Category: history

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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”

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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.

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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.

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Independence Day (Post #364) 7/4/2013

Today marks the day the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. The Colonies had already taken up arms and were shooting at their contemporaries from Britain for more than a year when the Declaration of Independence was written and signed.

Celebrations of our independence occur in nearly every city in the United States. Some cities and towns in the “old South” had some hard feelings for a few years Vicksburg, Mississippi (Wikipedia). But I believe most cities in the United States of America have some kind of celebration these days.

Celebrate this pivotal moment in our history. We’ve since become fast friends and their beloved vehicles our passion.

If you haven’t visited the Range-Rover-Classic.com site yet…do. Don’t blame me for the 12 days of your life you will lose reading the exhaustive amount of information presented there. You have been warned.

Thanks for reading, Happy Rovering, and God Bless the United States of America.

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Whiskey Creek Ford (Post #354) 6/17/2013

Crossing the Whiskey Creek Ford in Marshall County, Oklahoma. I diverted down Whiskey Creek while I was sight-seeing on the way to Fort Washita for their annual rendezvous.

The county has built a bridge over Whiskey Creek and the ford is no longer in use. RovErica totaled the Disco a year later bumping into a big pickup truck on the way back to Norman North during lunch hour.

View Larger Map

Thanks for reading, take the road less traveled even if they build a bridge over it, and Happy Rovering.

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Delinquent Posting (Post #325) 4/2/2013

Sorry for the delinquency of my posting. I have been busy I swear it! You know the Range Rover is marooned at my daughter’s house. It was initially thought to be a coil issue. While the coil was probably a problem, but it turns out to be the fuel pump.

I know! How could I miss that? Well I didn’t. The three things you need to make a Land Rover are AIR, GAS, and SPARK. Contrary to popular myth MAGIC has very little to do with it. If you break it down to those three components it is really quite simple to figure out why your Land Rover stranded you in the parking lot of a rural post office.

I diagnosed the spark as “failed”. It was. It was so weak it was probably going to give me a problem in the near future. That is sorted out with the new Flamethrower coil.

I called JagGuy and confirmed how the fuel system worked. So it’s the fuel pump. I am really wanting to repair the old one by swapping out just the pump. For convenience I will replace it with a replacement pump. I will repair the original by rebuilding it. That way I will have an on-the-shelf-spare.

Sorry no pictures. I have a test and an assignment due on Wednesday. I don’t have the time to play right now. I gave myself a break on Saturday and Sunday. Lately it seems I’ve been exhausted for no apparent reason. The rest was appreciated greatly by this old sack of bones.

Next week will have two posts, one to repair the Range Rover and the other the results of the Fort Washita Rendezvous which is this weekend. April 5-7.

Aaron checked in and left a funny email.

“I thought of you the other day.
I changed the oil on my 93 Range Rover Classic and I didn’t even burn my eyebrows!”

My reply,

“LOL. Eyebrows are over-rated.”

Thanks for checking in Aaron, it was good to hear from you.

Today was April Fool’s Day. I pranked NO ONE.
It was also Killer Dave’s beautiful wife Elizabeth’s birthday. Happy Birthday Liz.
It was also one of my Marine brother’s birthday, Happy Birthday Wally Beddoe. He has a Marine-centric blog (http://www.usmc81.com/) which is quite well regarded in the blogosphere.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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