Category Archives: My Corner of the World

2025 AAA Route 66 Roadfest and Car Show in Tulsa

Last Sunday, Heather, Logan and loaded up and went down to the Tulsa State Fair and checked out the Route 66 Roadfest going on there. A celebration of all things concerning Route 66. This is the third year I have attended it and I love it.

Cars are a big part of Route 66. After all it is a highway and cars are best way to travel it.

A core part of the show are five or so sections that take the Route 66 by decades and talk about what was happening with the road and what was happening with the country.

_DSC0869 — **1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie Convertible.**

There was a section of vintage travel trailers. These two ladies had this trailer and a bunch of associated things plus what I loved was they wore matching dresses color coordinated with the trailer. I hardly ever ask people if I can take their photo but I asked them and they seemed delighted to do so.

Our family of five in the 60’s also had a small travel trailer. We used a lot and I am sure that we saved lots of money but we were also very cramped. It was not too bad if the weather was good as you could always go outside. In bad weather though it led to lots of family togetherness. Much of it good, and some of it not so great.

Hey had metal glasses like those and a metal water pitcher. The iced water in such pitchers just seemed a lot colder than that in plastic water containers.

Everybody had these small phonographs. So nostalgic but I’ll take my Ipod with almost 6500 music tracks on it.

I love this two story travel trailer. Reportedly it has two bedrooms upstairs. What a spectacle that would be. What a nightmare pulling the thing in a strong crosswind.

_DSC0886 — **1953 Buick Super Convertible Model 56C**

My dad loved Buicks and I don’t know how many times he told me that you could tell how fancy the model was by the number holes in fender. So this was a three holer in his parlance, kind of like the Buick LeSabre. The Electra had four. We had a LeSabre when I was a kid. The first new car my parents ever bought. Dad saved money by getting it without air conditioning and then he salvaged parts from numerous cars in junkyards and built his own. It worked well but it took him months and it was kind of a complicated thing.

_DSC0892 — **1936 Auburn 852 Boattail Speedster.**

There were a ton of mid 1950’s Chevrolet Bel Air’s at the show. I always thought they looked cool

There were loads and loads of Ford Mustangs as well.

The 1950’s Ford Thunderbirds, in my opinion, were some of the most beautiful cars ever built. I especially like the unique colors.

I love the Land Rovers, especially the vintage models.

This was the prettiest car at the show. The Volkswagen Karman Ghia.

Next year is the centennial of Route 66. There are going to be big events all over the place including the Routefest in Tulsa.

I am linking with My Corner of the World

My Corner of the World – 2025 Tulsa Tough Bicycle Races

Tulsa Tough is a big huge bicycle party in Tulsa. It includes three days of closed loop short distance races (called criteriums) in three different locations in Tulsa and two days of bike rides in the countryside in and around Tulsa.

I typically go to the criterium on the last day of the race. The course includes part of Riverside Drive and loops up steeply on a brutal hill called Crybaby Hill. I used to go up to Crybaby Hill but I’ve declined the last few years. It is very crowded and kind of outrageous in some respects but all in fun. So maybe next year when my knee will be fully healed.

The criteriums start early in the morning and go into the evening. There are sorts of races segmented by age and gender, especially for the amateurs. The professional races are later in the day and those guys and gals are amazing.

So I only saw a few of the amateur races but they were fiercely competitive.

It was hot. I don’t think I could ever do one loop going up that hill.

It’s a big party for the cycling community which tends to be kind of close knit anyway. Me, I’m just a recreational rider. Twelve miles is my sweet spot on level ground.

I actually did one of the rides years ago. The shortest one that they had at 32 miles. Great right? Nope, I had never ridden that distance before. It was kind of fun until it wasn’t and I got off the official course and so I just went to my car, loaded up the bike and went home. Ironically, I ended up riding a little more than the official course distance. Read about it here.

I am linking with My Corner of the World.

USA Memorial Day 2025

Remembering those who fought for our Freedoms.

