Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 10

Reporting from Rolla, MO.

We’ve been in three states today, starting with Oklahoma, which offered us a cheery good morning.

There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow…

After some driving and possible wrong terms (we couldn’t get two GPS’s to agree), we found ourselves at the border of three states.

We then visited the Joplin Museum Complex, which is a strange assortment of random stuff that adds up to an interesting experience.

Joplin was founded on mining, so there’s a large exhibit on that.

Words to live by.

Dennis Weaver was born here. Chief? (something for the MSTies out there)

There’s a miniature circus exhibit and the…

Plus cats wander around the museum freely. All for $2 a head (yours, not the cats).

By then, it was time to eat. Open faced beef sammich, taco salad, and homemade pie from Granny Shaffer.

We had already planned to stop in Carthage to see Marlin Perkins’ statue (he of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom) when I read 20 minutes earlier that Jim Fowler (the guy who wrestled the wildebeest while Marlin had Mai-Tai’s in his tent) died today at 87. RIP

We then reached a second…well you know. This one was in a parking lot.

There’s a rest stop on I-44 (aka Route 66) that has miniature versions of attractions on the way.

When we saw the “World’s Largest Gift Store”, you know we had to stop. Bonus—Lucy’s old car. Where’s Fred and Ethel?

Yet another attraction is the Uranus Fudge Factory. Let the puns begin!

So we wound up in Rolla, which houses Stonehenge—at least a miniature version.

No one knows who they were, or what they were doing.

OK, that’ll do it. Wi-fi is giving out. More tomorrow.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 9

Reporting from Claremore, OK.

We started in Pauls Valley, and saw the daily Amtrak come through the rainy station.

But the real reason we were there was the Toy and Action Figure Museum. This guy has an ENORMOUS collection, organized by room and genre.

Major Matt Mason!

The only exception to the organized collection is the massive amount of random figures in the “bedroom”.

Later, we stopped in Norman, OK to add to our collection of TV stars in bronze. This time it was the late James Garner of Maverick and Rockford Files fame.

Then it was off to Oklahoma City for our third capitol building of the tour. We were very impressed with the Louisiana and Texas sites—Oklahoma, not so much. Parking was almost nonexistent, the building is under construction, and someone had the genius idea of inviting the local high school jazz orchestra to perform in a marbled rotunda. We were there for about 10 minutes.

Is this a state capital or a subway station?

Yep—Oklahoma sold NAMING RIGHTS to their state capitol!!!

Mindy did a search for “fried pies in OKC” and found this place. Just a small lunch…

We also tried to visit the OKC memorial, but again, parking not really an option. Oh, well—I didn’t want to be depressed anyway. We did see a giant toothbrush, though.

Moving on to Route 66 (where you can apparently get your kicks) and “Pops”, a convenience store/soda emporium.

Once we made it to Tulsa, we found the “East Meets West” tableau, showing old and new transportation in an impass.

OK, it took quite a while to transfer this all over hotel wifi, so more tomorrow.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 8

Reporting from Pauls Valley, OK (where the waving wheat, can sure smell sweet, when the wind comes right behind the rain…)

The day began back in Waco, TX—hence the waffle.

We drove into town, which boasts the the king and queen of cable home decoration, Chip and Joanna Gaines. It’s quite the empire.

Then it was off to the Dr. Pepper museum. There’s quite a history here of the various sodas (or pops, if you prefer).

We had lunch at an Asian food truck. Quite yummy. Our meal was only slightly impacted by a dive-bombing butterfly (don’t ask).

Waco certainly keeps it weird.

I noticed a billboard for “The American Domino Company”, so we stopped in. We left with a Number Domino 15 set.

Then it was off to Ft. Worth and the Water Gardens. They shot scenes for the film Logan’s Run here.

I think I’m late for Carousel.

The next stop involved no photography—the US Mint. My mother will be happy to know I got in without a problem (she’ll know what that means).

A strange spot in suburban Denton, between two normal homes, is “The Chairy Orchard”. Is it an art installation? A neighborhood meeting spot? In any case, there’s a lot of places to sit.

Another un-photograph-able attraction was Magnetic Hill, in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. It’s one of those places where gravity supposedly goes haywire. It’s just an optical illusion—it seems like your car rolls uphill—but it’s fun.

Well, that’s plenty for now—I’m worn out. More tomorrow.

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