Rollin', Ridin' and Eatin' oh my!

We woke up at 8 this a.m to head out to a breakfast meeting. The meeting was 80 miles distant. we jumped in the car and headed up the highway. I love U.S. highways. In Canada there are few highways where it's possible to travel in excess of 60 (100km/h) and side roads here are posted higher than that.

The freeway is posted at 75. (120km/h) and there are some posted higher. Thus the meeting was about one and a half hours away. We arrived at the specified location, another eatery we have never tried.

We met with Renee and John, and had a wonderful visit. They are great folks who live in Oklahoma City, and it was good to share some fellowship time with them and some food. did I say food?...

Scooterchick elected to have a build your own omelet. It had Spinach, Cream Cheese and  Mushrooms topped with gravy and it came with grits and pancakes. The grits were so thick you could have used them for mortar. She had to add hot water to thin them out.

Now as to the name Jimmy's Egg. It is a restaurant that was founded by Vietnamese immigrant Loc Van Le a former railroad inspector 30 years ago, and who signed a master franchise agreement with another local businessman in 2010 and there are now 31 locations. Still Jimmy's Egg..........?

As to my choice, prepare yourself..... I had pancakes with Bacon and Cheddar Cheese.....that's right my friends.....Bacon and Cheddar.....God bless the USA.  And they were goooooooooooooooood!

After our visit with Renee and John we headed out. One of the more unusual sights we saw was a scale railroad locomotive. Very realistic in the grosser details, absolutely non functional, but cute as a button. It was (of all things) an advertising piece for a dental practice. Dentistry....go figure.

We went downtown and looked around. We had an errand to run, but the office was closed. Downtown was eerily quiet for it being the middle of a weekend day.

We followed that with a trip over to the State Capitol (the only state capitol with a producing oil well on the grounds), which was unsurprisingly closed as well....drat and double drat!

Just down the street is OU medical center and they have Life Flight Helis parked right outside. Could not resist a pic of this one....looks fast even sitting still! This one is a Eurocopter EC130B4. With a cruising speed of 150MPH its a get in, get out fast rotor wing.

We took a couple minutes to stop by a favorite spot in the city...Bass Pro Shops. Here's Scooterchick trying on a sexy ATV for size. She found it comfortable.

Apparently it fits. We managed to restrain ourselves and left without buying it, or anything else today.

Apparently the side by side is looking pretty good too. Who knew I married a gear headed girl. That's soooo cool. She is continuously on the hunt for the "perfect scooter". Search on Baby!

At the back of the store is a huge fish tank with a wide variety of finned delicacies. Catfish, bass and others up to 50 or 60 pounds...........wow! At the edge of the tank and on top are other display items.

One one side is a stuffed grizzly in an upright pose, claws outstretched and above him, a man frantically shinnying up a tree to get away. On the other side is this climber ( on belay) being overlooked by some curious mountain sheep.

Above the tank itself is a hunting camp during the holidays, complete with pickup, canoe, cabin and holiday lights. All the decor is ridiculously professionally done. Everywhere you look is something awesome, I am continually saying "Whoa look at that." And I've been to BPS many times. 

We turned a corner and "Whoa". When you have a moose to smoke, this is your smoker. I'll bet if you get it truly stoked up and put it on rails it would beat the 4:20 mail express to Albuquerque on the AT&SF railroad.

We turned another corner and there was a small fox resting on a display. If you look closely you will see something unusual about this particular mount. Let me know if you see it.

Here's Scooterchick about to head back to the ranch with her hunting wagon. By the look of that horn she either bagged a big one, or found a cast off in the woods. (hmmmmm.....bleached with root?)

We got home around 4:40 and decided that the temperature had raised up to about 50F, time to try out the Airhawk seat. Here it is prior to install. Will it cure the dreaded Monkey Butt? It oughta.

So off with the Lambswool, on with the Airhawk. The moment of truth is close at hand.

