May 23rd ~ Texas to Oklahoma
Old wagon inside Devil’s Rope Museum
Up and on the road at a decent time for a change. The reason??? We did not have any internet last night so:
- I could not write yesterdays blog
- We could not surf the Internet
- We went to bed at a decent time and slept well
It is amazing what unplugging from our electronics can do for you…
Our weather today has cooperated with us, at least until late this afternoon and we sailed on down Highway 40 with little to no wind.
There were few things on my itinerary today, but I’ll share a couple of things we did get to see.
This was really a fly by, as it can easily be seen from the highway. It is the largest cross in the western hemisphere, standing 190 feet tall (19 stories).
Groom Cross
The arm span is 110 feet and it weighs 2.5 million pounds.
It was built in 1995 by Steve Thomas as a gratitude to God for all he had done for him.
Continuing on Highway 40 and Route 66
Farm land and cattle pastures make up our primary landscape
Billed as the largest collection of barbed wire and fencing tools in the world. Who knew that there were so many kinds of barbed wire that an entire museum could be devoted to it?
Entrance to Devil’s Rope Museum
Located in McLean, TX which is right on Route 66, it made for a great place for a break and to stretch our legs.
Although barbed wire was a big part of the museum, it also had an exhibit about the dust bowl with some fabulous pictures.
From the dust bowl exhibit
Desperate times
In case you are not familiar with the cause and effect of the dust bowl, you can click here for more information and a good history lesson.
The main part of the museum had a variety of exhibits including brands, different types of barbed wire, other uses and more.
Did you know that barbed wire was once used for telephone lines?
How to read a brand
And with barbed wire, came scratches so medicine or salves were needed. Two entire cases were lined with different old time remedies.
Medical solutions
Another section was devoted to Route 66.
Provided by old Route 66 Association of Texas
Quite a varied exhibit
Even a replica of an old diner along the route
Restored Phillips 66 station
Before leaving town, we drove a few blocks to check out the old filling station.
First Phillips 66 station in Texas
Restored station
Close-up of grill of old Ford truck
That pretty much summed up our day, at least until we got close to Oklahoma City. The winds once again picked up and Tim found it a struggle to keep us going straight down the road.
We arrived in Oklahoma City late in the afternoon to a tornado watch at our RV park on the edge of town. Tornados had been seen on the ground a few miles north of us. We were also given instructions to where the storm shelter was at the end of the building.
The man that checked us in told Tim that it was not a matter of if they would have tornadoes this time of the year, it was just a question of how many.
YIKES!!!
GRATITUDE MOMENT: I’m strangely calm at the moment and have been watching TV where weather reporters periodically break into the local program with updates. I am thankful that we are done traveling for the day and have a plan in effect if needed. The lady parked next to us is traveling in her trailer by herself. We said we would pound on her door if we got an alert to go to the shelter and she said she would do the same for us. By-the-way, we are parked just one more down from a $1.6 million dollar RV towing a cadillac. Makes our Ellie Mae and Jethro look pretty tiny and insignificant in comparison. Oh well, would not trade them for anything as we have gotten quite fond of each other, LOL.
A Note From Abroad 
Exciting Stuff. I remember daddy saying how that combined with the great depression made life in this country bleak. He was one of the fortunate, living on a farm in Alabama where they were not as severely impacted. Poor yes, but never starving.
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I too can relate to “poor, but never starving” as a child. Makes me all the more appreciative of our life today.
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Absolutely!
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Groom Cross May be the heaviest, but Effingham
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Does Effingham have a cross that competes with Groom Cross? I’ll have to look it up. Perhaps something else for us to check out one of these days.
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Love the pics
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Thank you.
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Heavy weather season. A tornado took out a good bit of Jefferson City, MO.
I once saw a 1 million plus dollar RV that had a sliding door underneath the main body. There was a BMW sports car stored there. Why tow when you can carry?
I long for the old days when I went out on the road and unless I telephoned, nobody knew where I was.
Travel safe. Stay frosty.
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Thank you Ray!
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Glad you made it to Devil’s Rope–something else, isn’t it? I’d have mentioned the dust bowl exhibit earlier but wasn’t sure if it was permanent. I found that section so moving.
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The photography in that exhibit was wonderful. Certainly captured the struggles and pain that the people were experiencing. Very moving.
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I loved the pictures Joanne esp that of the restored station. I would be worried about the tornado. Stay safe. I look forward to your next post. 🙂
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Thanks for your concern. Things have definitely quieted down here and we should rest well tonight.
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A $1.6 million dollar RV?????? Yikes! I think the museum sounds fascinating and the gas station is so cute. The Dust Bowl photos alone would be worth stopping to see. Hope all the tornadoes and bad weather miss you (and everyone else as well!)
janet
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I know – that RV was fancy! The pictures from the dust bowl exhibit moved me. Such a difficult time for the Midwest. Almost clear skies tonight, thank goodness 👍👍👍
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Oooh, I love this. I love road trips and am looking forward to catching up on your travels. I agree, too, we can accomplish a WHOLE lot when we unplug.
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My hubby and I had a great conversation about declaring a certain evening tech free. We both have our noses into a screen far too often.
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Oh, that’s a great idea! More time for discovery! Or maybe, just reading a good book!
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Interesting post. Route 66 has indeed a lot of history linked to it. So far I have only covered the shortest part of it, quite some time ago, but it certainly sounds like an awesome road trip to do in the future.
Glad you have managed to avoid the worst of the tornadoes that have been plaguing the area over the last few days. Stay safe on your travels.
Lieve
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Thank you Lieve. We have been on and off of Route 66 as we travel East, but certainly enjoying the variety of sights along the way.
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Mother Nature is the great leveller of such things as obscenely priced RV’s. May all the tornadoes pass you by though. 🙂
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Thank you.
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