On a cold windy last Sunday, son and I went on hike through some woods in a park on the north side of Tulsa. The dense woods blocked the wind on the ground, but the darkness plus the sound of the wind howling
through the tops of the trees made it seem pretty darn spooky on the ground. I used Topaz Labs Glow program to emphasize the spookiness of the setting.
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My Kia Soul parked on Turkey Mountain where the new Outlet Mall is going.
My friend Trail Zombie told me the other day that he thought my Rock City geocache on Turkey Mountain had gone missing. About the same time I got an email from a pesky out of state Geocaching Dot Com Administrator basically telling me to go check the cache.
Okay, Okay I get it, I will!! Having a teenager in the house I knew hot to act. So off I went last Saturday. I dropped the kid off at his Improv class and sped to the nearest Dollar General Store and got me some new containers and notebooks. I got several because, well, you know, well it turns out that several of my caches were gone missing. But hey, I’ve been busy.
I took along my new SJCAM SJ4000. It is a Go Pro clone for cheapskates like me. The video is pretty darn boring but it gives you and idea of the trails on Turkey Mountain.
And this video shows me getting closer to Rock City. Named for the big rocks there. We Okies re pretty darned creative with our place names don’t you think?
Anyway I took a little different route back with smoother flatter trails.
And I love this big old tree. I think that it is outside the boundaries of the proposed outlet mall. At least I hope it is.
I was fully nerded out with cell phone, camera, video camera, and a GPS enabled watch. Why you ask? Well you wouldn’t take a Ferrari out with instrumentation would you? Anyway the above shows you the route.
After I left Turkey Mountain I motored downtown, checked on one cache, replaced another, and then went over close to Saint Francis Hospital, replaced one near there (not on hospital property), and then over to a big freeway exchange in south Tulsa where I had yet another one that had gone missing.
And I still picked the kid up on time.
A busy fun time.
Son and I went hiking Sunday. Used to be I would get way ahead of him, now he can get way ahead of me. I don’t think we were ever meant to walk side by side. Such is life with a teenager.
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I have worked in downtown Tulsa for all but six months of the past twenty three years. Almost every lunch I I take a walk of at least a mile and sometimes further. I have been up and down all the streets, and alleys of downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. I have seen all sorts of sights and have taken literally thousands of photographs. On Wednesday this past week I literally walked into the middle of a drug deal on Cheyenne Avenue, right across from the bus station.
The three of us were walking through a bunch of homeless looking people when somebody walked up from the other direction and said to them, “You guys got your dollars? Get out your dollars.” The group gathered around the guy really quick. One lady told a friend, “Get your dollar, out and we’ll get in this.” Me and my companions didn’t get our dollars out, we kept on walking but we talked about it.
“Was that a drug deal?!” we asked each other. Ohio Green Team official think it is. I had been noticing groups of homeless people gathered around particular areas downtown. There are almost always somebody across from the bus station and also at Centennial Green, and Plaza of the Americas on Denver. I wondered what the deal is but I think now it may be people waiting to purchase drugs.
There have been reports in the news about a new breed of homeless in downtown Tulsa. Younger and more aggressive than before and often on drugs. Many of these people are high on drugs and get kicked out of the downtown shelters. The drug of choice is something called K2 or Spice. It is a synthetic marijuana that is sprayed on herbs and rolled into cigarettes. I’m guessing that the K2 is what the dealers wanted their customers to get their dollars out to purchase.
I’m finding all this to be very disturbing. Is anything besides me thinking that our war on drugs isn’t working? If you are one who works downtown and can’t resist a plea for “spare change” I think I know where your money is going.
Last Saturday during a cool morning with a chilly breeze Logan had his first horseback ride of the year at All-Star Therapy Group in Ramona up in Pioneer Woman country north of Tulsa. What with finals last year and Christmas, and his rehearsal and performance schedule in the play he was in we hadn’t been.
Bob, the guy that runs the place just let Logan and the Cisco run around and around under the big Oklahoma sky. Both the kid and the horse had some pent up energy so they got to work it off. Logan had a big grin on his face the whole time. Good times when the kid grins. You parents out there know what I’m talking about.
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Sunday afternoon was just too nice to stay inside and watch football games. Heather went to her exercise class and I took son to visit a friend who lives deep in the woods south of Tulsa. So I had some time to myself and my camera.
The scene above is a pecan orchard near the the Tulsa suburb of Bixby. Bixby has pecan orchards, truck farms, grass farms, and the most expensive real estate in Oklahoma. There is something about a well tended pecan orchard that is very appealing especially on a beautiful warm winter day with a pretty sky.
I used Topaz Labs new “Glow” program to process the image. Somehow it really enhanced the visual entanglement of the branches. The scene reminds of ballet dancers with their arms in the air. Well maybe I’m getting carried away with myself.
I’m on the free 30 day trial at Glow. So I’m trying to decide whether to get it or not.
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The sun came out Yeah!! And it warmed up!!! Double Yeah. So I took my brand new camera. I’m sure you have never heard of it. It is a SJCam SJ4000. Basically it is a GoPro clone. It kind of has a fisheye lens with infinite focus. I’m still experimenting with it. The above is our new Marriott Courtyard hotel in downtown. They took the old Atlas building and redid it. I like repurposing old buildings.
And then I tucked into the Bank of Oklahoma. I love the beautiful art deco interior. You can tell the new camera has a little work to do on the white balance.
And then a little further away. A clunky expensive Kiwanis financed memorial to themselves. Sorry Kiwanis guys and gals. I don’t like this. Sorry.
And then on down to the BOK Center. Garth Brooks did seven shows or so the last week. He sold 105,000 tickets in just a few hours. We got to see a show. We’ve seen lots of good concerts in the facilitty.
