George Washington Carver

My only sightseeing stop today was at the George Washington Carver National Monument.  This is in Diamond, Missouri, and is the location of his childhood home.  There is a nice museum, which includes a model of his classroom and lab at Tuskegee Institute.  They have a good film, which explains his accomplishments but helps you to understand his faith and motivation most of all.  Carver was the man who found so many uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, and did pioneering exploration of plastics.  Finally, you can walk about a mile round trip to see the woods where he explored as a youth, the remnants of the farm where he grew up, and the plants he related to so well.  It was an out-of-the-way site that was well worth the time.

I crossed Missouri and got to St. Louis by nightfall.  There were several Independence Day fireworks displays visible from the hotel.

Three memorable places

Thursday's travels included the memorial at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and Oral Roberts University in Tulsa.  All were memorable.

The Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 was our biggest example of domestic terrorism.  Over 160 people were killed, and Timothy McVeigh was executed two years later for carrying out the bombing.  The memorial sits exactly where the building was located, and it has a museum next door.  There is a memorial to the children who died, a plaza with information on the south side, and a grove of trees in tribute to survivors and responders.  Two large walls with inscriptions block the street where the bombing occurred, which is now a reflecting pool.  There is a beautiful bronze and granite inscribed chair for each of the victims, arranged according to where they were located in the building.  On a nearby fence, people regularly leave tributes to the fallen.

I had always read that Oklahoma's state capitol building had oil wells on the grounds.  It is true!





Oklahoma City is also the home of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  This is by far the largest, most comprehensive collection of art and memorabilia of the Old West way of life.  It includes a mock western town, indoor and outdoor sculptures, priceless works of art, Native American artifacts, and a cool exhibit of Western movie and TV stars.

This Lincoln statue was on display because the artist who produced the "End of the Trail" Indian statue in the rotunda of the museum produced it,  too.  Turns out that both were made for the two ends of the Lincoln Highway.  I guess these are the marble models, and the bronze statues are along the Highway.  I saw this Lincoln statue, in bronze, in Lincoln Park in Jersey City, NJ, three weeks ago.




Oral Roberts University in Tulsa seems like a great place for someone who is serious about a non-traditional, Christian college experience.  The whole campus is built around a prayer tower, which gives great views and offers a place for true contemplation.  The use of shiny gold colors and modern architectural forms gives the place a unique overall look.

After growing quite tired of Oklahoma's toll roads, I spent the night in Joplin, Missouri.

Amarillo to OKC

On Wednesday, I drove from Amarillo, Texas, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Before leaving Amarillo, I decided to see the Cadillac Ranch.  This is the place where somebody buried 10 Cadillacs' noses in the ground of a cow pasture many years ago.  People have stopped for years and painted graffiti on them.  I was glad I went, but the rain the night before (and while I was there) turned the cow pasture into a mud pit.  The stuff was thick and sticky, and it finished off my old sneakers.  I had to go to Payless as soon as I was done and get some more.

It was another long drive to Oklahoma City, so I didn't have time for any sightseeing yesterday afternoon.  For lunch, however, I stopped in a great little town called Shamrock, Texas, close to the Oklahoma border.  It is a "Route 66" town, and they've restored quite a few buildings in their little downtown area to reflect the height of Route 66's popularity.  This is cattle country, and you see advertisements for steakhouses everywhere.  I tried out one of these--Big Vern's Steakhouse--in Shamrock for lunch.  Whoever was cooking was on top of their game; I didn't even need any kind of sauce for the steak they brought me.  The building had a cool mural, and a family from Maryland asked me to take their picture when I finished taking one of the building for myself.

Restored service station across the street

Big Vern's mural