My Corner of the World

My Corner of the World – Tulsa’s Mayfest Festival

So last Saturday afternoon my bride, Heather, and I loaded up and went downtown to check out Tulsa’s spring arts festival, Mayfest. Mayfest has been going on forever and we used to go to it years ago when it was in the core part of downtown. Heather would come down for lunch and we would walk around looking at the arts and crafts for sale, get something to eat, and listen to music. In the 90’s Hanson would play on one of the side stages. A talented group of youngsters who became famous and are now all growns up with their own children and they still live in the Tulsa area. We’ve seen them from time to time.

https://flic.kr/p/2r3WZ6Z

The University of Tulsa took over Mayfest some time ago and somewhere along the way they moved out of the core downtown area to the Arts District which is where all the cool kids go for restaurants and bars.

So we walked along checking out the arts and stuff for sale. I didn’t take photos of any of that as I have learned that artists and craftspeople don’t necessarily appreciate their work being photographed and I respect that.

This was the first time since before Covid that we attended the event and we were amazed at the quality of everything we saw.

After a while we got hungry and thirsty so we stepped into Cabin Boys Brewery for some refreshment.

Craft Beer and Nachos were just the thing.

Afterwards we drifted over to Guthrie Green to listen to the music which was also great. I amused myself by taking photos of people taking photos. Hey we are all in this public space and I didn’t take any photos that anybody could find embarrassing.

I’m ending with a flashback to 2016 when I was invited to submit a couple of my instagram photos to an art gallery at Mayfest. Mine were the top two on the top right hand corner. That was my peak artistic experience. I’ve gone downhill every since. (Not really.) I’ll tell you what though the world sure has gone through some topsy turvy things since then.

I’m linking with My Corner of the World

Big News for Turkey Mountain

The RiverParks Authority had some big news for Turkey Mountain on Monday. They invited everybody to show for an announcement. Turns out that the Bank of Oklahoma is donating two million dollars to a visitor center on Turkey Mountain. RiverParks only has about six million bucks left to raise.

It’s going to be a visitor center and office for Turkey Mountain all in one. Right now they office in high rise building just out of downtown Tulsa.

(Note photo stolen from Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition facebook site)

They also had free tshirts as a giveaway and snowcones. Better not stand in my way for either one of those. Four members of the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition board was there, including me.

The city fathers gave speeches patting themselves on the back about turning back a planned outlet mall on Turkey Mountain more than ten years ago. They ignored TUWC’s crucial early work (before I joined the board) but that ‘s okay, what matters is the results and we are off working on other things.

I chatted with a few people I know. It was almost old home week for people who love Turkey Mountain. When I first started coming here all they had was a dirt parking lot. The trails were deer trails or dry streams on the hillsides. There were not really any maps, you just had to learn the trails by getting on them and seeing where they went. Not very sustainable. Now we have all sorts of new designed, sustainable trails. Two big parking lots and a third under construction, and of course soon we’ll have an $8 million dollar visitor center.

And some really nice hiking bridges!!

As popular as Turkey Mountain has become, you get a half mile down the trails you don’t see very many people.

I’m linking with My Corner of the World

Skywatch Friday – On the Trail Again!

I was feeling all energetic and everything so I thought that I would go for a little hike on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness. I probably should have gone to the gym, but I’m gymed out, Physical Therapy is all gym, and not the fun kind.

So off I went, the trails were all wet, not very muddy though but rain was in the forecast and the park warned that they might close the park to everybody if it got bad enough.

The upside of rain is that all the ponds were full. Nice to see.

I used a mixture of the new trails and the old trails. The Stay Gold and Tree Hugger respectively.

This pond was dry the last time I came by.

I was going down the trail with my Merlin app trying to figure out the birds that were singing and a mountain biker came by and said to be sure to watch out for the copperhead snake on the trail up ahead. Yes sir! Time to put the eyes on the trail and not the device.

Do you know how many sticks look like snakes!! A bunch. The thing about copperheads is that they are the slugs of the poisonous snake families. They are not vicious and once they find a spot they like, they don’t like to move, and they are hard to see. So watch where you step!

The only snake I saw was this chain snake.

This is a Skywatch Friday post so I need to have one view of the sky. Here’s the overlook on Turkey Mountain on the very southeast side of the park. That’s the Arkansas River down below. To the left are the funky old office towers that used to be the televangelist Oral Roberts hospital. (Don’t ask me why a faith healer needs a hospital.)

