I just wanted to ramble for a bit this morning about my misadventures in the greater Tulsa area yesterday.
The Red Cross Doesn't Want my Blood
There is a blood shortage in the area due to the ice storm causing the cancellation of alot of blood drives and then the greater need of blood due to injuries associated with the accidents from the ice storm.
After seeing 3 straight mornings of it being covered on the morning news, I decided to head on down to the Red Cross Tulsa headquarters to drop off a pint. I've donated 17 pints to the Penn-NJ region but this would be my first in Tulsa. Things were going great: blood pressure was 120/78, temperature was 98.1, and my iron level was exceptional.
I usually breeze through the question section: No, I haven't had sex with a man who has had sex with a man prior to 1977. I haven't had sex with anyone born in Africa. Haven't sold my body for drugs. No, I don't have those diseases that I can't pronounce. My skin and dura mater is all mine. YES, I have been out of the country in the past 3 years....huh.
The super nice Red Cross lady comes in and reviews my questions.
"Where outside of the country have you been?"
"Belize and Cozumel"
She types in Belize and some sort of yellow warning comes up on her screen.
"Where in Belize?"
"Uhhhhhh.....I dunno, a small island off the coast"
"But not Belize City?"
"No. We didn't go into the city"
After consulting an atlas and making a phone call, she comes back.
"OK. So we need to defer you for 12 months due to travel in a malaria risk area. If you had stayed in Belize City you would have been an acceptable donor."
I take my deferral letter in my hand and leave the Red Cross feeling like a Leper.
Traveling Without TomTom
After lunch, I put on my running shoes to head out for a 4 mile run. But, first I wanted to drown my Leper sorrows in some retail therapy on a budget.
I had been at Goodwill on Thursday and came home with 2 pairs of shoes and a really cute purse for $13! However, Friday was buy one item, get second 1/2 off. There was another purse that I had seen there that I loved but promised myself that if it was still there on Friday, it was meant to be mine. It wasn't there. So now I felt like a purse less Leper.
The point of this story is that I made it to Goodwill all by myself without the assistance of TomTom or Dustin! I was quite proud of myself despite being a purse less blood donor reject.
From Goodwill, I was heading out to LaFortune Park for my run.
I am very much a landmark driver. So finding the Park without TomTom wasn't as difficult for me given that all I have to do is follow the signs for St Francis Hospital.
Running in the Slush
Yesterday's temperature reached 60 degrees, enough to melt alot of the cold wet stuff that had fallen this week. However, what was left was slush, mud, puddles of water, muddy puddles, muddy slush, half melted ice, mud under slush, ice under slush, ice over mud.
The run was challenging, not because it was my longest run since October but, because my eyes were constantly scanning the ground looking for my best way to avoid landing flat on my back or on my knees in the mud.
I usually find runs very peaceful and therapeutic. This run was pissing me off! I was getting so mad that I couldn't just go out for a run without having to worry about breaking something when I suddenly slipped on mud after avoiding a pile of dog crap. I managed to regain my balance before pitching forward into a slushy mud puddle.
I stopped and slammed my foot into the puddle sending mud flying. From that point on, I carried on much more relaxed, laughing at the lack of good fortune on this beautiful Friday.
I finished the run in a respectable time given the conditions and fortunately had my Crocs in the car to change into so I didn't have to drive in cold wet sneakers.
I found my way home without the use of TomTom and flopped on the sofa all sweaty & muddy.
I was a purse less, mud covered, malaria risk but, I am becoming alot less navigationally challenged so the whole day wasn't a total loss.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Yankee Weather Report: SNOW!
This morning I was able to get out on a very cold, sunny, snowy walk after being in the house for 4 straight days!
What was predicted to be an ice storm of similiar magnitude as the Great Ice Storm 2007, turned into a pretty nice little ice/sleet/snow 1.3 inch event (at least from my perspective, the Okies largely disagree). Further south and east of the Tulsa area didn't fair as well.
I've talked about how Okies disdain winter and absolutely abhor any precipitation that falls from November through March. I think I realized why. They just don't know how to prepare for it.
As a state, Oklahoma has a variety of storm warnings & technologies in place that allow you to know a tornado is coming at ya as soon as the vortex is descending from the super cell (how's that for using a new vocabulary word from class last week). Okies have basements, storm shelters, emergency provisions, and weather radios in case of a storm. Municipalities have emergency coordinators that have every storm related certification possible. They know spring severe weather.
