Texas In My Rear View Mirror

This week, we put Texas in our rearview mirror. It has been a good winter visiting with family and friends and exploring our home state, but the time has come to move on and continue our wandering ways. We spent our last weekend visiting some longtime friends and preparing for our sojourn North through the Midwest. But my right foot was itching to step on the gas and get across the Red River the whole time.

 

We began our week at Sharktooth RV Ranch in Pilot Point, Texas.

 

After a relaxed supper at a restaurant in Lewisville, we spent Saturday evening with David and Diane at the Larue Winery. David and I worked together in Baytown and have stayed in contact with each other over the 20+ years. We were able to pick up our relationship right where we left off. David has continued to develop his musical talents, which were considerable 20 years ago. He performed songs by Texas Songwriters and, as always, sang to the audience's soul. His gentle presence offered us a brief respite from our daily lives. Thank you, David and Diane, for a beautiful evening!

 

We spent Easter Sunday with another colleague and friend, Nancy. I first met Nancy when she was a hospice chaplain, and she came to see me in Baytown. Within a few years, I, too, became a Hospice Chaplain, and we were able to work together from time to time. She joined us for an Easter Sunday BBQ at Koko and brought a yummy taste from her childhood in a Chocolate Pie. It was really good to catch up with someone with whom I share many personal and professional interests and history. Nancy, it was great to see you. I celebrate your continued passion for your patients as a Hospital Chaplain in Dallas.

 

Monday greeted us with our first stormy day with the new roof. Most of the heavy weather moved to our South. Still, it was amazing how quieter Koko was with the thicker roofing material. It was good to let go of some of our anxiety around these Spring Storms in the Midwest. They will be part of our lives for the next couple of months. This is a picture of the shower skylight covered by the material. Before, it would echo with every large raindrop or hailstone. I constantly worried about a hailstone crashing through. But I never thought about it during this storm. Safety is job one, and it makes life on the road even better.

 

The lousy weather on Tuesday allowed me to finish up our route for 2025. We have been toying with this for 4-5 months. I developed a couple of routes to the Pacific NW and one to the East Coast. Then, I set them aside until it felt right to choose. That time arrived when I looked at the routes, and this route along the Pacific Flyway felt right. I worked through each stop, checking for distance and timing. I checked a few alternatives and made a small change or two. Then, I built my booking spreadsheet and began working on the phone and Internet. As of today, I have booked the first quarter of 2025 and have started on the second quarter. This trip will pick up the national parks we could not see last year and allow us to spend time with our son and his family in Seattle. We will also revisit a few of our favorite places and see many new sights. We extended our 2024-25 stay in Galveston to three whole months. How did I know that this was the right plan for us? I am excited about making the trip, and that excitement seldom always points me in the right direction. We spent the rest of the day packing up for our 2024 trip across the state line. 

 

We headed North for Arbuckle RV Resort on Wednesday in the Arbuckle Mountains outside Sulphur, OK. A good friend from Oklahoma used to sing the praises of the Arbuckle Mountains. On a seminary trip to St. Louis, he built up my expectations as we traveled up I35. I expected mountains that were shorter but equally as grand as the Rockies. Was I disappointed? Yep? For the last 40+ years, I have given my friend grief about these mountains. But I discovered that the problem is only in the name. It was correct 1.4 billion years ago, but erosion and weathering have reduced those mountains to beautiful hills dotted with springs and creeks. Our campsite sits just across from the Chickasaw Nation's Cultural Center. It is surrounded by some of the prettiest hill country I have seen since leaving my home in Central Texas. Yes, Dale, they are beautiful, but no, they are not mountains, at least for a billion years or so.

 

Thursday took us to the Chickasaw Cultural Center. The Choctaw Nation was created in the 1830s when the tribe was removed from their homeland in the SE United States. Within a decade, the Chickasaw were also forced off their land in NW Alabama and NE Mississippi. They were settled on the Western half of the Choctaw's land. These two tribes were originally part of one Indian nation, including the Seminole, Pawnee, Osage, and others. They share a common root language and many of the same values carried forward in their stories and dances. The Chickasaw paid the Choctaw for their land. It began struggling with the United States government over self-rule and self-determination. 100 years later, the Chickasaw Nation was founded and now exists as a sovereign tribe in South Central Oklahoma. The Cultural Center tells the story of their travels through the last 600 years and offers visitors a glimpse of who they are. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon at the Center.

