Skywatch Friday – Strolling Down America’s Main Street

Last week I attended the funeral of former coworker. I was sad for him and his family but I also got to see a bunch of other coworkers who came to the services as well. Afterwards I felt like checking out some of the new attractions on Tulsa’s portion of the Route 66, aka, The Mother Road, or the America’s Main Street. Turns out America’s Main Street is on Eleventh Street in Tulsa.

For some reason a half mile stretch of Eleventh Street has been taken over by “Muffler Men.” Supersize fiberglass sculptures. I love them, they are so oversized and colorful, how can you not like them.

As you can read on the mural behind him, this is “Meadow Gold Mack.”

I don’t know what this gal’s name is but I like her. Quite fetching don’t you think.

I love all sorts of Route 66 attractions. You know what my favorite is? A very little known sign where Paul McCartney stopped in the 2000’s while driving Route 66. He stopped and knocked on the door of a farmhouse and asked for directions. Can you imagine Paul McCartney knocking on your door? He was driving a 1989 Ford Bronco so he had no GPS in his car. I found this sign as I was looking for a geocache.

Paul McCartney Sighting

It’s the hundredth anniversary of the Mother Road next year and Tulsa is at its epicenter. National Geographic has some great information.

What about you? Do you like Route 66?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday. Check it out.

Kodi and Lizzy Portraits andMore!

Our Pomeranian, Kodi. A tiny little dog with big feelings!

Lizzy the cat, the matriarch of our pets. We have another dog, Sadie who never sits still. Lizzy is Sadie’s favorite squeaky toy.

A pig chef on Route 66 in Tulsa. I love the silliness of route 66 attractions.

And a retired carousel horse getting new life on Route 66. It’s ready to ride. I also love the metal cactus to the left. The 100th anniversary of Route 66 is next year I think. It’s going to be epic in Tulsa.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. All sorts of talented photobloggers participate.

Skywatch Friday – Back on the Trail Edition

To recap, about two weeks ago I slipped and fell while hiking. I’ve done that a lot but this time my knee and the rest of my body went different directions and I was sore. So I hiked back to my car, went home, took a shower and then my wife took me orthopedic urgent care where they took xrays, said that my new knee was in good shape, wrapped my knee in a wrap patted me on my head said go see your surgeon.

I talked to my surgeons PA and said no damage to the knee so released me to do whatever as I felt able. I didn’t do much for a couple days and then gradually started getting more active.

My first hike was a mall walk where I saw that rugby shirts are a thing again, along with earth colors. Oh well.

I graduated to slow walks at local parks. Much better!

I love this fence.

And then back to Turkey Mountain for hikes on trails that are flat and don’t have technical feature.

This is the best vista on Turkey Mountain.

And then little bit longer hikes on more challenging terrain.

I found this bike jump on my a hike. Mountain bikers are crazy. You jump over the trail and onto a very steep slope on the other side. That’s a big nope for me. I have yet to ride a bike on Turkey Mountain.

I love this trail bridge over the dam at the YMCA at Turkey Mountain. Tulsa has the best fall weather of any place I have ever lived. Cool night, warm days, blue skies. Sign me up for all you have.

My beautiful wife Heather had an afternoon free, so we did a two mile hike at Turkey Mountain on the Sanctuary area.

I love old appliances on the trail. Turkey Mountain is an old farming, ranching, and oilfield area so there are lots things to look at that are interesting.

And at one spot, there is an old oil well with rods sticking out of the ground. I reminded Heather that we had been here before, 11 years ago. We were on an outlaw trail. The land was private but some bikers and hikers blazed a few trails through the tract and Heather, Me, and son Logan checked it out.

Heather and Logan found them selves an #oilwell on #turkeymountain #tulsa #oklahoma #igersok

So this is wife and son from nearly eleven years ago. Except, now RiverParks owns the land and it is legal to be on it.

Next up on the agenda. The Tulsa Area Geocachers are having their Fall Fest Geocaching Event at Lake Okmulgee on Saturday, and Sunday, the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition is at Chandler Park partnering with the county on a trail maintenance and a cleanup day there. I’ll be at both events.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Hiking Tulsa’s Shadowy Trails

I went on a short hike on Turkey Mountain on Friday. I love this bridge across the top of a dam.

This is another trail elsewhere on Turkey Mountain going across the top of dam.

Earlier in the week I went on a short walk at Hunter Park. I love post and beam fences. Among other things, they make great shadows.

I had a lot of excitement yesterday at the No Kings Rally here in Tulsa. Time to settle the nervous system down and relax.

I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday. Great gang to chill with.