When it comes to winter weather, our town has sand. Yes. Sand Springs uses sand, and only sand, to treat ice. Back home in PA, we pre-treat our roads with brine, then salt, then plow (if necessary), then throw more salt on the slushy mix. Everything is calculated based on the type of precipitation, the road surface, the air temperature, the anticiated road usuage by vehicles. It is all very calculated and scientific. Here we just dump large amounts of the sand onto the ice to help with traction and call it a night. Given the name of our town, one presumes we have an endless supply of the stuff so it kind of makes sense.....in a way.....until the sand truck gets stuck on the ice on the way to help the fire truck stuck on the ice. Break out the kitty litter.
Yankees know winter and Okies know severe spring storms.
Anyhoo...onto my walk.
It was 20 degrees when I left the house with not a cloud in the sky. The sun was already working on melting the ice off the back of my car requiring less effort from me once I got back from my little jaunt.
Dustin's truck had gotten stuck at the bottom of our driveway the night before but he had managed to get it out by the time I left for my walk.
I walked down our street to the downtown part of Sand Springs.
This is the triangle (not square) in the center of town.
From there I walked down to my favorite running trail. I was passed by one runner and saw footprints of ones that had been through earlier in the morning. You can use this to bike or run all the way to dowtown Tulsa which is only 7 miles away. Tulsa has a great running/biking path system.
I walked back through the center of town to the little garden next to Dustin's work.
With the sun so bright, the ice on the wires and trees was starting to melt and I had to be careful not to walk under anything that appeared to be a big chunk for fear it would fall on my head. I also broke a sweat walking up the hill back home. Our town is very hilly by Oklahoma standards and I know this because no matter what route I take on my runs, the end is always uphill.
Tomorrow's temperature is suppose to be 45 degrees and it will get up to 54 on Saturday so all this white stuff will soon be a memory but, I'm enjoying it for this one day :)
What was predicted to be an ice storm of similiar magnitude as the Great Ice Storm 2007, turned into a pretty nice little ice/sleet/snow 1.3 inch event (at least from my perspective, the Okies largely disagree). Further south and east of the Tulsa area didn't fair as well.
I've talked about how Okies disdain winter and absolutely abhor any precipitation that falls from November through March. I think I realized why. They just don't know how to prepare for it.
As a state, Oklahoma has a variety of storm warnings & technologies in place that allow you to know a tornado is coming at ya as soon as the vortex is descending from the super cell (how's that for using a new vocabulary word from class last week). Okies have basements, storm shelters, emergency provisions, and weather radios in case of a storm. Municipalities have emergency coordinators that have every storm related certification possible. They know spring severe weather.
When it comes to winter weather, our town has sand. Yes. Sand Springs uses sand, and only sand, to treat ice. Back home in PA, we pre-treat our roads with brine, then salt, then plow (if necessary), then throw more salt on the slushy mix. Everything is calculated based on the type of precipitation, the road surface, the air temperature, the anticiated road usuage by vehicles. It is all very calculated and scientific. Here we just dump large amounts of the sand onto the ice to help with traction and call it a night. Given the name of our town, one presumes we have an endless supply of the stuff so it kind of makes sense.....in a way.....until the sand truck gets stuck on the ice on the way to help the fire truck stuck on the ice. Break out the kitty litter.
Yankees know winter and Okies know severe spring storms.
Anyhoo...onto my walk.
It was 20 degrees when I left the house with not a cloud in the sky. The sun was already working on melting the ice off the back of my car requiring less effort from me once I got back from my little jaunt.
Dustin's truck had gotten stuck at the bottom of our driveway the night before but he had managed to get it out by the time I left for my walk.
I walked down our street to the downtown part of Sand Springs.
This is the triangle (not square) in the center of town.
From there I walked down to my favorite running trail. I was passed by one runner and saw footprints of ones that had been through earlier in the morning. You can use this to bike or run all the way to dowtown Tulsa which is only 7 miles away. Tulsa has a great running/biking path system.
I walked back through the center of town to the little garden next to Dustin's work.
