International Oklahoma Travel

 

We have driven through many sovereign nations over the last two weeks without leaving Oklahoma. After Andy Jackson's brutal relocation of the Indians from their homelands in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and Mississippi, the tribes began a series of legal battles to recover their right to self-determination. They stood up to genocide and multiple attempts to wipe out their language and culture for the next 150 years. In time, the Supreme Court of the United States found that they were members of their own sovereign nations and, as such, had a right to determine their governance and future. For the next 40 years, they have been working out their relationships with the Federal and State Governments and are today recognized as sovereign nations. Because of this, we have driven through the nations of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muskogee (Creek), Cherokee, Pawnee, Osage, and Seminole peoples. It has been a week of international travel over the quilt of the American People, one square at a time. I invite you to ride along with me as I look back at our week among some of the nations of America’s first people, the Indians of Oklahoma. (For a little perspective, the ancestors of these people have been on this continent since before the Stone Age when our European ancestors were throwing rocks at each other.)

We drove to Vinita, OK, and The Cherokee Visitor Center on Monday. This is the official welcome Center for people entering the Cherokee Nation. These proud people were forced from their ancestral lands in the Southeast US by political thievery and brute force. The move created descension in the tribe, and many of those wounds took 100 years to heal. However, today, the Cherokees have won many important legal battles and have established themselves as a “domestic, dependent nation” who live under self-rule as citizens of the Cherokee, the US, and Oklahoma.  

The Center features the pottery of two Cherokee artists who have helped their people recover their cultural pride. Anna Mitchel spent a lifetime rediscovering the Cherokee tradition of pottery making. The Center also features an exhibit by Bill Rabbit, a Cherokee artist who has helped rebuild a meaningful vision for his people. They are both listed as Cherokee National Treasures. The Center has a small display of the Cherokee's journey along the Trail of Tears and their legal battles to gain recognition as sovereign people within the United States.

This sculpture is called A Bundle of Seven Arrows by Cherokee Nation citizen Demos Glass and Dakota Coatney. It reflects the unity of the seven matriarchal clans that comprise the Cherokee People. It is contained in a round structure called The Vessel in homage to Anna Mitchell for her life work of helping the Cherokee People recover their traditional pottery, which they have used for thousands of years. It was nearly lost during the cultural wars with the United States. The artists and their artwork are fighting this culture war; fortunately for all of us, they are winning!

 

On Tuesday, we were greeted by what one native Oklahoman called the "legendary" wind. The open prairies and their location on the eastern side of the Rockies create the Oklahoma wind, celebrated in story and song. We had a sustained wind of 20 mph, with gusts over 40 mph. And, I am told, this is a relatively tame wind for this area, where gusts can reach more than 60 mph. Koko was faced away from the wind, so we were not hit broadside. However, our slide has a fabric topper that was being stretched and popped by the higher gusts. We pulled the slide in and rode out the storm in relative comfort. However, I was not interested in taking Nakai out to face those winds on the roads. So we stayed in and enjoyed a quiet day.

 

Casino in Background

On our last night in a place, we prepare Koko for the next day’s drive on our last night in a spot and grab a meal at a local restaurant. Fortunately, the Cherokee Casino across the parking lot serves Indian Tacos. We bundled up in search of one of our favorite treats in Indian Country. The Indian Taco is a piece of frybread topped with spiced ground meat, beans, tomato, and lettuce. We enjoyed our taco in Koko to avoid the cigarette smoke that filled the Casino. These were as good as any we have had in our travels throughout the United States. They were almost as good as the ones we got at the Crow trading post in Crow Agency, MT, at the gate to the Battleground of the Little Bighorn.

 

Fortunately, the winds died down on Wednesday, and we began our final drive through Oklahoma, heading for Kansas (named for the Kansas Tribe). Along the way, I was fascinated by the names of the towns we passed through and saw on road signs. Here are a few of them.

 

Skiatook – “Big Indian Me – or something that is large-in-size. It was established by the last Hereditary Chief of the Cherokee on Bird Creek and was near a Civil War battle in 1861. Their motto is “Where the Cherokee and Osage Meet.”

 

Pawnee is named after the Pawnee People of the Central Plains. The US Government established the Pawnee Agency and Boarding school at this railroad junction. An agency was established as the Center for the US Indian agent to provide assistance and “watch over” the Indians in the area. The schools were set up to make the Indians “good citizens” of the US by forcing them to abandon their language, arts, and stories. These brutal schools were indoctrination camps for Indian children. Their existence made the work of people like Anna Mitchell, Bill Rabbit, and Demos Glass essential to their people’s survival. When the Post Office was set up in the agency office, the town site was named Pawnee.

 

Hominy is Osage for nightwalker. It is a small town with a notable claim in sports history. In the 1920's, Hominy was home to an all-Indian professional football team. In 1927, they played and beat the NFL Champion New York Giants.

 

Pawhuska means white hair and is named after a white-haired Osage Chief, Paw-Hiu-Skah. It is said that the first Boy Scout Troop in the United States was founded in Pawhuska in 1909 by a Christian missionary who believed he could make the young boys into good citizens of the US. Ironically, as a Boy Scout, I learned a great deal about native culture and practices. Hmmm… Pawhuska was also the primary location for the story that led to the 2023 movie Killers of the Flower Moon. If you have not seen the movie, do so! It will give you a deep insight into these people's struggles in their journey to nationhood.

