After a quick study of our Oklahoma map, we decided a road trip up to the wilds of Fairview and the Glass/Gloss Mountains was in order.
Jackets were stowed, dog was pee'd and strapped, road food was packed, and laces were tied. We were off.
First stop, the ghost town of Lacey, Oklahoma. Population 0 (maybe a few spirits left wandering the old high school gym and roadside store, but that's about all that's left of this once thriving Highway 51 community).
Cut north at Okeene and trucked into Fairview (pop. 2700), home of the National John Deere Two Cylinder Show, touted as "the largest working John Deere show you'll find anywhere."
A quick jaunt down the main street (we always look for a main drag in small towns -- gives us a gauge as to how the town is thriving..or not). We did find an interesting looking funky little joint in a newly restored older building that would have been a nice place to whet our whistles and make a potty stop -- The Tin Lion Coffee Shop.
Sadly, they were following the popular trend in Oklahoma of shuttering it's business sign on days of worship.
And such good prices too.
Dejected, yet still in need of a pit stop, we instead answered the spontaneous chants of "chips and cheese, chips and cheese" from the car-seated passengers in the back. S mentioned a potty break for the nth time and relayed a message from our four-legged family member of a pressing bladder relief need as well, so into the Taco Mayo fast-food lot we pulled.
While dipping chips into an exotic mixture of a melted-velveeta-ish concoction of cheese-like product and taking turns flicking on the light switches in the restrooms, we noticed that our little family unit were the only ones dining that weren't adorened in our Sunday best outfits. Apparently, Taco Mayo, the PIzza Hut next door, and the Sonic down the road were big attractions for Fairview's post-church nourishment consumption crowd.
Adequately relieved and nourished, we got back on the road and soon found ourselves heading west through the town of Orienta - not on any map, yet obviously deriving it's name from the strangely named Oriental Railway that once steamed through town, and not for the massive population of Asian immigrants that never made it to this area.
Suddently, there in front of us, loomed one of Oklahoma's geologic wonders...
Insert dramatic music here..
Okay, so they're not the Rockies or the High Sierra's for cripes sake. Remember, we're in Oklahoma.
6 comments:
I lovvvvvvve these kinds of daytrips! I can't wait to hear your further adventures that day.
Do you know why Lacey is no more? Did you get any good shots of the old buildings?
p.s.,
One of my co-workers upon hearing that I resigned and was considering moving to a small town asked, "Oh what, you gonna move to Oklahoma now???" I replied, "Funny you should mention that..." But I left it there. I didn't think she'd understand about this guy I happened to start talking to online who lives in Oklahoma...lol. Not that I'm considering Oklahoma, but it's quite a coincidence that she chose your state to ask me about :)
Yep, a lot of people when they need to refer to a place that no one in their right mind would move to, use Oklahoma as their reference point.
I've always used "Keokuk, Iowa," as my descriptive place of boonieville, America, but Anytown, Oklahoma works just as well.
Don't know what happened to Lacey, other than it lost a lot of it's townsfolk during the Dust Bowl years and never fully recovered....like a lot of Oklahoma towns.
The Glass/Gloss Mountains is a wonderful place. I'd driven by it many times and never stopped til last spring when my friend and I took our kids out for a road trip.
Next time, you should wander to the Alabaster Caverns - super cool!
I have done quite a bit of research on the local ghost towns and if you're interested, I do a day long tour or four counties of them with dinner at a haunted cafe in one of the ghost towns :).
Yep, the Alabaster Caverns are cool...literally and figuratively...we took the girls back in '05 but are due for another day trip...we liked going in the summer heat, since it's so cool down in the cavern.
http://yastm.blogspot.com/2005/07/quick-to-bat-cave.html
Tammy, glad to know that openmagok will be back up soon. Is your ghost town road trip on the openmagok site?
My wife tells me about an eatery in Avard that has some pretty active spooks.
There's only one eatery in Avard, it's the same one - Vina Rae's Grill & Graze. Really good southern fried food!
i don't think i have anything about the ghost town tour on there, but probably will post something soon for this season.
we're planning all kinds of fun trips for this summer. Do you all like to camp?
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