Some days are travel days where the main objective is Point B. Today was one of those days. That’s really a good thing because I’ve been this way before and you have to look long and hard for interesting stuff to see and do around these parts.
As y’all know I really try to stay off the interstate. But this morning I was actually looking forward to it – just a little. You see, I’ve been fighting a pretty decent wind out of the west for the last couple days and this morning that wind would be to my back – how nice. You can really eat up some miles at 85 mph and the 120 miles from Tucumcari to Amarillo seemed like a blink in time. Of course, I don’t remember anything about it because it was an uneventful blink in time.
That’s not quite true, I do recall that about 40 miles out of Amarillo, my tail wind turned into a strong cross wind outta the south. And, it stayed that way all the way to OKC. I’ve been through here several times and can’t really recall any time that the wind hasn’t been strong out of the south. Oh, well – just a travel day at least I’m not getting wet to boot!!
Just east of Amarillo I got off the slab. You can still make really good time on the Texas back roads – the speed limit on the two lane I was on was still 75. But I had an issue; the zipper from a new light jacket I got was poking me in the neck and face. I was ready to put the knife to it. Then I thought, maybe I could find a saddle shop and they could install a couple snaps to hold the collar down. Ray’s Boot and Saddle Repair in Elk City, OK got ‘er done. One less constant minor irritation to put up with – VERY happy about that.
I am truly blessed to have such great friends here in Oklahoma City. I’ve known Bert for over 40 years and it’s always good to see him and his family. Not long after I got here, it was time to get something to eat. In Oklahoma City “eating local” means steak, and THE place for steak is Cattleman’s Restaurant down in the Stockyards part of town.
But the real star of the show, are the lamb fries. Come on, you know you wanna try ’em. They are deep fried and served with cocktail sauce. There’s a joke in there somewhere…. Seriously though, they are quite good.
The medium rare T-Bone Steak. One one side is a New York Strip steak and the other side is Tenderloin. While I eat my dinner, here’s an anatomy lesson. The steak comes from the spine of the cow, but is difficult to see that when it’s on your plate. This illustration might help:
That’s a view from the nose to the tail looking down the backbone. Typically a T-Bone is quite far down the cow and would be cut from the short loin. The Porterhouse Steak is a really big T-Bone with a larger piece of tenderloin – from just behind the short loin area.
What? don’cha wanna know where your meat comes from?? Did I tell you about the lamb fries? Okay – enuff said. Dinner was wonderful.
When we got back to the house it was time to go for a ride around the neighborhood. Bert’s daughter led the way on her electric Indian motorcycle and lots of folks waved from their yards and driveways. Oklahoma is a friendly place……
You likely know that the Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, but what’s a sooner?? Well, it goes back to the Land Run (Oklahoma Land Grab) of 1889. The rules were: “no person should be permitted to enter upon and occupy the land before the time designated in the president’s opening proclamation and that anyone who violated the provision would be denied a right to the land.” You were supposed to be waiting at the state (territory) line and at the designated time – the race was on to stake your claim. The folks already waiting in the weeds, inside the borders, to pop out at the designated time were called sooners. As you can imagine, early legal settlers of Oklahoma Territory held a very low opinion of sooners. That began to change in 1908 when the University of Oklahoma adopted the name for its football team. By the 1920s the term no longer carried a negative connotation, and Oklahomans adopted the nickname as a badge of pride. Although apparently never officially designated as such by statute or resolution, Oklahoma has since been known as the Sooner State.
Fun Facts – Oklahoma means “red people” and Oklahoma has the largest population of Native Americans of any state. And just in case you were having trouble with the pronunciation, maybe this will help.
How about that – took a travel day and got almost 1,000 words. That Irish “gift of the gab” thing has got some truth to it. Have a great day – 62 trips around the sun……wow.
Happy Happy.
Changed an alternator in elk city ok on a Sunday many years ago. Seems the wind was out of the south then too
Thanks for the “pronunciation” lesson.