With the sun so bright, the ice on the wires and trees was starting to melt and I had to be careful not to walk under anything that appeared to be a big chunk for fear it would fall on my head. I also broke a sweat walking up the hill back home. Our town is very hilly by Oklahoma standards and I know this because no matter what route I take on my runs, the end is always uphill.
Tomorrow's temperature is suppose to be 45 degrees and it will get up to 54 on Saturday so all this white stuff will soon be a memory but, I'm enjoying it for this one day :)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Storm Spotting 101
Tonight I took my first class since arriving here in Oklahoma.
National Weather Service Storm Spotter Training: Spring 2009
Every year the NWS hosts these mini-seminars prior to the spring storm to educate the public and storm spotters about what all the warnings mean, what the cloud formations are, and when the hell to get out of dodge.
Now, when I heard storm spotter, I immediately thought storm chasing (I know that all my Yankees back home did too). That's not the case. The NWS relies heavily on local volunteer firefighters, amateur radio operators, and law enforcement to be their eyes on the ground while back at the office their eyes on the radar.
The class was taught by Ed Calianese, a Warning Coordination Meterologist from NWS Tulsa. He's spent his entire career in the lower plains so, he knows storms.
First a little background on Oklahoma/NW Arkansas tornadic activity from last year.
Last year Oklahoma experienced 77 tornados. The yearly average is 53. Arkansas averages 22 and they had 80 in 2008! On May 10, 2008 there were 15 in one day in Oklahoma, including a F4 that hit the ground and carved a 77 mile long path!!!!!! Oh, and not only does living in tornado alley leave us more suspectible to the number of tornados, ours are also more violent than the national average. What that means is we get more in the F2-F5 range than the rest of the country.
So onto the technical part of the class.
Initially I was clueless. Words like: cumulus, updrafts, downdrafts, anvil shaped clouds, wall clouds, tail clouds, rear flank downdrafts, rain free base, clear slots, supercell, and squall line were being thrown around like they are used in every day language.
Oh yeah, around here from April-June, they are part of normal conversation. My bad.
Eventually with lots of charts, radar images, photos and a combination of all three.....I kind of got it.
I did learn that supercells are capable of producing tornados and GRAPEFRUIT sized HAIL! Referencing my new hail chart that means hail approx 4 1/2 inches in diameter!!!!!!!
Squall lines can spin off tornados that don't really show up on radar so the NWS relies on the spotters on the ground to call those in. That's a comforting thought at 3am.
The best vantage point to get a good picture of a tornado is from the southeast side. So, if I ever felt like hopping in my car and heading out into the open to chase down something that can scoop me up and shoot me out like a cannon, at least I know the best angle to document my last moments.
I would be fibbing if I said that this class made me feel any better about the severe weather spring season. To be honest, it is making me nauseous to think about my first rough night but, I also know that there are alot of systems in place to make sure I know what is heading our way.
I am very fortunate to live in Sand Springs, OK. Sand Springs is one of only 2 towns in Oklahoma that has a reverse 911 system for weather emergencies. This means that when there is a severe weather warning, my cell phone will ring and inform me about that warning. So, in the middle of the night if there is a tornado warning 3 things will happen all at once: my cell phone will ring, the tornado siren will blow, and the weather radio will beep. On average, these warning give us 14 minutes to seek shelter. That was probably the most comforting moment of the evening coupled with the fact that Sand Springs has NO documented tornado strikes in its history.
Oh and I got a cool certificate :)
Oh and if you ever want to check out really detailed weather info for the area I live, here's the website. For those who don't know. I live in Tulsa County. It's going to be on the western side of these maps in a county that looks like a miniature Oklahoma. Might be fun to check it out during the spring.
www.srh.noaa.gov/tulsa
National Weather Service Storm Spotter Training: Spring 2009
Every year the NWS hosts these mini-seminars prior to the spring storm to educate the public and storm spotters about what all the warnings mean, what the cloud formations are, and when the hell to get out of dodge.
Now, when I heard storm spotter, I immediately thought storm chasing (I know that all my Yankees back home did too). That's not the case. The NWS relies heavily on local volunteer firefighters, amateur radio operators, and law enforcement to be their eyes on the ground while back at the office their eyes on the radar.
The class was taught by Ed Calianese, a Warning Coordination Meterologist from NWS Tulsa. He's spent his entire career in the lower plains so, he knows storms.
