So good you’ll want to slap your mama!
By Hilary ScottJanuary 14, 2009
You’ve done Disney, toured the Californian vineyards, shopped till you’ve dropped in New York, and walked miles through the brownstones of Boston.
In other words you’ve done the States. Well, you’ve done the brochure version of the States. Looking to broaden your horizons?
How about that big bit in the middle, the Mid West? Yes it’s a vast area but a good starting point is Oklahoma, land of the prairies where the buffalo roam free, where they made that lively film but, as we discovered, much, much more.
We flew in to Oklahoma City to discover it was on tornado watch. We were like excited children – though the native ‘Okies’ we met have seen this all before many times (tornado season runs from March to August).
We watched open-mouthed from our hotel window as the storm raged around us with golf ball sized hailstones bouncing off the ground. But like everything’s bigger across the pond, we were soon gobsmacked at the ones the size of baseballs on the local TV news.
But jet-lag does funny things to you and as we rested our travel-weary heads in our hotel, we almost missed the call to evacuate to the basement.
We got to the landing and the all-clear rang out. Next morning we discovered a town in Kansas nearly 300 miles away bore the brunt of this one – but it shouldn’t put you off, it shows just how careful they are about safety in these parts.
The sun was just putting in an appearance as we stepped out into Oklahoma City. It has a great feel to it – though the skyline from a distance looks like any other US concrete jungle, Oklahoma has lots of green space, parks, gardens and hills.
The Bricktown Canal area has been renovated and is the place to dine out with some great steak houses (but don’t overdo the red meat – steakhouses abound throughout Okie and all the surrounding states) and Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, which gets its name because country singer Keith’s a native Okie and they’re pretty proud of him and had a big hit with, yup, I Love This Bar. If you’re a country fan give the old soak a listen, he’s not bad.
The chicken-fried steak with gravy’s an acquired taste (breadcrumbed chicken with white sauce) but the jumbo shrimp’s delicious. Or to put in typical Mid West pistol-whippin’ parlance (and I loved that more than the food) “it’s so good you’ll want to slap your mama”.
But we’d flown in specially to co-incide with something Oklahoma is brimful of – Native American history and the famous Red Earth festival.
The tale of the Native American is, of course, well documented now – and nowhere does the Americans’ penitence come over so overwhelmingly than here.
Here, of course, is where the famous land run of 1889 took place when settlers raced to get their hands on what the government called “unassigned lands” land, much of which was occupied by the natives.
The Indians were paid of course, but to get a handle on how vast this land run was, by the end of the day (the race started at noon) Oklahoma City was formed and had 10,000 residents.
Red Earth is a brilliant festival with more than 100 tribes from Cherokee to Cheyenne represented, dancing, singing and parading. Here you’ll see traditional dress and youngsters who’ve zizzed them up with some sparkle.
To me, though, the proud old weathered chiefs in their stunning garb were quite magnificent. What I also didn’t realise was how many Native Americans have served in the US army – the biggest cheers were reserved for the veterans.
Inside the auditorium you can buy native art, drink and food, dishes made of corn, greens and beans. It’s good stuff and was one of the highlights of the trip.
But you can’t have injuns without cowboys. Mosey on down to National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. With galleries of western art and the Hall of Great Western Performers, which explores the various ways the west has been interpreted in literature and film (see John Wayne’s guns!), it also has a turn of the century replica town as well as magnificent art and sculptures. You’ll hear the names Frederic Remington and Charles M.
Russell lots in the Mid West and their art is replicated in many other museums across the States. But the museum is worth a visit just to see sculptor James Earle Fraser’s magnificent work, The End of the Trail, a massive sculpture of a Native American on a horse at the end of the ‘trail of tears’ when the natives were forced from Florida.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial in the northern part of downtown was created to honour the victims of the 1995 Oklahoma bombing. Visit the garden where the Symbolic Memorial is – rows of empty stone chairs each with one of the 168 victims’ names on them – at dusk as the lights below the chairs come on. It’s beautiful and moving.
Next you need to travel upstate to discover towns you’ll have heard of from American songs – Wichita (Linesman, Glen Campbell) and Tulsa (24 hours from...Gene Pitney).
But before you bid farewell to the Okies (From Muskogee, Merle Haggard) call in at Pops service station in Arcadia at the start of Route 66. You won’t miss it – it has a 66-foot tall neon soda bottle outside.
This is pure Americana: food, fuel and fizz – more than 500 varieties of soda from all over the world (I checked – yes they have Irn Bru, Orangina, even ginger beer).
Sit at the kitsch tables, drink a lurid bottle of ice-cold soda and dine on burgers and fries and Mom’s apple pie. It’s Happy Days indeed.
Then set the dial to country classic 101.9 ‘The Twister’ and head off up Route 66, the ‘mother road’ of which the biggest stretch is here in Oklahoma (but keep to the 50mph speed limit – as I found to my cost, Route 66 is well patrolled and state troopers not so friendly).
Now we were going to see where the buffalo really roam...
Next week: Get your kicks on Route 66
Factfile
For further information including free travel guides, maps and event listings contact the Kansas & Oklahoma UK Information Service: email info@TravelKsOk.co.uk or call 08450 533 290. To request information or view travel guides online visit TravelKsOk.co.uk
American Airlines flies from London Heathrow to Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Tulsa via Chicago. For flight schedules and booking visit www.americanairlines.co.uk
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