Brandy Trekkers: July 2015

Hey there Campers;

Wednesday ended with a beautiful cloud formation. I am always fascinated by what one can see in the clouds.

Thursday was a travel day. We left Tulsa and headed toward Texas. As usual it was hot by 7:00 AM. As we travel I am always grateful for the "freeways" we have in Cally. The toll roads can be a nightmare. If you take the wrong road you get charged for getting on and off the road. $1.50 each way. Really?? We went through a total of 4 Indian tolls.They don't take pennies or bills so you better have the right change. Oh well I guess adventure cost something.

We stopped in McAlester for lunch. My niece Sarah who is from OK, says there is nothing like a Sonic. So every year we make sure we go there. I had my standard grill cheese with lettuce, pickles and tomatoes in the middle. Lo did the same. Don't forget we are in the south with everything being about the meat. Don't even think about asking for a veggie pattie. We splurged and had a slushie. The pineapple/orange was great. Lo had a pineapple/blue coconut. Ok. Nobody said they had to make sense. But they were good.

We pulled into our favorite hotel, WalMart for the night in Durant, OK. I decided to shop a little. Serena called me and we chatted for a while. It was good to hear from family. By the time I got back to the Hilton, Lo said he was getting worried and was getting ready to come to see what was taking me so long. Told him Serena called. He said he was surprised I made it out that fast. Funny, funny.

Friday started off cool. Now don't be fooled by that. You just need to enjoy it while you can. Seriously! We ventured into Texas.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Denison, TX. There is a huge statue of him along the freeway. They are really proud of this man. Did you know that President Eisenhower was responsible for the interstate highway systems we now have? Did you know he was a 5 star general in WW II? Google him. He was a man of the times.

As we come into Dallas, their freeway structure reminds me of Los Angeles and Houston. Crazy!! Look on the coral columns. Yep. They are letting everyone know they are the Lone Star State. If you can say anything about TX they are proud of their state.

We thought we were coming in late enough to miss the commute. Well, it is 10:30 AM and the freeways are still bumper to bumper.

Ok. Call me crazy. Why are they building a bridge that has no water under it? I looked down and it was dirt. Is the water coming later??

We arrive at the Traders Village RV Park in Gran Prairie. It is cool as it is right next to the Giant Flea Market.

After getting settled, we decided it was time to eat so we went to the Cracker Barrel. If you ever travel south you have got to stop at at Cracker Barrel. It is like old times down home. Other than a soul food joint, where else do you see bean n' greens on the menu.

We decided to go to the outlet mall but, we missed the exit. Yep we are getting real good at doing this. The signage is poor and we really weren't paying close attention. So we get back on the freeway in the wrong direction to turn around to the right direction. Don't even try to make sense of this. I remember looking at the visitor's guide book and remember that the Dallas Cowboy stadium was in this direction we we decide to take a venture. We stumble across the Texas Rangers stadium. It is really huge and beautiful. I saw the ticket parking attendant. His name was Cliff. I asked him who the Rangers were playing tonight. Well, talk about small worlds. They were playing the SF Giants. Cliff said he knew the Rangers will beat the Giants. I told him to text me if they did. I did not get my text but he was right. Rangers 6 Giants 3.

Well right down the street is the Cowboy Stadium. As my sister Nita would HUGGGGGE. That stadium is so big you could but the new 49er Stadium inside of it and still have room. It looks like a big space ship landed. It is very well done. Even the water tower has the Cowboy star. According to the Visitor's Guide the Cowboys are "America Favorite Team". I just happen to see this another way. "America's Favorite Team to Hate." Go 49er's! One can take the VIP tour for $27.00.

I will give it to Dallas. They know how to do things big. That old saying of go big or go home really applies here.

We get back on the freeway in the HOV lane and realized that the freeway we need is in the right lane and we can't get out of the HOV lane. OK so back to the other direction. I noticed that several columns had hats on them. I thought what does that mean. It took me a minute to realize we were near the Cowboy Stadium. The hats are in honor of Tom Landry the great Cowboy coach. To be honest, when my son John got me into football we both were Cowboy fans. I had to leave them when they dumped Hershel Walker and then Tom Landry.

One of the amazing icons of the city is the George Bush Expressway and Turnpike. I thought we stop giving him money when he wasn't president any more. Not to worry. I am sure Obama will have a turnpike in Chicago. Chaching!

As we try to l get back on the freeway, Lo ask was he "suppose to get on that crowded freeway?" I had to take a double look at him. Well, how else were we to get to the outlet?? We take the frontage road then the freeway and found the outlets. You know I had to check the shoes out in Bloomingdales. They had amazing deals on kids clothes. It has been so hot that we needed to buy Lo some button down shirts. They had the cutest little train you could ride through the mall.

It was near the end of the day so we went back to the Hilton. We will be visiting our friend Mary Jacobson tomorrow.

Question of the Day:

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was what number president?

Bonus Question;

What years did Tom Landry coach the Cowboys?