First a little background on Oklahoma/NW Arkansas tornadic activity from last year.
Last year Oklahoma experienced 77 tornados. The yearly average is 53. Arkansas averages 22 and they had 80 in 2008! On May 10, 2008 there were 15 in one day in Oklahoma, including a F4 that hit the ground and carved a 77 mile long path!!!!!! Oh, and not only does living in tornado alley leave us more suspectible to the number of tornados, ours are also more violent than the national average. What that means is we get more in the F2-F5 range than the rest of the country.
So onto the technical part of the class.
Initially I was clueless. Words like: cumulus, updrafts, downdrafts, anvil shaped clouds, wall clouds, tail clouds, rear flank downdrafts, rain free base, clear slots, supercell, and squall line were being thrown around like they are used in every day language.
Oh yeah, around here from April-June, they are part of normal conversation. My bad.
Eventually with lots of charts, radar images, photos and a combination of all three.....I kind of got it.
I did learn that supercells are capable of producing tornados and GRAPEFRUIT sized HAIL! Referencing my new hail chart that means hail approx 4 1/2 inches in diameter!!!!!!!
Squall lines can spin off tornados that don't really show up on radar so the NWS relies on the spotters on the ground to call those in. That's a comforting thought at 3am.
The best vantage point to get a good picture of a tornado is from the southeast side. So, if I ever felt like hopping in my car and heading out into the open to chase down something that can scoop me up and shoot me out like a cannon, at least I know the best angle to document my last moments.
I would be fibbing if I said that this class made me feel any better about the severe weather spring season. To be honest, it is making me nauseous to think about my first rough night but, I also know that there are alot of systems in place to make sure I know what is heading our way.
I am very fortunate to live in Sand Springs, OK. Sand Springs is one of only 2 towns in Oklahoma that has a reverse 911 system for weather emergencies. This means that when there is a severe weather warning, my cell phone will ring and inform me about that warning. So, in the middle of the night if there is a tornado warning 3 things will happen all at once: my cell phone will ring, the tornado siren will blow, and the weather radio will beep. On average, these warning give us 14 minutes to seek shelter. That was probably the most comforting moment of the evening coupled with the fact that Sand Springs has NO documented tornado strikes in its history.
Oh and I got a cool certificate :)
Oh and if you ever want to check out really detailed weather info for the area I live, here's the website. For those who don't know. I live in Tulsa County. It's going to be on the western side of these maps in a county that looks like a miniature Oklahoma. Might be fun to check it out during the spring.
www.srh.noaa.gov/tulsa
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The DMV, the Crazy OK Weather, a Field Trip, and why TomTom is usless in rural Kansas
It has been a really busy week and a half since I last posted. I've been spending most of my days scouring any and every website I can use to find a job (which in these economic times is not the easiest task), the weather has been kind of crazy, but we were able to get out on another field trip :)
First, the DMV....
Technically in Oklahoma it is not the DMV. Driver's licenses are handled through the department of public safety. To make a potentially long story short, it took me 4 hours (with a lunch break) to get my driver's license. Seriously. I was lucky I even got my license because I after the computer crashed twice while mine was getting done, it just died after the completion. It is a grossly inefficient process. From what I understand, in order to save money, the state DE-centralized the process a number of years ago. This has resulted in the process becoming long and arduous for all involved, including the super DPS officer who was so nice, friendly and professional. In the end I did get my Oklahoma driver's license with my new last name on it and a pretty good picture as a bonus. It was the second time I signed my new last name, it was kind of weird.
The weather last week was SO crazy! I'm starting to get used to the constant roller coaster of winter weather systems.
Last Thurday (Jan 15th) this was the scene from our house.
The high that day reached 17 with windchill of 5 degrees. We had a dusting of snow and I didn't leave the house. Keeping the thermostat at 60 and be comfortable inside was a challenge.
Saturday (Jan 17th) this was the scene from our front porch.
The high that day was 65 and Dust & I sat out on the porch all afternoon reading books. It was so beautiful and warm in the sun.