 

Ponca City is named after the Ponca Nation, which was forced to relocate from Nebraska. Like Pawnee, it was the site of an agency and school. The Railroad created a major hub that encouraged Phillips Petroleum to build a refinery. The site is a traditional meeting ground for Kaw, Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, and Tonkawa. These Nations meet at Standing Bear Park, named for a Chief’s son whose death led to the ruling that Indians have the same rights as any other US Citizen.

 

Foyil was named after Alfred Foyil, the first postmaster of this tiny town. It also has a notable place in US sports history. It is the home of the man who won the first footrace from Los Angeles to New York City in 1928. We stopped at  Annie’s Diner when we drove to Vinita. This six-table diner serves up large portions of Beans and Cornbread, Spaghetti Three-way (chili, spaghetti, beans), and Frito Pie to people traveling the Historic Route 66. It had good eats and really laid-back service.

 

If you want to know more about the Nations of Oklahoma and their struggle for sovereignty, follow these two links, Indian Nations and Terminology.

We pulled into our first stop in Kansas at 1:30 PM. We are staying at Air Capital RV Park in Wichita, KS, for the next week and look forward to exploring this area. My Great-Grandmother Holt lived here and ran a boarding house with her Son, Willard, in the 1960s. I remember driving up here with my Brother, mom, and Aunt Adele and visiting them. We also walked through Old Cowtown. I look forward to retracing those steps and visiting my Great-Grandmother Holt's grave.

 

Thursday saw a Kansas “Blue Norther” blow in. The temps dropped, and a light, misting rain fell along with 20 mph winds. In Texas, we call this a Blue Norther when the sky turns blue, and the wind starts to blow! It made a perfect day for Chill and Chores. We made a major grocery run to a local chain called Dillions, which is affiliated with Kroger. It was also laundry day and time to update my computers and electronics with the excellent internet service from T-Mobile. Fortunately, this storm was more cold than wind and we had a terrific day to get the necessary stuff done

 

Friday was Spa Day for Koko and Nakai. Our front a/c started making a loud whirring sound in Claremore. The rear a/c made a similar sound two months ago, and we replaced the fan motor. The tech asked if I wanted to replace the front one since they were the same age. I declined, and here we are two months later, where I am replacing another motor. Well, here is another lesson in RV Economics. The tech arrived and replaced the motor. Within a few minutes of him leaving, the RV wash guys showed up and gave both Koko and Nakai a much-needed bath. Fiberglass bodies on RVs require regular washing and waxing, and most RV parks do not allow hand washing to save water. We are generally left with hiring a crew who brings their own water to do the job. We take advantage of truck wash locations when possible but generally pay the price for keeping Koko in good condition. We have to take care of our home!

 

Marble Mi Lo, symbol of a joyful, happy life

We went to The Museum of World Treasures in Old Town Wichita on Friday afternoon. This area is the Old Downtown, filled with kitschy, unique shops, restaurants, and bars. And this museum fits right in. It was a building dedicated to telling the story of the earth and its inhabitants. This is a big story to tell, and this big building tried to say it all. We walked through gallery after gallery and were exhausted. While much of the material displayed was artifacts, many were reproductions. But what made this place different was the level of curating and explaining they did with signs. It is perfect for children learning about world history. But it wore this 70-year-old out! I can see why they sell memberships with free admission. To really enjoy it, I would need to come back and visit one gallery at a time. It is well done and very interesting, but you have been warned. They need to add the letters TMI to the name!

The Berlin Wall Exhibit

A Piece of the Berlin Wall

Another Friend for Marlene

Hindu God Shiva

Sitting Buddha in Marble

A Congolese Mask

A Krator for mixing water and wine.

Heiroglphyics

A Sarcophagus

A Mummy Full-Head Mask

T-Rex

Medieval Armor

Our final trip of the week was to Wichita Park Memorial Park, where Find-a-Grave said my great-grandmother, Clara Belle Gorsage Holt, is buried. She lived to be 99 and is one of the two Grandparents I have met. I have memories of sitting with her at her red-checkered kitchen table and visiting with her Son, Uncle Willard, who lived downstairs. Find-a-Grave listed her grave's location, and we drove right to it. It felt good to stand and look at her headstone. She was being remembered 58 years after her death. She was still alive in the memories that wandered through my mind. Her life mattered! These gardens of memories are an essential part of being human and celebrating life. Rest well, Grandma Holt!

 

Our time in Oklahoma and Kansas has offered us a bountiful table and invited us to an international feast to be savored and celebrated. I strengthened my ties to family members who have been gone for decades. I deepened my understanding of history through the stories of the original inhabitants of the land I call home. I came to feel the presence of generations of people to whom I owe an outstanding debt of honor and respect. I learned to enjoy and savor the differences that help us find our uniqueness and the shared life experiences that bind us together as human beings. Thank you, Oklahoma and Kansas. We have dined well.

 

I look forward to seeing what other banquets our travels will lay before us.

 

Travel well, my friends!

 

Bob