And then over to the old YMCA. The camera has a 170 deg of view. I belonged to the Y for about a week 23 years ago. Too weird. Take my word for it.
And this is where I work, the gas company. Don’t ask which window is my office cuz I don’t have a window. I have a beige box that I am grateful for. I am moving to a new beige box in a couple of weeks. It will have a magnetic wall. So much the better for hanging maps. In the gas pipeline industry we work with lots of maps. We call them “alignment sheets” just so you know. We use topographic maps a lot. We call them “quad sheets”. You gotta call things right the name if you don’t want to slink away in shame. I love the terminology in our industry and I love learning the terminology in other industries as well. For some reason I have become facebook followers for a bunch of US Navy Ships. The carrier USS Carl Vinson is my favorite. They are on station now in the middle east making life miserable for ISIS. Check them out. I love the “Sailor of the Day” feature. They let an ordinary seaman, most of whom look like they are 14, sit in the skippers chair. I’d like to sit in his chair one day. Except I wouldn’t do it. I’m not worthy. I don’t know how I got off on this tangent. Hey anybody out there want to sit in my chair?
Here is our new plaza. I love it. It gets back to 70 deg in a few months I’ll be eating lunch out there in the shade. And yes, they do keep the able tops very clean.
Now I’ve left downtown and picked up the kid from school. Heather had the flu so I go the privilege of picking Logan up. He goes to a Christian school and they have chapel day on Thursday. So its like “Can we just go home so I can change!” You bet kid. He loves his sweats. I don’t blame him. He works hard. We moved him from a special needs school to his new school and it has been a huge adjustment for him. His Mom and I are really proud of him.
And we are home!!
I’m such a slacker. The Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition held a very successful cleanup on Turkey Mountain today (Saturday). I didn’t make it because I took son to his horseback riding lessons and then to his Improv class. I went by the main parking lot at Turkey Mountain over an hour late and it was cram full. So I drove up close to where Simon Property Group is planning to put their “Upscale Outlet Mall” (Whatever that is) and took off with my camera.
I started at the natural gas pipeline right of way. The pipeline had been marked. This is a safety procedure. Generally anywhere in the country if you are going to dig or drill or do anything that might affect underground structures, you call a number. In Oklahoma it is” 1-800 Call Okie” and tell them where you are going to dig or drill and anybody who has underground utilities will send someone out to locate their lines. It keeps everybody safe.
So anyway the pipeline company located the line and cleared out their right of way a little bit.
I wandered around and found where the contractors hired by Simon Property Group had moved their equipment in. I have to tell you that this is somewhat of a “me to” post as two excellent bloggers have already told this story. Ken, aka “Trail Zombie” one of the leaders of Tulsa’s thriving trail and ultra running community has posted on …..miles to go before I sleep… as well as Bob Doucette who has a great outdoors oriented blog proactiveoutside, Check them out. They both bring a lot of passion to the situation on Turkey Mountain.
I followed the track and found some of what I would call gratuitous damage. Damage that was done for no purpose. Keep in mind that this is not public land, it is private land so I guess they can do whatever the landowner will stand for. Still, I spent years building pipelines all over Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and I never met a landowner who would stand for this kind of damage during the survey process.
This tree was documented by both Trail Zombie and Bob. TZ measured it at 31 inches across. It seems to me that it was cut down just for the fun of it.
These survey sticks with the ribbons seem to be where they are drilling for cores.
More needless damage.
Here is the core drilling rig and the Bobcat used to clear the path for the rig. They were taking the day off on Saturday. Or what the heck maybe the crew was participating in the cleanup.
A closeup of the drilling rig.
And some other equipment in the brush.
And some logs cut into firewood length.
After a while I came to the northernmost basket on the Westside Y’s disk golf course.
Right nearby were these three sticks together. I wondered if this might be the northern boundary of the proposed mall property.
Right adjacent to it was this ancient fence line.
I ventured further to see if I could find any other damage. I didn’t see any and eventually came upon the edge of the Westside Y proper. This is Lake Logan.
Backtracking, these ribbons caught my eye. They were marking the waterway that feeds Lake Logan.
I followed them upstream for quite a ways. I’m guessing it was well marked to make sure they didn’t get their equipment didn’t get in there. What I’m afraid of is that all the construction upstream would cause a lot of runnoff into the Y’s lake where they have a popular day camp in the summer.
As I followed the waterway I saw some of these survey stakes very close to the water course. I’m anticipating that very soon the Bobcat will be clearing a trail down to the creek in several places so that the drilling rig can take some core samples.
If Simon Property Group is allowed to build their mall then this trail and others in the area are going to not be there any longer.
What to do?
Contact the Mayor, Dewey Bartlett
Find out who your Council Member is and tell them what you think.
Tell Simon Property Group what you think about their proposal
Check out the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition
Question: If it is private land can’t the landowners do whatever they want with it?
Sure, especially in Oklahoma. It is anticipated though that they will want special tax breaks and subsidies for the infrastructure needed plus improved roads to the site. Simon Property Group is a very wealthy company. If they want to build a mall while spoiling a major part of Turkey Mountain then I don’t want to subsidize them with my tax dollars.
Question: Should the landowner be expected to continue to provide the land for the trails for free?
Of course not. Tulsa needs to buy the land and other tracts not already owned by the city or the George Kaiser Family Foundation if it is to be protected long term. Where will the money come from? I don’t know. I do know that things that are a priority get funded.
Question: Am I against outlet malls or against development?
No I am not outlet malls. I think Turkey Mountain is the wrong place to put one. My preference would be to put it somewhere where it doesn’t affect outdoor recreation. I also think Simon Property Group is a responsible company. They own and operate Woodland Hills Mall near where I live. I don’t think they are making a good choice by pursuing the Turkey Mountain site.