Sunday we took a roadtrip about an hour and half north to Pawhuska, OK. We weren't there to see the town but really to see the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/oklahoma/preserves/tallgrass.html
It is a an area of over 200,000 acres of natural, rolling, beautiful prairie in NE Oklahoma owned by the Nature Conservacy. In the winter it is really quiet and dormant. I guess most would consider it "dead" in winter but, it was such a beautiful day with temperatures near 60 degrees, a pretty nice stiff prairie breeze blowing, all the birds flitting about, the wispy white clouds, the blue sky, no bugs or ticks, and no one else around, well, it hardly appeared dead to me. Approx. 2500 bison call the prairie preserve home but, we only saw them from a distance on this trip. We took a nature walk on the Prairie Earth Trail. It is a 2 mile loop that takes you through the prairie and into the low lying creek bed. There was a map that explained all the points along the trail and really educated me on the area since there is nothing like it back east.
This is why they call it Tall Grass!
Our adventure to the prairie did not end there! On our way out we saw a sign that indicated the state of Kansas was only 8.5 miles to the north. "Ya wanna go?" asked Dustin. "Sure why not?" I replied. "I've never been to Kansas and it is only 8.5 miles". So off we headed down a LONG gravel road.
We would eventually figure out that TomTom is not very rural compatible. It doesn't differentiate between what is a true county rural road and what is a farm road. We didn't realize this initially and thought we were doing alright when we found this cool, old cemetary in what appeared to be nowhere.
When you look at the second picture, you will notice that the dirt road goes down into the trees. We followed that road. That is not a "road" contrary to what TomTom tried to convince us was true. There were mud puddles that I was so nervous trying to get the Saturn through because I really wasn't sure it was going to make it out (and I'm pretty sure Dustin was positive we weren't going to make it out). I could hear the rocks and branches hitting and scrapping the undercarriage of my car making me wonder out loud if I was going to have any oil pan when we got back to civilization.
As it turns out, the "road" dead ended into a farmer's field. So, after turning around and plowing back through the mud, we made it to the cemetary, and tried again. Once again, TomTom attempted to lead us down a dirt path. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We didn't fall for it and turned off TomTom. From then on we used the compass on the car to make our way out to Kansas Route 166 which by looking at a map (OMG, a real map!) we figured the road was due north so as long as we were heading north, we would hit a highway. We were right. Score one for human sense of direction.
Unfortunately there are no pictures or of our dirt road adventure because we were more concerned about making it out with the Saturn in one piece than documenting the event and having it end up on youtube :) The Saturn ended looking like I had been playin' in the mud with the good ole boys!
Oh well, I've procrastinated enough on this Inaugauration Tuesday. I'm turning the TV and will attempt to join the land of the tax paying employed.
First, the DMV....
Technically in Oklahoma it is not the DMV. Driver's licenses are handled through the department of public safety. To make a potentially long story short, it took me 4 hours (with a lunch break) to get my driver's license. Seriously. I was lucky I even got my license because I after the computer crashed twice while mine was getting done, it just died after the completion. It is a grossly inefficient process. From what I understand, in order to save money, the state DE-centralized the process a number of years ago. This has resulted in the process becoming long and arduous for all involved, including the super DPS officer who was so nice, friendly and professional. In the end I did get my Oklahoma driver's license with my new last name on it and a pretty good picture as a bonus. It was the second time I signed my new last name, it was kind of weird.
The weather last week was SO crazy! I'm starting to get used to the constant roller coaster of winter weather systems.
Last Thurday (Jan 15th) this was the scene from our house.
The high that day reached 17 with windchill of 5 degrees. We had a dusting of snow and I didn't leave the house. Keeping the thermostat at 60 and be comfortable inside was a challenge.
Saturday (Jan 17th) this was the scene from our front porch.
The high that day was 65 and Dust & I sat out on the porch all afternoon reading books. It was so beautiful and warm in the sun.
Sunday we took a roadtrip about an hour and half north to Pawhuska, OK. We weren't there to see the town but really to see the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/oklahoma/preserves/tallgrass.html
It is a an area of over 200,000 acres of natural, rolling, beautiful prairie in NE Oklahoma owned by the Nature Conservacy. In the winter it is really quiet and dormant. I guess most would consider it "dead" in winter but, it was such a beautiful day with temperatures near 60 degrees, a pretty nice stiff prairie breeze blowing, all the birds flitting about, the wispy white clouds, the blue sky, no bugs or ticks, and no one else around, well, it hardly appeared dead to me. Approx. 2500 bison call the prairie preserve home but, we only saw them from a distance on this trip. We took a nature walk on the Prairie Earth Trail. It is a 2 mile loop that takes you through the prairie and into the low lying creek bed. There was a map that explained all the points along the trail and really educated me on the area since there is nothing like it back east.