And then back to the parking lot. Never did see that copperhead. I am not complaining about it, just saying.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday and Our Corner of the World.

Skywatch Friday – Late April 2025

A sunrise this morning. We have a new dog, Sadie, and she gets up early, and that means we get up early with her. You dog owners know that when the dog gets up you better take it outside right away or face the consequences.

A neighborhood skyshot and reflection.

My volunteer gig with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition is kicking in. It’s Earth Day season. Here is me and my friend Marci at the local electric utilities employee Earth Day event.

And at a community event a couple days later in downtown Tulsa.

And speaking of electric utility, here is there power plant on the Arkansas River.

And the boat shed at Tulsa’s Gathering Place.

Here is my wife Heather. We attended a fund raiser for the local botanic garden. It was called “Sip and Stroll” so that we sipped and strolled, noshed appetizers and talked to people. Our first grownup date in a while and it was fun.

It had been raining in the gardens so the iris’s had raindrops on them. I love raindrops on flowers.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.

Skywatch Friday – Flowers and More

Here is the Full Pink Moon from just a few days ago. It’s not pink. It has not ever really been pink. Now if you insist, I have the skillz and appz to make it pink.

From the Tulsa Botanic Garden. They had ultralife size origami, only with other materials and they called it florigami. It was cool, I’m guessing this is a giant begonia. Sorry if I am wrong, I often am.

And these are some big lillies.

And these are some tulips.

My gym is part of a hospital system that I think spends more on landscaping than they do on medical stuff (I’m kidding.) So these are the tulips from my gym. Does your gym have tulips? Maybe you need a cheaper gym. Maybe I do also.

Me leaving PT earlier this week cuz I hit 120 degrees on the knee bend test. That is a critical point in knee replacement physical therapy. Hurts like you know what but things are getting better quickly. Also, this week I was able to get on the stationary bike and turn the pedals. That was also painful but I loved it just the same.

From my latest money making venture. I’ve been saving the families aluminum cans for a long time. My wife gave me the ultimatum that they needed to be gone by the time book group starts or she’ll get rid of them for me. Hey she never asks me for a thing or ever gets mean or anything so we she makes a request I’m all over it. (most of the time). So I bagged them up and weighed them. 30 pounds!!

Drove 22 miles to a metals recycling place in north Tulsa. Got in line drove through the hole into the building. They threw my bags on scales and they suddenly weighed 17 pounds. Got paid in cash and I’m still trying figure out where my missing 13 pounds of cans went. To be fair, the scales are literally big enough to drive a car onto so I am not surprised that they are not true in the entire range. I’m not sure that I cleared a profit but hey I got to see a different part of Tulsa society. I sure lead a sheltered life is all I am going to say.

Went for a walk and found these small bluish-purply blooms and thought they were pretty cool. Just so you know, in Oklahoma, bluish-purply is word.

And late one day caught the American Flag flying.

I’m linking with the fine photobloggers at My Corner of the World and Skywatch Friday.

February Days

Misty Day in the backyard

Brilliant Blue Sky and and even more Blue Audi (I keep wanting to write Bluer, but I am not sure that is a word.) I’m kind of in a holding pattern because of upcoming knee replacement.

The only bit of green on Tulsa RiverParks right now. Ironically, I am spending more time than ever in the gym now. The surgeon has exercises that he wants me to do to speed up the healing time afterwar the procedure. Plus, the encourage you continue what you were doing before.

Sharing a truffle latte with my wife after an exercise class. So yoga, weights, water classes, stationary bike, and a little bit of walking. Walking is what really hurts now.

A little bit of ice and snow Wednesday morning. So not too many adventures right but I am eager to get on with it and start recovery.

My Corner of the World

Skywatch Friday

Recent Tulsa Area Skies

Last Thursday it rained and then late in the day the sun came out and I happened to be driving by to see this church with some great golden hour light so I stopped and got a photo.

Earlier last week during a cold wet miserable day I was on the RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa and captured this image of downtown Tulsa. It’s kind of grainy but I like it.