansas... Talimena Scenic Drive across the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
www.talimenascenicdrive.com/ This rivals New England in fall color and is a great drive in spring too.

In Oklahoma you will find the Washita river (wash-i-taw ) and the Ouchita Mountains pronounced exactly the same.

http://www.touroklahoma.com/region_map.asp gives info.


OK, I'll get off my chamber of commerce soap box.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CowboyUp]

Nat,
If you're in the Tyler area you might check out the Tyler zoo and maybe the rose gardens. Other than that, you'll see a lot of scenery. You may be around Canton at the right time to visit the flea market. It's huge, more stuff than you can imagine. Check out the website: http://www.firstmondaycanton.com/mod...index.php?id=1

[sneaky_pete]

If you like museum stops, there is a nice oil museum in Kilgore:

East Texas Oil Museum

[Nat]

Vickie and I are leaving tomorrow morning. First extended stop,(not overnite) will be around Tyler TX. Going to see the world famous Eddie Walked of TBN Fame. I have a print out of all the places you have told me about and I appreciate the responses and the PM's, Hope we have good weather and a lot of fun, course it don't take much to make me happy. Later, Nat

[Nat]

We are back!!! We went to the Tyler TX area, visited Eddie Walker and family. made it to the 1st Mon. sale, Vickie loved it. The oil museum was closed so we looked around the area. We had a great time there, then left for OK City. We stopped at Thunderbird Lake St Park. We saw the weather and it was calling for strong winds and we had just seen what happened in Tenn. so we opted for going on to Palo Duro canyon so we could escape some of the wind. We drove from OK city west to Amarillo TX, 250 miles with a 50 mph headwind all the way, down to 7.5 mpg. We love Palo Duro so we stayed 3 days till some of the wind died. 85 degrees when we got there on Wed., 89 down in the canyon. Had to run AC for a while till midnight then run the heat on Thurs nite, down around 40.
We went to the Panhandle Plains museum in Canyon TX, a really great museum. I'm ashamed to tell you we went to the Cadilac Ranch, probally the dunbest thing I've ever seen, but now I know. We ate at the Big Texan Steakhouse, that we had seen advertized all the way from OK city and it was great, I didn't try the 72 oz. steak but it was good. We decided that the winds had died in OK so we went back. We got sat up in a campground and made plans for Bricktown and the Canals the next day, but our traveling freinds got the old dreaded call from home saying their son and his girlfreind were in a bad car wreck. He has a crushed ankle, fractured vertibrae, she has multi broken bones and some internal injuries, so we hooked back up and headed back to NC. We didn't get a chance to see any of the stuff we wanted to see, we had plans for OK City, Guthrie,Arbuckle, and the southeastern corner, which everyone told us to see where the Rhunestone is. Oh well, now we have a lot to look forward to for another trip. We did stop at Elk City and see several Rte.66 museums that were very good so OK wasn't a total loss.
The kids are going to be OK, but their son has had 2 surgeries, and his girlfreind has had 3 since last Sunday, and she will need several more, all because a kid wasn't watching what he was doing and ran a stop sigh hitting them square in the side. the other driver wasn't even injured, at least he was lucky in that extent. Later, Nat

[Pat]

Nat, Real sorry your trip was shortened and especially for the reason. I was hoping you'd cruise by. Glad you got to see something you liked in OK. Don't recall if anyone mentioned Red Rock Canyon State Park. It is a deep narrow chasm of red rock with nice camp spots down in it. Some areas permit and some prohibit rapelling there. Some sites are full hookup. It was a lot closer than Amarilo.

I was there showing it to a friend who stopped by for 3 days on his way back from Florida to Bend, Oregon after dropping dead on the sidewalk in Florida and having a pace maker installed. Those WWII Navy vets are tough. He and his girl friend were finishing a fairly leisurely 7-8000 mile round trip across the continent with side trips. NOt bad for just turning 80.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CowboyUp]

Nat,
Sorry to hear about the misfortune that brought you home early. I pray everyone heals well and soon.
I'm glad you enjoyed the trip. Sounds like you were able to see the best around Tyler. Trade days are a major event around here anymore, bigger than e-bay [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]. Palo Duro canyon is a sight to see, and don't feel embarrassed about visiting the cadillac ranch. At least you can say you've been there. Kind of like visiting the alligator farm in Hot Springs.
Oklahoma is beautiful in many places with lots of contour to land and some nice historical places to visit. I was driving south west of the Wichita mountains not long ago and the countryside was rolling hills with round bales scattered throughout the fields, kind of gave me a vision of what it might have looked like with all the buffaloes there.
I hope you get to make the trip again.