This is why they call it Tall Grass!
Our adventure to the prairie did not end there! On our way out we saw a sign that indicated the state of Kansas was only 8.5 miles to the north. "Ya wanna go?" asked Dustin. "Sure why not?" I replied. "I've never been to Kansas and it is only 8.5 miles". So off we headed down a LONG gravel road.
We would eventually figure out that TomTom is not very rural compatible. It doesn't differentiate between what is a true county rural road and what is a farm road. We didn't realize this initially and thought we were doing alright when we found this cool, old cemetary in what appeared to be nowhere.
When you look at the second picture, you will notice that the dirt road goes down into the trees. We followed that road. That is not a "road" contrary to what TomTom tried to convince us was true. There were mud puddles that I was so nervous trying to get the Saturn through because I really wasn't sure it was going to make it out (and I'm pretty sure Dustin was positive we weren't going to make it out). I could hear the rocks and branches hitting and scrapping the undercarriage of my car making me wonder out loud if I was going to have any oil pan when we got back to civilization.
As it turns out, the "road" dead ended into a farmer's field. So, after turning around and plowing back through the mud, we made it to the cemetary, and tried again. Once again, TomTom attempted to lead us down a dirt path. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We didn't fall for it and turned off TomTom. From then on we used the compass on the car to make our way out to Kansas Route 166 which by looking at a map (OMG, a real map!) we figured the road was due north so as long as we were heading north, we would hit a highway. We were right. Score one for human sense of direction.
Unfortunately there are no pictures or of our dirt road adventure because we were more concerned about making it out with the Saturn in one piece than documenting the event and having it end up on youtube :) The Saturn ended looking like I had been playin' in the mud with the good ole boys!
Oh well, I've procrastinated enough on this Inaugauration Tuesday. I'm turning the TV and will attempt to join the land of the tax paying employed.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Field Trip: Route 66 - Sapulpa to Edmond
Route 66, aka: the Mother Road, travels from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA. During its heyday the road took vacationers and job seekers across the Midwest and plains to points west. All along the way there were motels, service stations, cafes, and family oriented picnic areas. Progress brought the era of the interstate and with the slow death of the businesses and, ultimately, the small towns along the Mother Road.
Today, the route is becoming more popular as a vacation route for those seeking a bit of Americana nostalgia, including a popular route for motorcyclists. States and towns are beginning to preserve and renovate many of the landmarks that made Route 66 popular 50 years ago but much of it has long been abandoned.
The weather was beautifully sunny but cold here in Sand Springs, so Dustin and I decided to take a nice little road trip. We considered our options and opted to drive Old Route 66 from Sapulpa, OK to Edmond, OK. It's about 90 miles each way so it is perfect for an afternoon.
Sapulpa, Kellyville, Bristow
Sapulpa borders Sand Springs and is the closest town to us in which Route 66 goes through so it was our natural starting spot. It's home to Francoma Pottery which I visited right before Christmas.
Kellyville follows Sapulpa heading west. Since Route 66 doesn't actually go through downtown so, we really didn't see much.
Bristow comes up next. Visually, the downtown is very typical of the towns you see along Route 66 and what immediately comes to mind when you think of western towns. Lots of brick buildings lined up next to each other known as Prairie Commercial style. Bristow is holding its own and the town is still very active despite losing the road traffic.
Depew
We had to take a left off of Route 66 to get on Old Route 66 to see the downtown of this very small town. Depew is a perfect example of what happened to hundreds of towns along the route. The main downtown district has one grocery store and one other business. The rest of the buildings are empty. It was very much like a ghost town. Fortunately, they working to paint murals on the buildings and clean up the downtown area that will hopefully bring businesses back.
Stroud
Stroud is a really cute, thriving town also in the Prairie Commercial style, with lots of small gift shops, restaurants, and antique shops.
The Rock Cafe is located in Stroud. This cafe was made famous by the movie Cars as the inspiration for Sally Carrera in the movie was the owner of The Rock Cafe, Dawn Welch. Unfortunately the cafe burnt to the ground in May 2008 but they are busy renovating and hopefully it'll be opened by the fall.
