history – Page 3 – OKIEROVER.COM

November 12, 2013May 15, 2023

Honey Springs 150th Anniversary, Reenacting – Part 2 (Post #411) 11/12/2013

Artillery is in a man’s blood.
As a young man I served my nation in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. My military occupational specialty was 0811, basic artilleryman. We were also called gun-bunnies and other nicknames. As an 0811 I also trained to drive ammunition. Each howitzer has a truck and trailer following it. The bed and trailer are full of artillery shells and powder to propel those rounds down range to perforate our enemies in a very violent and decisive way. If you haven’t 6×6’ed with a couple of tons of artillery shells bouncing around in the bed of your truck, you are missing out.

There is a famous quote attributed to Fredrick the Great…

“Artillery lends dignity to what might otherwise be a vulgar brawl.”

I also like the quote by Marine General “Mad Dog” Mattis. Armies all over the world understand how artillery changes the battle. This quote was given to the Iraqi tribal leadership…

No more needs to be said about that.
So when given the opportunity to participate with the artillery, I was all in. Continue reading

November 11, 2013May 15, 2023

Honey Springs 150th Anniversary, Veteran’s Day Weekend – Part 1 (Post #410) 11/11/2013

Whit Edwards,
aka Thomas O’doule

Reenacting

I recently lost a long time friend, Whit Edwards, who was a great reenactor/historian/actor/friend. My first reenacting was with Whit and many other great historians serving in the 10th Kansas Company A. We had a great time. In 2003 with family responsibilities and an ever more troublesome spinal cord, I gave up Civil War reenacting.

With the passing of Mike Adkins a few years ago and now Whit’s passing this fall it just doesn’t hold the same magic as it once did. Thankfully a few members are left that remember the good old days and I dearly love to see them when I can. Unfortunately the last time I saw them all together was Whit’s funeral. They all encouraged me to come to Honey Springs this year.

Reluctant but needing to put the unpleasant feeling behind me I turned the Range Rover east on Friday evening to attend the event. Continue reading

November 6, 2013May 15, 2023

Where is everyone? (Post #407) 11/6/2013

This is the 42nd block of North Western in Oklahoma City. If you are a familiar with this block you have Beck’s Garage on one side of the street on the other you have VZD’s. I eat lunch at VZD’s every Monday. FYI: If you want to talk Land Rovers look for me on a bar stool between 11am and Noon.

I have never pulled up there before and seen it so empty. Not a single car in the parking lot or on the street in front. Very odd. So I snapped a picture.

Next door to VZD’s is a “salon/day spa”. So normally there is at least one or two cars parked there for the women who “do” salons/day spas. And normally Teresa Wall is parked out front as well. Teresa owns 42nd Street Candy Company. This is where I stop and pick up those fancy chocolates and candies that gets me nominated for Husband of the Year by Mrs. Okierover. I highly recommend you stop in and say hi to Teresa and get some bon-bons. You won’t regret it.

This neighborhood is known as Crown Heights. My biological mother lived at the corner of N.W. 39th and Western before I was born. How do you know that? Good question! I looked her up on the old Criss-Cross directory at the Oklahoma City Public Library. I was probably conceived in the apartment there above the house. (You probably didn’t need to know that.)

I’ve always loved this neighborhood and the great old homes found between Shartel and Western. One house on N.W. 41st street has a terracotta dragon sitting on top of the chimney.

Back to the Range Rover. I’ve got a very noisy left front spring. I think I’ll need to get it up on a lift and look at what’s going on. It’s annoying and since I just got those springs under there I should find out why it’s making those noises. Every thing else is going well so far.

I am going to the Battle of Honey Springs this weekend. So the Range Rover is going on a long drive Friday after work. I’m going to take the “Blue Highways” instead of the interstate. I’ve been listening to William Least Heap-Moon’s Blue Highways from audible.com. I’m enjoying it very much and thinking of a similar trip for some day in the future.

I used the roof rack as a platform to take a picture of our Halloween Block Party. Paradigm Church has had a trunk-or-treat set up each of the last two years. We set up games for the kids and hand out candy. We are getting quite the reputation for our “carnival”. We even have a competition between the bible study groups who theme their trunks each year.

My team has won both years. Last year we had a panel of judges, this year we let the kids/parents decide. We decorated as pirates the first year complete with a cardboard pirate ship and this year we had a Despicable Me (2013) themed trunk. We built a Gru-mobile and the shrink ray from the movies.

Everyone had a great time and the weather was perfect.

Good grief that post was all over the place! I could have made it two, perhaps three different posts.
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

October 30, 2013May 15, 2023

Guthrie and Beyond October 2013 (Post #406) 10/30/2013

I loved the lines.
High on a hill east of Guthrie.

