Osage Adventure (Post #554) 1/30/2016

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I got together with some fellow Oklahoma Land Rovers Owner members and went on a tour of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail. If you haven’t looked this up on the internet yet, you should. It will be the source of several trips for the Big White Bus in the coming year.

Oklahoma Adventure Trail Facebook.

Oklahoma Adventure Trail Website.

Nathan brought his “new” Range Rover. I was in my Range Rover Classic. John and Jayden were in their Discovery. And Erik and David were in the Defender.

John planned our trip and did a great job of mapping out some fun places to see and giving us a great tour of the back roads of Logan, Lincoln, Creek, Payne, and Osage counties. You will find the links to the map used to guide us. There were deviations from these maps but once you are out there you’ll realize why. Fair warning this is a picture heavy post.

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One of many trestle bridges we encountered.

We drove along the Cimarron River for a good stretch.

Supports for a bridge that is no longer present.
Supports for a bridge that is no longer present.
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Along the Cimarron River

This is where we learned Erik lost his gas cap on his Defender. He made a “field expedient” cap out of some duct tape.

We detoured as suggest up to the town of Ingalls, Oklahoma. The town was the scene of what is called the “Battle of Ingalls”. The fight was between U.S. Marshalls and the Doolin-Dalton gang. You can read more about it on Wikipedia or on Legends of America. We stopped and took pictures of some seemingly old buildings, one of which seemed original to the time. We went down the street and to the site of the fight. None of the original buildings exist today.

We headed down the road and eventually turned North toward Osage County. The Oklahoma Adventure Trail lists the roads and the detours. Those detours were often buried in posts and therefore sometimes we didn’t know of a bridge out. Of course when you are driving a Land Rover a detour is not always a detour. In this case it was, the bridge was out over a very deep creek.

There were no shortage of bridges to cross. This one was a Works Project Administration job from 1940. They provide a nice break water that had a waterfall.

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We stopped in Cleveland for lunch and fuel. We pulled into town on Hwy 64 and stopped at the Dollar General next to the McDonald’s. There was no way I was eating McDonald’s unless there was nothing else. Thankfully we saw Rosie’s Tacos when we crossed the lake south of town on Hwy 64. Yes, that’s a car port. Yes, that’s a trailer parked under it. Trust us. Erik made the first suggestion that he was going to take the gastronomic adventure and get some chow there.

That was all the suggestion I needed. I didn’t have tacos. I had tamales. Delicious. Their verde’ sauce was just the right amount of hot with flavor. I’d drive back there again just to eat the tamales.

Rosie's Tacos
Rosie’s Tacos. Yummo.

My odometer rounded out to 237,000 as we pulled up for petrol.

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My plastic needs a clean and a new coat of paint.

So with both our tanks and our bellies full of goodness we headed for the Osage Tallgrass.

We got to Barnsdall, Oklahoma where we encountered the only oil well in the world located on a city street. You can see it if you navigate here. 36°33′41.93″N96°9′56.57″W

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I was a little surprised it didn’t get rammed by cars more often.

We knocked around a few more locations. Coming out of the Hulah Wildlife Refuge, at least I think it was the Hulah WR, John and his Discovery started having death wobble. We limped along until we got back to the highway going into Bartlesville.

Once stopped, we tried to sort out the issue. At one point John explained how we could deviate our path and call it a night.

John, “We can stay on the black top roads.”

David, the single gentleman of color in our group, interjected, “Why do they have to be ‘black’?”

I couldn’t help myself and had to add, “Because black top roads matter.”

Everyone laughed. It was the levity the trip needed after a long day on the dusty back roads and an unfortunate break down.

Death wobble west of Bartlesville
Death wobble west of Bartlesville

We tried swapping John’s spare when I noticed that one of the balancing weights was missing from the last stop. Getting the tires balanced is the first thing done to solve an issue with death wobble. Unfortunately that didn’t work.

With the daylight quickly waning, we decided to get the Disco into town. John knew of a grocery store at the bottom of the last hill going into Bartlesville. Once he hit the hill he put the Disco in neutral and coasted her down. We did some additional investigating which did not result in a solution to the problem.

Field repair in a grocery parking lot
Field repair in a grocery parking lot

We decided to head for the camp site as it began to get dark. When John was planning the trip he remembered a Boy Scout camp and lined us up with one of the cabins. Camp McClintock BSA.

Camp McClintock "Cubs" Cabin. They even provide cots for those of who didn't bring one.
Camp McClintock “Cubs” Cabin. They even provide cots for those of who didn’t bring one.

Once we got the fireplace glowing it took the edge off the night and made for a very tolerable sleeping experience. David was the man when it came to getting the fire going, well done sir. Each person was responsible for their dinner and those who were cooking got started and we had a great discussion.

We spent the evening discussing cars we’ve owned, some sea stories from serving the Marine Corps, and even politics. That may have been the most civil political discussion I’ve ever been a part of. I pretty sure both ends of the political spectrum were represented. One theme emerged, no one was happy with how the country is being governed by the legislative and executive branches.

The next morning we cleaned up the cabin and went for a short hike to the suspended cable bridge. Very interesting.

We went across the creek to a pond on the other side. It was partially frozen. It didn’t take us long to start skipping rocks and sticks across. The ice and the debris we tossed across it made one of the coolest sounds you’ll ever hear in nature. You can read about it here and see a video about why you get that sound.

We hiked back to the cabin where we decided to part company. Erik and Nathan would take off for OKC and I would take John back to his Disco and get it up on the trailer his dad had left that morning to assist in recovery. After we got her up on the trailer we decided to take in a bit more of the OAT on our way home. we weren’t to adventurous being as we were alone and had no hope of a timely recovery if we got stuck.