Our real reason for visiting Stroud was the Stable Ridge Winery. Our visit to Stable Ridge was EXCEPTIONAL! The winery is owned by Annetta and Don Neal, both of whom were there today when we visited. They took an old Catholic church originally built in 1898 and made it into a beautiful tasting room. The winery has been up and running for 5 years now and not only was the wine wonderful (HIGHLY recommend trying the Wild Thang red) but Annetta and Don were two of the most personable, funny, unpretentious vineyard owners I have ever met. It was such an absolute joy to spend time there and I can not wait to go back in the spring & summer to sit on the deck and enjoy the wine there again :)
http://www.stableridgevineyards.com
Davenport
Davenport is much like Depew. When Route 66 was still a dirt road this was a thriving small town. The road was eventually turned into brick but, since the realignment of the road, this small town has been long forgotten. The post office is the only business remaining on the short stretch of the original road.
Chandler
The Route 66 Interpretative Center is located in Chandler, OK. Chandler is a very busy town with lots of restaurants, shopping centers, and assorted shops. We stopped at the Interpretive Center and were the only people there! The center doesn't have any artifacts from the trail but what they do have is a great multimedia center in which you sit on old car seats and replicas of motel beds and watch videos about various points on the route. It was a really great place to visit and had amazing photographs of sights along the route.
Warwick, Wellston, and Luther
To be honest, we didn't really see much of anything while passing through these towns.
Arcadia
Sweet sweet Arcadia. Home to two of our stops along the route.
First up was the The Round Barn. It was originally built in 1898 and was restored in 1991. No one really knows why it was built round. Supposedly it was to be more tornado proof. The gift shop is downstairs and there is a loft upstairs. I'm gonna be honest, and forgive me if anyone in Arcadia reads this but, the gentleman running the gift shop scared the living daylights out of me! Seriously. He said something when we came and I still have no idea what it was except that I think it was some sort of greeting. The walls are covered with photos and different artifact with hand written explanations. At least I think that's what they were because the spelling was so bad it took me several moments to figure out what it actually said before I just gave up. I wanted to take pictures of it but I was afraid. I'm sure he was a very nice individual, he just made me a little nervous and since I am not fluent in Okie I didn't want to get caught in a conversation. Anyway....the loft is an expansive, awesome empty room that you can use for different events.
http://www.arcadiaroundbarn.org
Our final stop was POPS! Pops is a service station/restaurant that features more than 400 different kinds of pop (that's soda for you yankees). It also has a 66 foot pop bottle that is illuminated. Unfortunately we were there during the day time so, we'll have to road trip back to see it at night. We had a late lunch/early dinner where I had my first bite of chicken fried steak. To me, it tastes like KFC covered steak which I guess is the point. Once we had stuffed ourselves silly, we got a six pack of pops to go and headed out.
http://pops66.com/
Edmond
Well....I'm gonna be honest.....we didn't quite head into Edmond, we got distracted by a sign that said Guthrie so we sort of skipped Edmond. We'll hit when we head out to Oklahoma City in April.
As I just mentioned, we took a slight detour towards Guthrie, OK. We had both heard how fabulous this town is so, we had to check it out.
Guthrie
Everything we had read about Guthrie was true. It is an adorable little city and we can't wait to get back and explore it. There's lots of shops, restaurants, bed & breakfast, and it was once the state capital of Oklahoma.
I apologize for the length of this entry. I wanted to really give you a good feel for this section of Route 66. We're planning on heading out to Oklahoma City in April and hope to do a few of the town west of there so, there will an equally long entry to come!
Monday, January 5, 2009
My car is an Oklahoma resident, I am not
Today I decided to take a giant leap in leaving my old Yankee self behind and move into my new life as an Oklahoma resident. I attempted (key word and emphasis on attempted) to change my car registration and driver's license.
Oklahoma requires things done in a specific order:
#1 - insure your car in Oklahoma
#2 - change your car registration to Oklahoma
#3 - get your new Oklahoma driver's license
I changed my car insurance back in December because it was due anyway. Geico made it incredibly easy so, the whole process took 5 minutes and I got rental insurance too.