Tulsa Stands Up for No Kings Day , 18 October 2025

Tulsa had a couple of No Kings Day rallies. One was near our house, that’s no fun!, the other was just south of downtown and was probably the bigger one. Heather decided we would go check it out. Heather had a friend who was game also. We each made posters. Mine was pretty lame. I always got a C in art as a kid for my lame attempts at expressing myself through coloring and other mediums.

The video below is about 2 minutes, 20 seconds long. No narration just photos and video of what I saw at the rally, one of thousands all over the country yesterday. Oklahoma is deep ruby red country, and it was nice to see like minded people who have troubles with the current administration come together peacefully and protest what is going on right now. And like most Tulsa protests, there was no police presence nor were they needed. People are pretty civil here.

Saturday’s Critters – On the Trail and at Home

A robin I captured on Turkey Mountain Friday afternoon.

Another robin in the same area on a different pass yesterday.

Ducks on the fishing pond at Lafortune Park earlier in the week.

Two separate sculptures working together at the Scheel’s Store at the mall.

Lizzie the cat, grooming Sadie to dog in a tender moment.

Kodie and Sadie wanting in!!

Sadie on my lap while I was watching television the other night.

Finally a 21 second video of other critter moments during the week. Featuring the bird cam, a sparrow, a dove, an angry squirrel, and me and Sadie playing fetch. Yep, all that fits in 21 seconds so pay attention!!

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Skywatch Friday – Walking the Trails of Lake Bixhoma

Lake Bixhoma is a water supply lake for the Tulsa suburb of Bixby. It’s a not a big lake but is very pretty especially in the fall. This is from an outing a few years ago. I’m kind of out of commission temporarily I went and fell during a hike last Friday and not getting around too much lately. But hey, I’m healing fast!

Lots of people go fishing on the lake and there is a decent network of trails there as well. Plus geocaches. In fact I took these photos during a geocaching event at the lake.

It is just a great place to go wander around in. Kind of snaky though so watch your step!!

Part of the trail system goes by this beautiful cliff. I’m told by my geology minded people that those rocks are about 330 million years old and are full of small fossils. I’m a lousy paleontologist. I can see the fossils when they are pointed out to me otherwise all I see is rock.

Those rocks from deep under the earth played a role in a nuclear test treaty between the United States and Russia under the terms of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty in 1990 at the nearby Leonard Geophysical Observatory. Check the link for the story here. They monitored American and British underground explosions in Nevada from the site. The arrangement only lasted a few years and then the Russians gave the site back to the Americans and left. I’ve read other articles that I couldn’t find online. One thing that amused me was that the Russians refused to honor no smoking rules in the buildings. They’d say, this is now part of Russia and we don’t have no smoking in Russia.

I’d love to see the old test monitoring site but it is all fenced off now.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

“The Outsiders” the Musical, debuts in Tulsa

The touring broadway production of the musical “The Outsiders” debuted last week in Tulsa. It is based on the coming of age novel by S.E. Hinton set in 1967 in Tulsa. Hinton started writing the book at age 15 as a high school student in Tulsa and it was published when she was 17 years old in 1967. The book was subsequently made into a movie in 1983 by Francis Ford Coppola and a cast that included future stars: Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, and Rob Lowe.

Alan Heather Outsiders

Heather and I had been waiting months to see musical. The day before the production I took a bad spill on a hike on Turkey Mountain hurting my new fake knee and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it or not, but hey, I did. Heather had to drop my off at the theater and then go park the car herself. I wasn’t going to miss it. (Turns out the fake knee is fine, things are just going to be sore for a while.)

The production was great. The producers did a great job of translating the book to the stage. The music was wonderful, the story moved along. One thing that was unexpected was the special effects. They were very clever in how that they staged various fight scenes. Above is a clip from the “Rumble Scene.”

The movie was shot on scene in Tulsa and there are scores of movie scenes. Above is Will Rogers High School where the book was set and where S.E. Hinton was a student.

Many of the scenes have geocaches nearby. This an old gas station in Sperry, OK on one of my favorite biking routes. A fellow geocacher volunteers there and installed a geocache at the back of the gas station.

A Rexall drug store across the street from the gas station was also a filming site.

The Admiral Twin Drive In featured in the movie is still in business.

The house featured in The Outsiders is in a not good neighborhood in Tulsa. The house was in danger of being lost when Danny Boy O’Connor bought it, restored it, and made it into the Outsiders House Museum. It is very cool and is open Fridays through Sundays.

The Circle Theater shown in the movie is still open with a slightly different name, Circle Cinema. It also has a geocache nearby.

As you can tell, I kind of like all things Outsiders. Check out the touring production website to figure out when it is coming to your town and get some tickets. It’s coming back to Tulsa in December 2027 and Heather and I will be there.