We headed up the road toward the Hwy. At the freeway entrance is one of the gates to Fort Sill. In one of my previous posts I mentioned Ft. Sill.

It is named after a former local newspaper publisher who was a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army and WW2 veteran.

We headed out to Medicine Park where Scooterchick was determined to conquer that plank bridge. She was not to be denied, nor was she to be deterred. I was detailed to document the momentous event.

Here she is after a brief pep talk ( look at the end of the bridge and you will ride straight through) entering the bridge itself.

The light is already fading and here she is partway across. So far so good.

Almost there, c'mon Baby, you can do it. She says it was around here that she started to look down and see the gaps. At this point she became a little.....shall we say "wobbly". You can make it.

Here she is accelerating off the bridge and onto the pavement.....HOORAY! At this point that I could hear her as she rode by, " Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God." He knew you could do it too!

We pulled into a parking lot. Scooterchick needed a minute to decide if she was going to vomit, so I took a picture of this cool old truck. It looks like a 41 Ford with a 454?....just guessing....

After my baby caught her breath we stopped here for a bite to eat. Every time we have been here in the last 4 yrs. it has been closed. I like the occupancy restriction sign.

We got the scooters parked and headed inside.

Having parked and made our way into the restaurant without chucking her cookies or blowing chunks, my darling engaged in a little bit of exultation over her feat. You deserve to feel good about overcoming this challenge darling. You are the champion my friend.

The restaurant is a little unusual in that it has 2 mature oak trees growing through the dining room. The diners on the left were curious about my picture taking so I told them that they can check my blog this evening and receive their 2 minutes of fame.

There is also a patio for those who want to dine al fresco. With the mercury dropping south of 50F. we chose to dine in.

This is the view from our table. The little lake is another impoundment of Medicine Cr. and the restaurateurs sell food for the fowl, fish and turtles below. There is also a small waterfall on the opposite bank.

This is a picture of the dreaded bridge, which now having been vanquished returns to it's proper dimensions. Take that you ridiculous piece of engineering you.

We headed back to Lawton in 42F temperature and full dark.

Was I chilly?  Not in the least. This was due in no small part to a Nitro jacket and Tourmaster gants which Forrest, he of Forrest and April fame has generously donated to the cause.

With a long sleeved shirt it would probably keep my toasty right down to freezing. Thanks again for the wonderful gift Forrest. Here is the new jacket, modeled by the ever irrepressible and exceptionally well garbed Scootard.

And so, it being well past pumpkin time for this sleepyhead, I bid you bonne nuit.

Riding around lookin' at stuff.

We wanted to visit an establishment we had been told of and had missed on an earlier visit. Accordingly, we headed out, in the car this time since rain was forecast. We drove up to Medicine Park and started taking pictures.

We stopped by the dam at the bottom end of town and I got a couple of pictures, one looking at the spilllway at the dam, where there was a bare trickle of water coming out.

I mentioned to Scooterchick that as a youth I would have skipped along the headwall and dam with nary a care. after all they were at least 16" wide so I would not have had to mind the drop to the rocks on one side, or the plunge into the water on the other. Age definitely changes things, since as I trotted back along the concrete to to the car, I definitely got a weird feeling down in my giblets, one that definitely thickened my gravy!

I took a picture of some cute little flowers by the roadside as I regained my composure and my legs stopped shaking.....haha

Then it was off to our next destination, we parked the car and I got a picture of this sign in the middle of the street in a planter box. I thought a couple more pictures were in order.

Looking east from this sign, and the adorable Scooterchick in the background brings another picture.

This is a private home at the east end of the intersection. I particularly like the moose sculpture in his front yard, done by a local sculptor who has since passed away.

Here's a view looking down the street toward the creek. The local stone has been used extensively, and it keeps the houses cool in summer and warm in winter. And so we come to our next destination.

This is a motorcycle accessory business which was recommended to us and we wanted to check out their offerings. It is actually 3 cojoined buildings so it looks like a quaint country store but is actually an emporium with tires, clothing and maintenance items as well as souvenir stuff.