Today, I took everything I thought they could possibly need to change the registration and to get my driver's license (which are done at the same tag agency, or so I thought). I brought: my PA registration, my PA license, my car insurance information with the Oklahoma address, my passport, certified copies of my marriage license, my car payment account number, a water bill from the city showing that I am living at that Oklahoma address & paying utilities there, me, and the Saturn.
The changing of my registration was a fairly simple process.
For $117.50 (if I had used my credit/debit card it would have been an additional 2.5%added on, someone explain that to me), my car is now registered in OK with a nice new license plate. The registration will remain in my maiden name until it is paid off and THEN I can change my name on the title. OR I can go back to GMAC, have them do that now, then go back and get my registration changed now. I'll take the first option, thank you very much.
I was feeling very relieved that the registration process was so easy and I was anxious to get done, get my new license and get home.
Not so fast.
In order to get my new Oklahoma license, I MAY or MAY NOT have to take a driving test!!!!! Keeping in mind, I have had my license since I was 17 and have had zero accidents, one moving violation, and 2 parking tickets. PA is perfectly comfortable with me driving the Schuylkill, the Lincoln Drive, the Blue Route, and I-95 both in and out of rush hour but, Oklahoma MAY or MAY NOT be so sure I can handle its wide open highways.
May or may not is determined by the driver's license guy who is only at our particular tag agency the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. So on the 14th of this month, I get to find out if I do have to take the driver's test or if they just give me a new license. I know I will be required to take the vision exam and given the fact that I wear glasses, I'm curious to see how that works out.
So, my car is no longer the only PA car in town. It now just blends in with the rest of the Oklahoma cars. Well....it does sort of stand out with the big Phillies sticker on the back and then there's Immaculata University & New York University stickers in the window and the ADK (Adirondacks) euro sticker on the window. So it is still hanging onto its roots :)
My car now sits in the driveway with its new license plate which looks really funny IMHO. I mean, the colors go better with the gray paint than the yellow, blue, and white of the PA tags but it just doesn't look right. At least I still have the yellow, blue and white driver's license for another 2 weeks!
Oklahoma requires things done in a specific order:
#1 - insure your car in Oklahoma
#2 - change your car registration to Oklahoma
#3 - get your new Oklahoma driver's license
I changed my car insurance back in December because it was due anyway. Geico made it incredibly easy so, the whole process took 5 minutes and I got rental insurance too.
Today, I took everything I thought they could possibly need to change the registration and to get my driver's license (which are done at the same tag agency, or so I thought). I brought: my PA registration, my PA license, my car insurance information with the Oklahoma address, my passport, certified copies of my marriage license, my car payment account number, a water bill from the city showing that I am living at that Oklahoma address & paying utilities there, me, and the Saturn.
The changing of my registration was a fairly simple process.
For $117.50 (if I had used my credit/debit card it would have been an additional 2.5%added on, someone explain that to me), my car is now registered in OK with a nice new license plate. The registration will remain in my maiden name until it is paid off and THEN I can change my name on the title. OR I can go back to GMAC, have them do that now, then go back and get my registration changed now. I'll take the first option, thank you very much.
I was feeling very relieved that the registration process was so easy and I was anxious to get done, get my new license and get home.
Not so fast.
In order to get my new Oklahoma license, I MAY or MAY NOT have to take a driving test!!!!! Keeping in mind, I have had my license since I was 17 and have had zero accidents, one moving violation, and 2 parking tickets. PA is perfectly comfortable with me driving the Schuylkill, the Lincoln Drive, the Blue Route, and I-95 both in and out of rush hour but, Oklahoma MAY or MAY NOT be so sure I can handle its wide open highways.
May or may not is determined by the driver's license guy who is only at our particular tag agency the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. So on the 14th of this month, I get to find out if I do have to take the driver's test or if they just give me a new license. I know I will be required to take the vision exam and given the fact that I wear glasses, I'm curious to see how that works out.
So, my car is no longer the only PA car in town. It now just blends in with the rest of the Oklahoma cars. Well....it does sort of stand out with the big Phillies sticker on the back and then there's Immaculata University & New York University stickers in the window and the ADK (Adirondacks) euro sticker on the window. So it is still hanging onto its roots :)
My car now sits in the driveway with its new license plate which looks really funny IMHO. I mean, the colors go better with the gray paint than the yellow, blue, and white of the PA tags but it just doesn't look right. At least I still have the yellow, blue and white driver's license for another 2 weeks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
