Price's Falls in the Oklahoma Arbuckles

Here's a quick look at Price's Fall at the Falls Creek Baptist Center in Davis, Oklahoma:

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.

Traveling the El Camino Real

Devin explores a portion of the the historical El Camino Real trail from western Louisiana to east Texas in this new video:

Naranjo Museum of Natural History

We found a hidden gem in Lufkin, TX: The Naranjo Museum of Natural History!  Devin checks it out in this new video:

Daisy Bradford No. 3 Discovery Well

Devin takes a look at the history of the Daisy Bradford No. 3 Discovery Well which brought about the discovery of the East Texas Oil Field and Oil Boom of East Texas:

Marking Time #33 - Camp Howze

If you drive from Texas to Oklahoma and back as much as we do, you will quickly notice that near the border, on the Texas side, are signs indicating a that there is a World War II monument in the area.   Which begs the question, "What part of World Wart II happened in North Texas?"  A little exploration led to this Historical Marker:

The marker reads:

     "In operation from 1942 to 1946, Camp Howze served as an infantry training facility during World War II. It was named for General Robert Lee Howze (1864-1926), a native Texan whose distinguished career in the United States Army began with his graduation from West Point and included service in France, Puerto Rico, Germany, a South Dakota Indian War and the Philippine Insurrection, 1899-1902. 
     Clifford McMahon of the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce first contacted Federal authorities with the idea of establishing a military installation here. Attracted by the community's active endorsement of the plan, the government activated Camp Howze on August 17, 1942, under the command of Colonel John P. Wheeler. In addition to infantry training, the base was also the site of a German prisoner of war camp and an air support command base, now part of the Gainesville Municipal Airport. Services provided for the soldiers included camp exchanges, libraries, chapels, theaters, service clubs and a base newspaper, the "Camp Howze Howitzer." 
     The economic and social impact of Camp Howze on Gainesville was significant and was instrumental in the town's rapid growth and development. (1982)"

So apparently in the 1940's, near Gainesville, TX,  the Army operated a Training Base/POW Camp.  But if you go to the location today all you see is an empty field behind an historical marker.  That's because the Army had always intended it to be a temporary facility.  The buildings were not made to last and after the war they were torn down.  Some concrete foundations can still be seen if anyone wants to look for them.

In a letter to his sweetheart (which can be read along with tons of other old letters on this great site), PVT. Prune R. Brooks mentioned the shoddiness of the buildings, helping to explain even more why there's nothing left of them today. 

He writes:

"11/28/44 

Dearest Donna,

Well honey here I am down in Camp Houze Texas and what a hell of a camp. The buildings are so old and so about to fall down. But the south is very beautiful and the girls are pretty as the devil. I stopped off in Fort Worth Sunday and went roller skating and met a few very nice girls and had lots of fun.

This will be a very short letter till the next. I haven't much time. Honey I want you to write often and please send your picture. I send you mine for Xmas. I will close for now and will compose soon again 

Love,
Verne"

But if you are in the mood to stop during your drive along I-35 to snap some pics of something historic, you can hit the Texas Travel Information Center in Gainesville (and take a much needed restroom break) to see the other historic World War II monument. 

Look behind the great big Texas photo op and you'll find the 103rd Infantry Division Monument.  Sculpted by artist Edd Hayes and titled "A Call to Duty," the monument pays homage to the 103rd who trained, in part, at Camp Howze. 

It's amazing what you can learn along the roadside. 

Digging Selenite Crystals in The Oklahoma Salt Plains

A quick look gypsum and digging selenite crystals in the Salt Plains in Oklahoma.  This is a clip from the documentary “Oklahoma Rocks!”

Geo-RoadTrip 2014

Here it is!

Geo-RoadTrip 2014: Pit Stop

One of the last stops on the trip was an historically sticky situation.  The Le Brea Tar Pits in Las Angeles is the final resting place of scores of unfortunate animals who became permanent LA residents.  The Pits' museum utilizes the mammoth mascot in both robot and skeleton form:

You can also get your fill of other unlucky mammals who may or may not have appeared in the Ice Age movies:

The trip is almost done but the video is coming soon!

Geo-RoadTrip 2014: Hollywood Road

Not too far from Lone Pine, CA is an area where you might not have been but have almost certainly seen on the big screen.  The picturesque views in the Alabama Hills have been attracting Hollywood producers for almost as long as there have been Hollywood producers.  You can see some of these famous vistas if you travel along Movie Flats Road.

The area was a natural fit for Westerns, with lots of stunning rock formations for the bad guys and bandits to hide behind.  But over the years, just about every genre has utilized the incredible look of the area including several scifi films.  Two different Star Trek films filmed here since the area seems to be a good fit for cowboys as well as aliens.

And if you find yourself in the area you'll want to take the drive up to Mount Whitney.  At its peak it has the highest elevation in the contiguous 48 states (which is great symmetry to our stop at Badwater Basin).  That height also comes with cooler weather which felt great after soaring temperatures at Death Valley.

Next up, we go rock shopping!

Geo-RoadTrip 2014: Exploring Lone Pine

After leaving Death Valley we headed down the road to Lone Pine, CA.  It's a small town but has a lot of interesting things going on and is a great access point to the Sierra Nevada mountain range including the Alabama Hills and Mount Whitney.  But before tackled the mountains, we made a stop at the Eastern Sierra Interagency Visitor Center.

Inside they have a great interactive, 3-D model of the mountain range:

As well as a section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct that delivers water from around the area to Los Angeles:

Exploring Lone Pine further led us to a monument to a tragic natural disaster.  In 1872 the area was the site of an earthquake estimated to be 7.6 to 8 on the Richter scale killing 27 people and destroying most of the town's structures.  Today a small stone marker commemorates the event in front of the mass grave of the victims:

The plaque on the marker reads:

Next up on the trip: movie memorabilia!

Geo-RoadTrip 2014: Death Valley Part 3

At this point in the trip it was time to get low.  And by low, I mean very low...the lowest point in North America.  Not too far from the Devil's Golf Course, in Death Valley, Badwater Basin has an elevation of 282 feet below sea level.

You can the salt flats covering portions of the ground which add to the long list of things that make Death Valley a dangerous place.  Further into the park is the visually stunning area known as Artist's Palette.  Here are a few shots:

The various colors are a result of the oxidation of different metals and tend to look differently depending ton factors like time of day, cloud coverage and occasional rainfall.  This was our last stop in Death Valley as we headed out to other places to explore.

Geo-RoadTrip 2014: Death Valley Part 2

Further down the road brings us to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.  It offers some interesting exhibits and a nice brake from the heat.  The thermometer outside is a popular photo op.  You can see in the above picture that the temperature was 121 degrees.  (It eventually reached 123 degrees while we were there but we didn't get a picture of that.)

At our previous stop, Zabriskie Point, the mineral Borax was mined for years using 20 mule teams.  Inside the Visitor Center is you can see some in both a processed and natural state:

After we cooled down we headed back outside and further down the road to the Devil's Golf Course.  This oddly specific name refers to a particularly brutal portion of the park:

The rocky rough texture of the ground is due to halite salt crystal formations.  You can make out some hexagonal patterns and a better looks at the salt crystals in these pictures:

There's still more park to discover.  Coming next is even more Death Valley!

Geo-RoadTrip 2014: Death Valley Part 1

At this point in our trip we had finally reached our primary destination: Death Valley National Park!  The huge and foreboding area stretches across seemingly endless deserts and mountainous landscape and backward through history and prehistory.  It's unforgiving weather and unwelcoming terrain is at its worst in the summer months...so of course, that's when we went.

While driving through the park (with the air conditioner on full blast) our first stop was at Zabriskie Point.  It offers a great view of the "badlands":

While the park is a great display of natural processes, further down the road is a memorial to a part of mankind's history:

This historical marker commemorates the journey of the 49ers who traveled through the area on a quest to find riches (in the form of gold) in California.  Perilous journeys like these through the area often led to starvation, dehydration and tragedy and helped to secure the dangerous reputation of Death Valley to this day.  Here's the marker's text:

Luckily we had the advantage of paved roads, an automobile and several liters of water so we are able to tell our tale.  Next up, we go further into the Valley!