Well, until next time Campers

Lo & Bren

Hey there Campers;

Well campers, the day is starting off cool but you know that heat is a comin'. Every day we have been in Tulsa we get on the freeway. We promised ourselves that we would stop by the Cherokee Nation welcome center. Since this is our last day here we decided it better be today. As soon as we got off the exit we see the sign for the Tulsa Stockyard. So since it came up first we went there. Boy what an experience! Lo drives around the pens like he knows where he is going. I remind him this is probably private property. He says we are not doing anything wrong. For real!! Are we not on public land. After he sees all he wants we drive back to the front. I decide to go to the office and ask if this was part of the Chisholm trail stockyards. Upon entering the office 3 sweet girls ages 9-12 let me know that their grandmother could answer my needs. I never got a chance to say a word. Edna Young is the office manager. I asked my question. She said no this was not a part of the trail. She did ask me if we wanted to see how a stockyard ran. I jumped at the chance. I went to go get Lo. When I got back she had arranged for Stevie G, one of the ranch hands, to give us a personal tour. Talk about a lesson. We started with the Auction room. Everything is ran by hydraulic doors so no person is physically in the pen with the animals. (Unlike the old days. Animals were being led by a person with a rope around the animals neck.)

Stevie G took us down the catwalk to step us through the whole process. The trucks/farmers/ranchers bring in their animals to be auctioned off. They are sorted according to their type & age. The vet test every animals that are 2 or more years old. Did you now cows are aged by their teeth? At 2 years old they will have 2 bottom teeth. At 4 years 4 teeth 8 years 8 teeth. Some time it is hard to determine how old the cow is if they have worn down their teeth. If the vet cannot determine the age the seller will get less money. Most calves are sold to ranchers who to need to increase their herd. Animals are sorted better when they use the smaller pens. When the animals are in the pens no one is allowed in. This assured the buyer that no has changed anything.

As the animal comes up for auction the paperwork about this animal is put on a conveyor belt and sent to the person inside the auction hall and is entered into the computer. Each animal is weight just before they are sent into the auction hall. Once sold they will go do another pen and sprinkler down to keep them cool. Look at the center plaque. It states that Blaine Lotz was the Livestock Auctioneer of 2014. What is amazing is he is only 18 years old.. The joke around the yard was he was too young to celebrate with a beer. I asked Stevie G if the hall is hot and smells like animals during the auction. He stated no because they have a really good venting systems and they bleach down the hall after every sell. He said it "smells like money"

When we got back to the office Edna had her granddaughter give Lo a hat. You know he was happier than a Jay Bird in the spring.

We thank you Mrs. Edna, Stevie G and the girls for giving us city folk a tour of selling livestock. Mrs. Edna said if you want to see how a live auction takes place Google Cattle USA.

We journey onto the Cherokee Nation Welcome Center. We meet Andrea. She was a wealth of knowledge. We learned a Cherokee word. Osiyo. It means hello. Like being black, if you have a drop of Cherokee blood in you then you are Cherokee. She also gave us a book called "A Long Road to Liberty". It is about black in OK and with Indian Tribes. Indians also have their own license plates.

We journey on to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium. We keep seeing this crazy penguins around town and finally ask what does it mean? When the Zoo finally added penguins to the program thy need sponsors. So anyone who sponsored got a penguin statue.

The museum for full of history of how aviation got started in Tulsa. The first aviation encounter was in July 4, 1897. It was with a hot air balloon.

Tulsa is home to the Aeromet plane. It was designed to supply the need for an optional manned or unmanned vehicle that could deliver lethal and non-lethal applications. It was computer operated from the ground.

John Herrington was the first American Indian in space. He is from OK.

Tulsa aircraft companies build parts for several space ships.

Do you know what this is on a military plane? It is the only thing that keeps the plane from flying off the aircraft carriers deck.

It was good to see that they had a section for women pilots. Did you know WW II had women pilots. It is hardly discussed. Women pilots were call to fly airplanes from the factories to the military where they would be put on ships or flown to the combat area by men. The Women were known as WASPs - Women Airforce Service Pilot.

American Airlines used women for several operation in their course of having an airline.

Bessie Coleman was born in Texas and attended the Colored Ag and Normal University in Langston, OK. She was the first African American woman to earn her pilot license in France in 1921. Why is it that other nations are much more advanced than us when it comes to women??

There were lots of items to see in the museum on WW II.

Wiley Post and Will Rogers were very close friends. They both wanted to go to Alaska so they used Wiley's new airplane. They got lost in the clouds and landed near a Eskimo trading camp. They were told that their destination of Point Barrow was only a few miles away. So they got back in the plane and took off. Just as the plane started to climb the engine sputtered and quit. The aircraft was heavy and nosed into the water killing them both. They were Ok's most famous citizens. Google both of these men. They both have a story to tell.

The first African Americans to fly across the US from LA to NY were James Banning and Thomas Allen. They met by chance in California. Realizing that they shared a common Oklahoma background they decided to try to win a $1,000 prize tht was said to be offered to the first Black American to fly across the country. They billed themselves as the Flying Hobos. Leaving Los Angeles with only $100 cash between them they headed to New York. Staying with family and friends along the way they collected donations to buy gas and keep their old airplane flying. They spent 21 days between the two coast arriving in NY in October of 1932. They only had 41 hours and 27 minutes of actual flight time but most of their time in route was spent collecting money and repairing their aircraft. The $1,000 prize money turned out to be a hoax but the pair proved that the sky was not just a white domain. I thought about our family friend Irving Vanderberg who is an amazing pilot and has been all over the world.

Tulsa is the primary maintenance hub of American Airlines.

We took time to find the Golden Driller Man of Tulsa. He is 76 feet tall and weights 43,500 lbs. He is the 5th largest statue in the USA. He is located at the Expo Square.

We ventured on to Oral Roberts Univ. While I am not a fan of Pastor Roberts politics his university is very beautiful and serene.