 

Statue of an 18th Century Warrior Greeting Us!

One of several galleries in the Exhibit Hall.

A Chickasaw Dance welcoming us to their Nation!

A very talented dance leader.

These people were welcoming, personable, and informative. Thank you!

The visitors were invited to join in!

The food storage. The legs were coated with bear grease to keep out the varmits.

Interior of a Winter Home

Smoke hole in roof

Interior of a Summer Home

The Council Lodge

Tribal Leaders

Exterior of the Village Council

The Dance Circle

18th Century Fahion

Statue honoring the families that made the march from Alabama/Mississippi

The beautiful grounds!

The Eternal Flame that is ceremonially rekindled each Spring.

 

 

 

 

In the early 20^th Century, tourists and land developers discovered the land in and around Sulphur, OK. The name comes from the mineral springs and rich deposits in the hills. The Chickasaw Nation feared that the white men would go in and strip the lands of their minerals and destroy the sacred springs that flow out of the Aquifer. The tribal leaders approached the US Government and asked that they partner with the tribe to protect these lands. It was named after a white politician named Orville Platt. The National Park Service demoted it from National Park status and renamed it The Chickasaw National Recreation Area. It is administered jointly by the Chickasaw Tribal Legislature and the NPS. The picture is a bridge over Rock Creek that links the Recreation Area and the Tribal lands at the Cultural Center. It is called the Inkana Bridge, which means friend. It symbolizes the power of shared commitments and values to overcome ancient fears and prejudices and create deep and lasting communities.

 

We walked several of the Recreation Area's trails. Here are a few of those photos. But they do not do justice to the sense of beauty, wisdom, and calm that rests over these magical hills. 

 

Travertine Creek

The Trail

Flowers carpeting the Forest Floor

Natural Rapids

CCC Dam

Antelope Spring at the head of the creek.

Viburnum or Blackhaw

An abandoned Bridge from the tourist days

Buffalo Spring (formerly a buffalo wallow that was changed to make a swimming hole for tourists)

The head of Travertine Creek

Northern Cardinals were everywhere.

Spring bursting forth!

CCC created Little Niagara Falls

More artificial falls at Travertine Island

The creek before the white men got a hold of it!

Creekside

 

Pavillion Spring, a mineral spring that was sacred to the Choctaw, Chickasaw and many other tribes.

I am looking ahead now, knowing that Texas is behind us. Our route will carry us to Claremore, OK, where we hope to meet some longtime friends. My Mother was born in nearby Tulsa. We will then head to Wichita, where my Mother lived as a child. I have memories of visiting my great-grandmother and great-grandmother in the early 1960s. Next, we will travel to Merriam, Kansas, for a few days on our way to Omaha to see another friend and explore the area. Next, we head to Sioux Falls, SD, and then Minnesota, where we will visit with family.

 

The following two months will see us exploring the headwaters of Mississippi, Central, and Northern Wisconsin, as well as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, before crossing the Mackinaw Bridge and wandering through Lower Michigan. Then, we enter Ohio and begin zigzagging through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennesee, and Arkansas before returning to Texas on November 1^st. It will be an exciting journey, filled with unforeseen adventures and visits with friends and family.

 

What will we take with us into our next 7 months? I want to carry a healthy sense of adventure tempered by a need to stay safe. We anticipate surprises but will be confident in our ability to bounce with the challenges. I am bearing the knowledge gained from the last two years that we are not alone. Many travel alongside us in the various parks. This full-time community looks out for each other and pitches in when help is needed. But mostly, I am grateful for my life partner who shares this adventure. I am also for each of you who will share this journey through this blog and our posts on FB. We have seven months of adventures ahead of us and look forward to sharing many with you.

 

I look forward to enjoying the view through the windshield and letting yesterday grow ever smaller in my rear view mirror.

 

Travel well, my friends!

Bob

 

A Member of the Oklahoma Welcoming Committee!