We took a detour off the OAT to see “Frog Rock”. It over looks a nice valley and was in a very remote location. When I climbed up behind the rock to take a picture of the valley I accidentally found a Geocache. We left a note that we were there for the next person to find. We didn’t take anything and we didn’t leave anything either.

I’ll leave you with a gallery of the better shots. Click for full size.

If you are interested in driving where we drove John provided the following maps. We must say we didn’t follow them “exactly”. We took the roads that interested us the most and if there was water crossing we took it.

Osage County Eastern Loop 1

Osage County Eastern Loop 2

Osage County Eastern Loop 3

Osage County Eastern Loop 4

Once again and as always, thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

SORRE, No Wine and Cheese… (Post #553) 1/20/2016

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A new club is in the works, Southwest Off-Road Rover Excursions. Their website is up check it out here.

We are an off-road group in North Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas that is interested in camping and driving off-road.
No group officers, no dues, no restrictive rules, no wine and cheese tastings …..just good times camping and Rovers. If this sounds fun to you then join up.

I’m signed up. What’s stopping you? You can also check them out on their Facebook page.

I think it will be fun to bring wine and cheese to the first outing just for a giggle. Just kidding.

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I have some bad news about the Big White Bus. She was rear-ended while parked on the street outside my uncle’s retirement home. When the dust settles I’ll let you know more. Suffice to say I can still drive her and plan to make the trip this weekend to drive a section of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail. We are going up to the Osage country. There is still time to meet up. Details are on the Oklahoma Land Rovers Owners Facebook page. Hope to see you there.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Car Spider? (Post #541) 6/30/2015

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Here in Oklahoma if want to keep the inside of you Land Rover from reaching cookies baking hot you must Crack your windows during the day. At a minimum at least the inside temp will be close to the air temp outside.

When got in the Big White Bus the other day the sun was shining just right to illuminate the webs you see above. It’s quite a set up. I wondered which species I had this month. A day or two went by before I saw the spider.

I was about to merge on to the street outside my office and there he was swinging from the rear view mirror. He doing his best Tarzan impression and too quickly for me to get a picture.

Normally I wouldn’t have shown any concern for the webs but we have had an unusually populous spider season. Thankfully I’m 90 percent sure the spider I saw was my man. It wouldn’t do to have a Black Widow or Brown Recluse in the Big White Bus. Because if I felt a spider crawling up my leg while I was driving I’d most likely kill myself trying exterminate it with extreme prejudice. At least I’d have the satisfaction that the fiery crash would extinguish it and it’s offspring’s lives.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

SCARR – Day Four (Post #481) 4/9/2014

Sunday the sun came up as expected in the east and we realized it was time to go home. We started packing up the kit. The tent fit in the amazingly small bag with a little coaxing. The boxes were all loaded and I lashed everything down on the roof rack.

Jayden and John in their Discovery 1.
Jayden and John in their Discovery 1.

John and Jayden were keen to caravan with us home. It couldn’t hurt to have a support vehicle after what we had just put our Rovers through. We agreed to meet at the main pavilion.

The night before after I found my on-board air compressor, I had aired up my tires . When we got to the top it turns out they have an airing station right there on the site. What a great amenity to have for the off-roaders. Continue reading “SCARR – Day Four (Post #481) 4/9/2014”

#Hibernot (Post #439) 1/28/2014

What a great bit of advertising. I love the dog not moving when called with that, “I’m not getting back in the truck” defiance and little girl at the end trudging on behind her mum. Where do I get a #Hibernot bumper sticker? I’m all in.

I first saw this video on the Hooniverse website. I snagged this snippet from Land Rover UK’s website explaining Hibernot (Land Rover UK).

Winter. Hibernate? No Chance. #Hibernot

#Hibernot is about embracing the British winter, about enjoying winter in all its glory.

Explore what other people have been getting up to, tell us what #Hibernot means to you and search #Hibernot trails in your local area.

Doesn’t that make you want to go out in the 30 mile per hour winds with 48 mph gusts and experience the -10 F wind chill of the southern plains circa January 26th? Well no. But it does make me want to take my Land Rover somewhere remote and get out and enjoy, if only for an hour, the crisp clean air of winter and the sting of winter cold. The sting that reminds you of February, 1987 the winter that you stood in knee deep water running barbed wire for Dr. Kammerlocher. The sting that reminds you of the weekends you stood on the back of a M110 howitzer in freezing rain while serving your country in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. The sting that reminds you of camping with your friends (just for the fun of it) in period clothing from the 1750’s on the the Javine Farm near Barnsdall, Oklahoma when it dipped to 12 F overnight. The sting that reminds you of the cold air and snow down on the river below the dam at Bull Shoals Lake, Arkansas when you took Mrs. Okierover on her first camping trip in 2013. Simply, hell yes.

Hibernot means not shunning exposure the elements, but embracing them. You would not know winter if you did not have summer. If sweat had never run down your brow while you were standing in the 120 F heat of the high desert of 29 Palms, you could never appreciate the winter blizzards on the southern plains.

We will never be as “hard” as we thought we once were back in our youth. We will never be as foolhardy again either. So get out and enjoy the winter. Get out and let the snow or cold rain fall on you with a “devil may care” (Idiom) attitude. Then get in your Land Rover, turn on the heater, and if they still work your heated seats, and drive to a coffee house or diner and get a warm drink, then drive home remembering the good old days.

Toby Keith said, “I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.” (Youtube video)

Get out and enjoy your old self.

Thanks for reading, Happy Rovering, and Hibernot.