Weatherford, Oklahoma is the birthplace of Tom Stafford, one of NASA's moon astronauts (Apollo 10) and a veteran of the Gemini and Soyuz joint space missions.
The Grocery Cart was invented by Sylvan Goldman, manager of the Piggly Wiggly in Oklahoma City, in 1937, and Oklahomans are ding-dang proud of this. No joke.
Erick, Oklahoma, is the birthplace of Roger Miller, the King of the Road.
The Official Oklahoma State Soil is Port Silt Loam. No joke.
The Official Oklahoma State Vegetable is the watermelon. And Oklahoma even has an official state meal. Chicken fried steak, yellow squash, pulled pork barbecue, okra, biscuits with sausage and gravy, black-eyed peas, and pecan pie. I kid you not.
Oklahoma is one of the few states that boasts several nations within its borders. The Indian Reservations are semi-autonomous "nations".
I-40 in Oklahoma basically runs along the right of way used by the old now-defunct U.S. Route 66. There are many landmarks along I-40 which appeared in many movies and TV shows about Route 66. The picture below is actually in Shamrock, Texas, just across the line from Oklahoma, but this "filling station" appeared in over 70 movies and TV episodes.
Also, Oklahoma happens to be the only state that I've driven through where I never, ever, saw a single law enforcement officer. No police, no state troopers, no sheriffs cars, no nothing. Virginia was crawling with them Sunday, and Tennessee had them every couple of miles Monday, and other states had them here and there, often by the roadside with their blue lights blazing. But in OK, ... nothing.
The amazing thing is, Oklahoma is also the only state where cars and trucks didn't whiz by me, either. I set the cruise control on 71 (speed limit 70), and I stay in the right lane with all the other traffic, and no one passes anyone... everyone is being good, cruisin' along at 71. Except for some congestion in the city of Oklahoma City, I'll bet I didn't pass a dozen vehicles all day long (6 hours to get from one end of Oklahoma to the other), and I'll bet I wasn't passed by half a dozen vehicles all day long. No wonder there's no state troopers... who needs 'em. The big question I have is... why?
Oh, and there are lots of these in Oklahoma, too.
3 comments:
Nice wind towers. I'll see you tomorrow!
Maybe no cops cuz no one LIVES in Oklahoma. I mean, really. Indians don't drive cars.... do they?
Route 40 - goes all the way across the US, doesn't it? It is Broad St in Columbus, Ohio - the main East/West thoroughfare.
Post a Comment