Cowboys

We spent two nights with Grandma Loretta outside of Oklahoma city. The day after we arrived, we drove grandma's SUV to the museum which used to be called the cowboy hall of fame but is now called the museum of western art and cowboy heritage or something along those lines since cowboy hall of fame doesn't sound respectible enough i guess.

As we approached, we kept seeing small signs staked in the ground with an arrow and the cryptic words "king midget". Was it a convention of a fast food company? A meeting up of the vertically challenged? An audience with a very short monarch?

It turns out that king midgets were a run of very small cars made in the 1950's in Ohio. Two seaters, less than four feet high, smaller than a golf cart. Top speed around 50 miles an hour and 50 miles to the gallon. I wanted one the moment I saw it. A woman saw us poking around them and happily approached us and spoke at great length about the cars, thier history, and the small but devoted car club. We at last disengaged ourselves and went in to the musuem.

People here in Oklahoma are so cheerful, friendly, and hospitible, that it makes me feel like the most insincere asshole. It's uncomfortable how humbling it is to roll your eyes at "podunkery" and then be genuinely welcomed and told what a pleasure it is to have us here by complete strangers. Anyway.

The museum was interesting to us, partially because we have an ancestors in it and partially because it showcases a real part of our family's historical experience in Oklahoma. For the record, they probably have the best representation of western art. And some of it is pretty good. The most fun was a mock western main street built inside of a large, dark building, and lit to simulate late twilight. The main street has stores and saloons with the full facades that you can enter and take pictures. I loved the idea of a collection of false fronts surrounding a controlled main street. Imagine a house built the same way, structured around an inward facing main street, with each shallow buildig containing a room or two. Wet bar in the saloon, formal dining in the salon of the hotel, bedrooms upstairs, a movie theater in the stable... It would just be a lot of fun.

After the museum we drove downtown where we paid a quick visit to the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial and a short walk around downtown. They're building a huge glass and steel tower down there, almost finished with the envelope, and about twice as tall as he buildings surrounding it. Going to be totally taken with Devon, an oil business i'd never heard of.

More delicious BBQ for dinner- ribs this time- follwed by a few card games.

Next morning, we got a slow start and head out to Ponca City.