Dino Sighting(s) #5: The Sinclair Dinosaurs of Oklahoma

Previously:

#1 Exposition Street - - #2 No Limits - - #3 Dino Dance Party!  - - #4 Chromosaurs

 

 Years ago, in Route 66's prime, the roads were packed with vacationers, salesmen and entrepreneurs who drove up and down the back roads and highways chasing the American experience.  Gas stations and motels were in fierce competition to get the attention and patronage of these weary travelers so many of them got creative.

Sinclair Oil had a dinosaur theme in their advertising and so it was only natural to have some dinosaurs at their stations welcoming the empty tanks of road weary wanderers.  The bright green statues are few and far between these days but lucky travelers can still find a few at select Sinclair stations.  And the great state of Oklahoma has several you can spot on your next road trip like this one in Tahlequah:

This is a pretty standard example but seek and ye shall find some more colorful examples.  One of the best places to stop on an Oklahoma road trip is Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies in Davis along I-35.  You can pick up lunch, dessert and a selfie with a red version of the dinosaur that stands watch on their roof:

Further north up the interstate you can find an even more colorful guy in a very colorful place.  The Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley has pretty much every super hero, cartoon character and scifi monster you can think of.  And among the heroes and villains you can find this guy:

Even farther north is an example of another dino with a dramatic story.  You wouldn't know it to look at him now but a few years back, this dinosaur in Norman lost his head:

As you can see, he's made a full recovery but for a while he was completely headless.  How did this happen?  How did it get resolved?  News 9 reports:

Now, of course, you can find these guys outside of the Sooner State.  You just have to keep your eyes open on the road (which you should be doing anyway).  But if you're lucky, you can see the balloon version from the comfort of your own home.  After a long absence, the Sinclair Dinosaur Balloon returned to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade last year:

So if you want to find a couple of these guys then consider your next road trip to be a dinosaur hunting expedition.  You never know what you'll see on the back roads.

Flashback: Rock City 1982

Back the Delorean into the Tardis and prepare calculations for slingshotting around the sun because we're about to go time traveling.  While scanning old photo albums for posterity, we found great pics and memorabilia from a trip to the 1982 World's Fair.  During the many stops along the way, our group of fun seeking travelers made several stops and one of them was at an interesting geologic destination.

"Rock City" near Chattanooga, TN contains outcrops, cliffs and great views and was celebrating its Golden Anniversary in 1982 so it was a perfect time to stop by.  Check out these early '80's brochures to see what the place had to offer:

You might have noticed the inclusion of various fairy tale characters in various locations.  Those are the residents of Rock City's "Fairyland Caverns" and of course our plucky group had to check it out:

And they made sure to pick up the postcards to go with their pics:

After visiting the fairy tale creatures in the cavern, the gang headed out to get a better view of the area and that included a walk across the "Swing-Along Bridge":

If it looks like a great view to you then check out this marker that the gang photographed that shows just exactly how much visitors can see from on high:

But enough of the touristy stuff!  Let's see some rocks!

The good news is that while this seems like a classic, old school roadside destination that can only be seen in post cards and old pictures, you can actually still visit today!  According to their website, they still have all the cool stuff from the '80's as well as some new stuff so plan your summer road trip accordingly.

Hopefully we'll get there some day to shoot some video and maybe smash a penny or two.

Marking Time #32 - Fort Worth Stock Exchange

Fort Worth is "Cowtown" and the best place to take in a wagon load of cowboy culture is the Fort Worth Stockyards.  The area is rich with history and today's marker belong's to the Fort Worth Stock Exchange:

The marker reads:

     Headquarters, one of greatest cattle markets in the world.  In late 1860s Fort Worth was stop on cattle trails. Market for West Texas organized 1870s. First trader, T. B. Saunders, Sr., soon was joined by others. 
     First small packing houses were followed (early 1900s) by multi-million dollar plants. By 1910 trading almost doubled. 
     This structure was erected in 1902-03 to house the Stockyards Company, Livestock Commission, and buyers officers, surrounded by lawns (now parking lots). In 1944, was purchased by United Stockyards Corporation. 

The building is still used to this today.  Additionally, inside is the Stockyards Museum which houses a variety of historic artifacts:

One of the more interesting and unusual pieces in the museum is easy to miss if you're not looking for it.  The Palace Light Bulb is a world record holder as the Second Longest Burning Light Bulb in the world:

This beauty has been burning for 105 years straight.  More Stock Exchange info is packed into this video we shot a few years ago:

Marking Time #31 - Petrified Wood Gas Station

The Petrified Wood Gas Station holds a place in the pantheon of Texas roadside attractions.  It's got the triple threat pedigree that we are always on the lookout for:  Science, History and Culture.  We'll start, as we frequently do, with the historical marker:

     "Local businessman E. F. Boydston (1888-1945) purchased this site, a former feed lot, in 1927 for $400. Recognizing a potential business opportunity in offering services to the traveling public, he built a wooden shed and gas station in 1927. Travelers were allowed to build campfires during overnight stays, and by 1931 Boydston added three wooden cabins with garages to the camp complex. The buildings later were faced with rock, and more cabins and garages were added in 1935. The original wooden gas station was covered with petrified wood in 1935 when the highway was widened and remained in operation by the Boydston family until 1988.
     The Texas Lunchroom, a one-room frame building, was built in 1929. Renamed the Texas Cafe in 1935 and faced with stone to match other buildings in the complex, it was enlarged to provide second-floor living quarters. Popular with local high school and college students, as well as families and the traveling public, it was closed in the 1960s after a highway bypass built west of town diverted traffic from this area. The cafe reopened in 1993. One of the few intact examples of tourist camps built throughout Texas in the mid-20th century, this property is significant for its association with the early development of automobile tourism."

 And we move on, as we frequently do, to the video.  Devin explains the awesomeness of this location:

Geo-RoadTrip 2013

And here it is folks:

Geo-RoadTrip 2013: 50 Shades of Greyhound

In between the various geologic wonders and roadside brouhaha that we encountered on Geo-RoadTrip 2013, we occasionally stumbled across things that seem interesting yet difficult to classify.  It was on our way to to some iron mining locales when we happened upon the Greyhound Bus Museum:

It is located in Hibbing, MN, which is known as the birthplace of the bus industry in the U.S.  Unfortunately, even though we arrived during the museum's business hours, it was't open.  So we could only take some pics of the outside:

And off we went to our next location!  Video coming soon! 

Geo-RoadTrip 2013: Fish Story

There's nothing better than stumbling across a World's Largest something-or-other while on a road trip.  One of our first stops was in Rush City, MN to get an eyeful of the World's Largest Walleye:

A walleye is a fresh water fish that is served at practically every restaurant in Minnesota.  Before our trip was done we had a belly full of them.  This one is on display right off the highway and has a handy sign listing its stats:

It was apparently caught by none other than Paul Bunyan.  His handy work is all over the state as you will see soon as our journey continues...

Video coming soon!

Ancient Vikings in Oklahoma? (Heavener Runestone)

Did ancient Vikings visit Oklahoma?!? Probably not. But Devin investigated anyway...

A Tip of the Hat

Here's some video we shot recently about the construction and installation of a giant bowler hat in south Dallas: