Tooleing Around : Day 36

I’m not in Kansas anymore.

And I did get out of Dodge.

Very little worth mention today, but that won’t stop me. Most of today I drove from Dodge City to Oklahoma City

Figured the earplugs, freight trains! Maybe they kept  others awake, I was out like a light. I saw them crossing through town this morning. Rail has been integral to Dodge since 1872 and the growth of the town and region.

Doing all kinds of manly stuff today , the Escalade needed an oil change. There was a Quick Draw less than a couple of thousand yards from my hotel. Lubed in Kansas, one more off the bucket list.

Full disclosure, my NYC researcher sent me an email to tell me it needed changing.

Because the cappuccino was very good, I went back to Red Beard and met the actual Red Beard , owner Clinton. It’s his own color (see Midnight Run). Great spot. It did sound like a gospel station playing in there again, hard to click your fingers along to but good humming music.

And I know you’d want to know; banana and nut muffin, very good.

I sat down beside Daniel Kunz. A German citizen on a one year world tour , he took a sabbatical from teaching economics and political science. Daniel teaches in the vicinity of 200 students any given year, ranging from 15 years old to early 20s. He started the journey  with his mom and 19 year son in NYC. The two went back to Germany from San Francisco . Recently divorced, Daniel is living out his dream. He bought a Jeep Cherokee in some shady part of Brooklyn and has been driving since aimlessly, much like myself, beginning August 6th. He’s already had two oil changes. Daniel goes back the end of October then possibly on to Argentina, maybe Spain for a bit. Or Ethiopia. It depends a bit on his broker and bank manager , Daniel said.

He was impressed I spell my name the correct, manly,  German way, none of that wimpy “C” stuff.

We had a great chat , comparing our travels to date. He’s residing between AirBandB and motels. Heading on to Witchita next, which has a history of aviation, he is interested in. Daniel is planning on hitting Natchez , Mississippi next week and it’s also one of my possible destinations. Who knows?

I’m off to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Stopped for gas and a coffee at Delizioso. Pretty pretty fancy for a gas station. And I got the car washed and think I selected the rainbow option, I got a very colorful soaping. I feel like such an all American male today, lubing and washing. I wonder if there is football or hockey on somewhere for me to watch?

260 miles across Oklahoma the landscape looks a lot like Kansas, just in Oklahoma. A few more trees, a lot less rain.

I’m beginning to understand where those flat earth idiots might get their notions.

One oddity I see all across Oklahona, that I haven’t seen anywhere else in the country, is extensive signage along the roads for the cemetery’s. Are they big local gatheting spots? Is there nothing more fun than a good burial in Oklahoma? The first couple I saw I thought we’re just a macabre name for a town.

Booked into the Staybridge Suites in Bricktown, the downtown area of Oklahoma City. The hotel has that new car smell, they just opened in the past two weeks. Very happy with the suite.

The put some pep in my step song today, Elvis – A Little Less Conversation (remix). And the double, appropriately , Supertramp  – Take the long way home, the ultimate midlife crisis song, that I’ve loved since I was a dark young teen.

Went to the gym and spent some manly time on the elliptical,  since I was on me hole in the Escalade all day. Showered. Even the towels have the new car smell, and walked to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, a half mile away.  It was a bar and served food mostly cooked on a grill and had a country and western theme and was gigantic but pretty empty at 9. There’s a great looking stage in the corner. Their salmon and burgundy marinated mushrooms were very tasty.

I find Country and Western venues are very manly destinations

As I sat at the bar, I was trying to decide on my favorite Toby Keith album. I would say it is probably Toby Keith’s Greatest Hits.

Last call 10. I bought a keychain souvenir.

Since Kansas is to my back here are some odd movies set there, I like: Prime Cut – a 70s little viewed oddity with two of the greats, Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman ; In Cold Blood (of course)- book and film; Looper; The Ice Harvest and a lot of westerns including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Damn , I never did get a KO at OK Corral photo.

The only books I can think of are Cloudsplitter and In Cold Blood. I’m sure there’s a Jack Reacher set here; those all meld together ; violent bursts and a mid thirties pretty petite hugely intelligent woman of varied hair color. I did finish The Midnight Line, which dealt well with one important social issue but fizzled plot wise.

From what I’ve seen so far, Oklahoma City looks oh, so pretty.

Not much of a day.

Hotel: $156

Gas: $54

Dinner: $26