Yup, we are in Oklahoma!
Our first stop is at the Oklahoma Tourist Information Center, and we park under a large plume of smoke. Turns out there has been a grass fire burning for the past four days just down the road. We discuss whether we should continue down the road or camp for the night - and decide to camp. Why? Because this rest stop has a large dog walk and yes, our husky is that spoiled!
The next day, we continue down I-40. This stretch of highway used to be Route 66 and it's just as picturesque now as it was back then.
We eventually pull into our camp for the next few days, Elk City Lake Park. There are storms in the area, which means we get to watch a truly stunning sunset.
We also have guests camping out behind us; a flock of Canadian geese with their goslings. A local tells us this lake dried up during the Oklahoma drought, but finally refilled about 5 years ago. The city has done a lot of upgrades and renovations to the park since then.
Elk City was created in 1901 when land was sold to settlers in anticipation of a railroad being laid through the area.
Depending on which story you want to believe, Captain Marcy named a local stream Elk River and the town was then named Elk City. Or-
the town was originally called Crowe, after the area's post office, then changed it's name to Busch. When townfolk applied for their own post office, the town had to change it's name again, this time to Elk City.
Some claim that the name Elk originally came from a Native American chief who'd once lived in the area, and was later was applied to creek and town. As we said, there seems to some confusion on how the town got it's name!
Quick Digression: Isn't this a great little teardrop? We talked to the couple camping in it, and he made the trailer himself. Love those old-style camper windows!
And finally, a picture of uur favorite feature of this park - the bird 'condo'. The birds had taken over the shell of an amphitheater. Every time we went for a walk, we were treated to an entire flock of birds flying over the little hilltop the amphitheater sits on.
0 comments:
Post a Comment