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 Day
3 [7/23/99]
From: Carthage, MO
To: El Reno, OK
Total Miles: 200 < X < 300
Sites Seen: Kansas, Murrah Building, A Tank, A Sullied Swimming Pool,
Joey
Today's Entry By: Rachel Caplan
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| Hi...Bye. |
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We woke up this morning in the Boots (not Booth) Motel. We
then got in our van and rode down the street for 50 feet till we arrived at our breakfast
destination of The Breakfast Hut. Here we ate pancakes, all of us except for John who had
his long anticipated mushrooms and his morning dose of cottage cheese. We enjoyed our $15
meal (for four), and continued on for the day. We left our lush state of Missouri and
headed into my favorite little stretch of Kansas. While in Kansas we spotted the Route 66
signs painted on the road every hundred feet. We also stopped at a teepee for a photo op.
I am up in the top. It’s hard to see me cause it’s kind of dark, but I had to
climb onto Baker’s shoulders so I could be seen. So look closely 'cause I’m
there. My favorite spot in Kansas was the little grocery store that we had seen the day
before in the post card we sent to Kathryn Carr. They "have an open Produce Porch on
the front, with French doors, and a few tables and chairs where you can eat or just
rest." About two miles later we left Kansas, cued up the Oklahoma C.D.
and entered the fabulous, south central state of "O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A Oklahoma, OK."
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Our first stop in Oklahoma was at an old and apparently
empty Buffalo ranch. Alex bounded about looking for actual buffalo, but had about as much
success as Linus searching for the Great Pumpkin. Alex had to settle for giving us a show
of her best buffalo impression (see photo). Our next stop brought us to another old,
apparently abandoned water hole. The main feature of the small lake/pond is a large
fiberglass(?) whale with a water slide coming out of him (see photo). We wanted to get
closer to the whale but signs posted on the property that said such things as, "No
Trespassing: You will be shot" were a little too formidable for us make an attempt at
disobeying them. So we got as close as we could, took a picture, and got out of there. |
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| Authentic roadside store in Kansas |
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| Your average, run-of-the-mill roadside teepee |
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Thanks to John Ackenhausen, president of the Oklahoma Route
66 Association, and the brochures he sent us, we found our way to the J. M. Davis Gun
Museum in Claremore, OK. Here we learned all about J. M Davis. He received his first gun
as a little tyke for taking his medicine. He later received three more when his father
died. While we were deeply engaged in the 20,000 guns, knives, and animal heads, our
attention was most captured by the huge WWII-era tank located in front of the Museum. We
stopped in Oklahoma City for dinner. Before we ate we had a sobering experience at the
memorial site of the Murrah Federal Building bombing. We visited the fences covered with
pictures and dedications to all the victims of the bombing. Most of the dedications were
sad, and somber poems, and accounts of who the people were and what they should have lived
to become. Some of us were moved to tears. On the whole we were glad that we visited the
site, but we weren’t quite as chipper when we left. |
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Soon, however, we had to be quick on our feet. Included
amongst the card, flowers and other mementos were many bracelets with the letters W.W.J.D.
inscribed in them. I, being curious, decided to ask a passing officer what the letters
stood for. I soon realized that I had completely blown my cover (as a Jew) when he looked
at me for a moment and replied, "Most of the kids like to ask themselves `What would
Jesus do?’ in unfortunate situations." We hurried back to the car and went on to
dinner. |
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| Alex discovers her inner buffalo |
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| Dispite their smiles, Rachel, Baker, and John are
trying to avoid getting shot. |
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For dinner we ate at the Rib Crib, where they had live
outdoor entertainment. This was an exciting event for me because I consumed my first bite
of red meat in the past ten years. I had a rib of my own and maybe ate half of it. It
wasn’t as good as I had remembered from my childhood, but I enjoyed it just the same.
I still got my fare share of BBQ from my Chicken and Cajun fries. |
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Our traveling concluded for the night in El Reno, OK at the
Best Western. Alex and I had been long awaiting the opportunity to swim at this night's
lodging. While checking in I asked the lady at the front desk, who we did not take much of
a liking to, what the hours of the pool were. She told me that it was closed for the night
because it needed to be cleaned due to an "accident" that occurred earlier that
day. Luckily the mini-Big-Toy was still open so I could exert some stored up energy. While
I had lots of fun swinging and sliding, we still had a little bit of a rumble back in the
room. Unrelated to the above, Alex and I built a tent in our room and had a secret
meeting. Meanwhile John and Baker were outside meeting Joey, the son of the scary racist
from Ada, OK. Baker and John entertained Joey with golf balls and the "didi"
(digital) camera. After concluding the evening with one last rumble, I crawled into my
tent and fell asleep. Whatever happened after that is a mystery to me too. |
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| Pvt. Caplan liberates Claremore, OK. |
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