OKC!

Today we headed into Oklahoma - we hadn't originally planned on coming here at all, but it's been a real highlight. Oklahomans may have to take the prize off the New Mexicans for friendliest locals.

We crossed the border from Texas at about 9:30am and straight away came upon a tourist centre, which we really only went into to use the rest room. About 45 minutes later, we came out having heard phrases we never thought we'd hear anybody say - "He used to have a cotton gin down in Texas" etc.

We also met some very honest locals who were extremely frank with us about the historical treatment of Native Americans in Oklahoma - the Trail of Tears in the late 1830s forced the Cherokee out of Florida and up to Oklahoma to live. It was an extremely cold winter and thousands of Cherokee died on the way. When they got there they weren't really prepared for the different surroundings or the other tribes they encountered. Then the land they were promised was taken off them too.

Our new friends were also the exception (according to them, anyway) in these parts, in that they wanted to see more openness towards the Mexican communities. As they put it, "If you were trying to bring up your babies down there, you'd scoop'em up too and try everything you could to bring'em up here". They said they didn't really share their thoughts with a lot of their friends, because it didn't go down so well - in fact, whenever anyone walked past, their voices were lowered and they were very careful not to be overheard!

So, on to Clinton, and the Route 66 Museum. It was really well put together - the music of the various eras, mixed with personal accounts and Americana from the time. Mark loved the cars - a beautiful Ford Custom, amongst various other makes. There was a replica old service station and a '50s diner - all really well done. After all that, we stopped into Braum's - a chain ice-cream parlour and burger bar. We were just planning on having a coffee, but we ended up getting a rocky road chocolate fudge sundae (at 11am). Bruce had recommended their ice-creams yesterday....  they really are superb. Which is just as well because the coffee tasted just like all American coffee does.

Back on the road and into Oklahoma City - first stop: Stockyard City. The world's biggest cattle-yards. Unfortunately, it wasn't a sale day so the pens weren't full, but it was just as well because the extreme heat mixed with the smell of thousands of cows would have probably made the day fairly unenjoyable. As it was, it took a while for the smell to evacuate our nostrils.

Back into the historic stockyards town and to the famous "Cattlemen's Cafe" for lunch. Cattlemen's has been around for 100 years, and is pretty famous in these parts - it once changed hands after the former owner placed a bet in a game of dice that his opponent wouldn't throw double 3s. He did - and you can still see double 3s on prominent display. Mark ordered the famous chicken fry steak (it's beef fried like KFC). As usual, portions were massive and we're not having dinner tonight!

We were just going to stick our heads into the Western clothing store, but ended up passing some time with the staff. They caught us sneakily trying to take photos of the massive cowboy boot-filled room (for Jenny) and offered to take the photo for us. And then, in what seems to be usual Oklahoman style, we got into a conversation. About everything - they were very impressed with Charlotte's USA history reading (although she kind of put her foot in it when she said she was "a big fan of Lincoln"... wrong part of the States to say that in, "We're more into Robert E. Lee down here") and offered some tips on what to do in OKC. For the second time today we heard that the National Cowboy and Western museum was a must-do - so we jumped into Winston and headed across town.

We got there at 4:30 - it closed at 5 and the till was shut. So they let us in by just making a wee donation in the donations box and the security guard told us the highlights which we could fit in in 30 minutes. The museum entrance houses a beautiful - and massive (after all, this is the mid-West) - sculpture called "The End of the Trail". It's a Native American on horseback - he looks tired. Then we flew on through a mock Western town circa 1900 - it was fantastic. Saloon, school, attorney's offices, church, saddlery, general store and photography studio. Quite beautiful and authentic looking. Then a host of exhibits that our Dads would love - cowboy history and clothing, rodeo museum and even a barbed-wire fence gallery (apparently the various and at times artful barbed wire styles are highly collectable and there are a number of conventions for people who collect them).

We would have liked another hour or so, but we got the highlights in before closing time. Bee-lining across OKC, we visited the State Capitol, set in a green squirrel-filled field in the middle of town. It was a welcome relief to wander in the shade because the sun was blistering. Although that didn't last long - on the way out of town and south towards Texas the sky opened up and it rained. Just as you'd expect, the rain in the mid-West is bigger too - I don't think we've ever experienced anything like it before (and hopefully we won't again!).

Now we're parked up in an RV park in Ardmore, OK - it has a beautiful swan-filled pond and a lit-up pier (not to mention a really nice looking pool).

[See photo gallery #4 for more pictures]