Mrs. Okierover and I love a good road trip. So when our oldest daughter (Fireball) told us our oldest grandchild (Pistol, aka Tater) was cheering in Guthrie, Oklahoma, we had to go. Guthrie holds a special place in our family’s history. Fireball was proposed to in this city by our now son-in-law J-man.

From our home in Norman, Guthrie is a solid one hour drive on the interstate. The first grade football game began at 0830. This meant both Fireball and her brood would need to roll out of their racks around 0630 in order to be more or less on time for the game. It’s no small task to haul a 6, 4, and 9 month old anywhere let alone at 0630. I’ve done it, alone, with only 6$(US) in my pocket, so I know. (A story for another time.)

I am not fond of “rolling out” at 0730 on my only “sleep in” day of the week. Add driving an hour on the interstate on a OU home football game weekend. Not fun. So I ponied up the money for us to stay in Guthrie over night. The grand kids had never stayed in a hotel so we knew they would have fun. Continue reading “Guthrie and Beyond October 2013 (Post #406) 10/30/2013”

September 30, 2013May 15, 2023

Why? That’s easy, just look west! (Post #396) 9/30/2013

People often ask me why I live in Oklahoma. I usually respond with a smart-ass comment like, “I wasn’t really consulted as a child.” I was adopted as an infant and it just so happened that both my families, adopted and biological, came to Oklahoma…on purpose a hundred and twenty five years ago, more or less. Five of my first seven years I lived on the island of Guam, my family could have gone anywhere from there they came back to Oklahoma. When I grew up, I could have left. I left to be a United States Marine, but decided to stay in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma is famous for many things.

The orator Will Rogers,
The aviator pioneer Wiley Post (coincidentally Will and Wiley died in the same plane crash, so we named the airports in Oklahoma City after them),
Indians or as political correctness demands Native Americans,
Country and Western (yes both kinds) Musicians (too many to name),
The Dust Bowl,
Land Runs,
The Oil Industry,
Domestic Terrorism,
Tornadoes,
Miss Americas,
and our state song is the only one almost all Americans recognize as a state song and can even sing a line or two from. Take that New Hampshire, keep trying.

I could go on by naming a lot of famous stuff non-Okies wouldn’t know anything about. (See also, OU Football, Mistletoe, Scissor-tail Flycatchers, bison, parking meters, shopping carts, etc…).

But this post is about….sunsets. No really, sunsets. The great plains have the most beautiful sunsets in our country. Bet you didn’t know that. Montana is famous for their “big sky”, eh, I’ve seen it. California and Florida have ocean sunsets and I’ve even seen a few of them. But they don’t rival the plains.

So, this gets back to the facts, as I was driving home last week and we had one of our more or less average sunsets, I captured it. When I see the sunset I stop and count my blessings. I have been blessed with a great wife (think about all those pretty Okie girls who didn’t run for Miss Oklahoma….), three great kids, three grand kids, and I live in a great land where I’m free, and the sun gives me a free show more nights than not. So as you can imagine I say thank you, a lot. I have all this in Oklahoma.

I lost a dear friend this week. Whit Edwards was a great historian, actor, husband, father, and a great friend. So tonight when you are wishing you had an Oklahoma sunset to watch, thank God for your blessings and try to treat others so they will remember you long after you are gone.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

July 22, 2013May 15, 2023

Coatsworth Road, Johnston County, Oklahoma (Post #370) 7/22/2013

On my last long drive home from the Fort Washita Rendezvous; I wandered into Bromide, Oklahoma (Wikipedia). Its a small town just north and west of Wapanucka. It straddles Coal and Johnston Counties in Southeastern Oklahoma. Before the great depression, it was famous for it’s mineral springs and a limestone quarry.

I decided to take the road less traveled out of town. I headed west out of town on Coatsworth Road, aka E1790. This gravel county road wanders westerly through some very rural country. You will pass Camp Simpson, a Boy Scouts of America camp with its own private lake. You’ll also pass some very colorfully named geographic features.

You will pass Deadman Springs Road. Just north of the intersection of Coatsworth and Deadman Springs Road is the Pilgrim Cemetery. Eventually you will get to the ford across the Blue River. The Blue River (Wikipedia) winds its way through our state to dump into the Red River. When I say wind, its course might actually define the word meander. Its course is 141 miles long to the Red River.

As I cleared the mount just on the left a Great Blue Heron distracted me as it went into the air. I must have interrupted his fishing. I wasn’t sure of the depth and took it easy across.

I took shots out both windows and continued to the other side. I know I’d like to come back to this spot and see if any fish could be caught here. I’m almost sure of it.

The first road you come across on the west side is Buzzard Road. What great names!

I continued on until the road came to a “T” at Highway 99/Highway 377. Once I was back on the blacktop I headed north on to Ada. I love to take these little side roads when I can. These types of roads are the same type of roads I expect to find as we circumnavigate this great state.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.