After we left the store we stopped to take a couple pictures at the upper edge of downtown. Here they have constructed another dam which impounds the creek and creates another small lake. The sound of the water cascading was very peaceful. There's something about the sound of water in motion that speaks volumes to the soul, drowns out the world and encourages a meditative state of mind...no?

Here's another picture of the falls over the dam, with a little more zoom added fro emphasis. although I don't drive a Mazda, I enjoy taking advantage of the Zoom....Zoom.

This is the upper end of the pedestrian walk way that parallels the creek. This walkway runs all the way through downtown and gives a pleasant outlook for strollers....if you don't mind the heat. There was a nice breeze today so it wasn't too oppressive.

We drove up past the dam and along lake Lawtonka, which furnishes Lawton's water supply. This end of the lake has a marina, and a lot of folks from town have boathouses here. They are more than boathouses really, as they have well developed cabins on the upper decks. That way they can boat and enjoy some time at their cabin at the lake all in the same go.

We left Lake Lawtonka and started climbing up into the hills on OK 58 and it was apparent that fall is coming to the Great Plains. You'll notice a sign in the lower left that says "Posted no trespassing". this is code for "if I find you past this sign, you are likely to be ventilated, or get a sudden case of lead poisoning". As discretion is the better part of valor,  I valorously kept my distance.

On the other side of the road was a little pond, that was just begging to have have it's picture taken. I was happy to oblige it.

Farming has always been a bit of a hit or miss situation in the rocky ground of this region, so they have moved to another type of enterprise....wind farming. When we were married in 2008 there were about a dozen windmills along this ridge.  Now they stretch as far as the eye can see, probably a couple hundred or more, and more going in every day. Since it's almost always windy here this is a great resource to put to use. Another contributing factor is " no trees....no tree huggers".

There's something inspiring about these huge machines. Their blades are turning in a sedate but productive fashion, making a lazy "swoosh-swoosh-swoosh" sound. Up close they are really quite majestic. I stood in the wind watching them for a couple minutes..."swoosh-swoosh-swoosh" almost hypnotic........"swoosh-swoosh-swoosh"....sorry, I'm drifting off.......

Across the road from this triad of giants the topography takes a decided left turn into the strange category. It looks like the everpresent breeze has eroded the landscape to reveal upturned ridges of the type of granitic rock that makes up the Wichita Mtns. I does look unusual though, almost as if some giant had dragged his giant rake across the land in an absent minded way, creating these linear ridges.

Immediately across the road it was evident that geologic upthrust in aeons past had something to do with it. I know my amateur interest in geology is weird, but.....there you have it!

A short drive back down OK 19 brought us to Apache OK. It is another small town that history has relegated to "the stacks", but contains 1,445 people more or less and a few pictureworthy sights as we cruised into town. the first is a mural depicting the stage coach days, now long faded in the sun.

This building stands at the corner of Coblake St (OK 62) and Evans Ave. which is the old Main St. Sadly I have no further information about this building although it does wear it's age well.

This building sits across the street. I did manage to identify it as a bank, mainly because the word BANK was in it's brickwork. Clever sod yeah?

This is a shot down Evans Ave. displaying downtown Apache in all it's glory. If it looks sleepy that's because a somnolent lethargy hangs over the town in the late afternoon.

By this time the sun was lowering and it was time to head back to town. Ten minutes down 281 and another 10 down 44 and we were back in Lawton. There was just enough time to take some sunset shots.

The sunsets on the plains can be really spectacular, the colors are outstanding as the sun fades into the west. You have to be quick with the shutter though, as the colors are  ephemeral and are gone in a minute. I am pretty quick with the shutter though, and try to get several shots and try to pick the best one.

The colors though fleeting can be dramatic, by turns inspiring and/or violent. I love the way that God paints the world, with such a delicate brush, and it's easy to see in the sunset.

And so with the light faded, the belly full and the blog completed, it's time to say good night all...