Osage Hills, OK and Bartlesville

This state park is within the boundaries of the Osage Indian Reservation, and was built in the 1930's by the CCC. The drive from the state highway to the park headquarters is nearly a mile long, a winding road through the forest. We thought maybe we were lost, but found a park ranger near the headquarters who collected our camping fee (eighteen dollars) and said to pick any open site to park in. There were only about fifteen campsites cut into a hilly area with a small creek running through it. We found a site midway between two bathhouses, and Howard backed in without too much difficulty. All of the camp sites were among the trees, twenty feet tall and leafy and cool. It was really like being in the forest, except with water and electricity! There was a family camped nearby in three sites, full of tents and kids. We walked up to a huge area cleared and staked for tent campers, but because of heavy spring rains, it was full of mud and puddles. There was a big lookout constructed of stone by the CCC, overlooking the lake. A short path called lakeside wound down from the lookout, so we walked though the woods and found a little canoe launch area on the corner of the dam that created the lake.
One of the bath houses on the campground was unisex handicapped accessible, and had the newest and cleanest showers, so we showered together for fifty cents. The campground was nearly full at sunset, with a mix of RV’s and tents. We liked the park and wanted to explore the other trails in the park, so we decided to spend a second night. We had dinner and turned in for the night.
The lady we spoke to at the Beaver Creek park had said to check out Bartlesville, for the fancy houses along the road. The Osage Hills park was just ten miles down the road, so we headed out in the morning to explore the town. By accident we found the town museum, on the fifth floor of town hall. This town of Bartlesville was the origin of the Oklahoma oil boom, started by the Phillips brothers (as in Phillips Petroleum). The brothers had started out with cattle land, but were having trouble with black tar that kept floating up on the surface of a watering hole. That “black tar” is now called Texas Sweet Crude oil, and the original gusher well still stands near the middle of town.
At the peak of the oil rush, oil rigs dotted the landscape for miles. The town boasted several millionaires, and over ten thousand people. One of those oil millionaires even commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design his corporate office building. It is the only tall building that Wright designed, standing ten stories tall in downtown Bartlesville. It is so notable, it is on the cover of the state visitors’ guide.
Back at the campground, we took a longer hike through the forest that had views of the hills and woods of the park. Although the daylight hours were warm enough to be out without a jacket, it was cold enough at night to still require the little space heater to warm us.

Beaver Creek, OK

A little campground that is part of a sand dune recreation area. Located down a two lane road five miles from the little town of Beaver. There is a small dam which created a pond for fishing but no swimming. A boat ramp allows for non-gasoline powered boats, and someone actually came by with a bass-fishing boat. The road is only fifty feet from the camping area, but the park is in a little valley created by the creek so the road noise is very limited. There are only eight campsites with water and electric, all drive-through, for $14 a night. There’s also a cabin for rent for $25, but you still have to bring bedding to use on the cots. A very nice and clean bathhouse close to all the sites. The sand dunes are used by ATV owners, and we heard them riding around later in the afternoon. There is a small walking trail over to the dunes but we didn’t check it out.
We got to talking to the only other camper there, a couple originally from Beaver during the oil boom days of the sixties. The woman kept saying what a good bath house the park had, and I kept thinking, “that’s nice”, but strange to keep mentioning it. Then she said if a storm came up overnight the park rangers would come by to get us so we could hide out from the tornadoes, and I finally understood the importance of a good, sturdy bath house. There was supposed to be a storm coming, but they didn’t know how severe.
About six in the morning the thunder started rumbling and there was some rain. Then we were jolted awake by a thunderclap virtually overhead, and the show was on. The thunderstorm passed in about twenty minutes, but we got to see lots of lightning, and more rain. The thunderstorm passed over quickly, and by ten in the morning we were on our way.

Jan and David, Cripple Creek, CO

The wedding (the party we couldn’t crash) was on Saturday, and we had already planned to have Jan and David stay a couple nights with us in the RV. They are planning to do much the same kind of RV retirement, except in Australia. They showed up in the late afternoon, and we had our own little wedding reception, just the four of us. Lei had chili in the crock-pot, and there were lots of, uh, beverages. We had a twelve-pack of a local beer, and a couple bottles of wine. Jan and David arrived with more beer, four bottles of wine, and a bottle of Dom Perignon. We spent a few hours around the campfire sharing stories and drinking champagne out of paper cups. Then we stayed up late finishing off the chili and drinking more beer.

In the morning Jan had several suggestions on places to go for a drive. Her brothers thought it would be nice to take us out to her old family homestead, about an hour east from Pueblo. Jan had already nixed that idea, since there wasn’t much left to the town. Her family had already been away from there for many years, and Jan didn’t really think there was much to show off anyway. Her preference was to head into the mountains for some sightseeing. We piled into their car and took a winding dirt road that followed a creek through the mountains. It was a beautiful drive between the canyon walls, and we marveled at the cliffs and crags of the mountains all around us. There were even a couple of short tunnels cut out of the rocky cliffs. We came to an old gold mining town in its last days of existence. There were a few businesses left open, a volunteer fire station and an Elks’ Lodge. There was some funny stuff floating around in the air, like ash from a fireplace. It was snow!! Amazing for a Hawai’I girl like me, but it meant it was too cold outside to step out and play. It was actually just light flurries, not a snowflake reached the ground.

We continued on to the next old mining town, called Cripple Creek. Yes, really, you can hum the song now. This old town is in the midst of a revival, due to a special law that was passed in Colorado to allow gambling in six specific mining towns that were about to cease to exist. So the town has a four block main street lined with casinos, big and small. Tour buses make the climb up the mountain to bring the city folk up here to gamble. We parked at the top of the street and walked down one side, trying our luck at the slot machines. Lei made $80 on a nickel slot machine, we stopped for lunch, then walked up the other side of the street to the car.

We drove back down the mountains into Colorado Springs, and then took another local road back to the campground. There was more beer and conversation, chips and salsa, and then we threw together some sandwiches for dinner.

There’s never enough time spent with Jan and David. We talk for hours, and never seem to get caught up with everything. We see them about once a year, no small feat considering that they live in Australia and we live on the road.

We're still at it

Are you out there? It's been a long time since the last post. Classic writer's block, I would say. I'll start up again shortly, thanks for waiting me out.