Oklahoma Bound

Sunday morning. Coffee ☕ and on line church this morning.   Time to go through Jessica’s place and make sure we that are not leaving any of our items behind.

Why Oklahoma? 🤷🏽‍♀️Why Not?!  OK is directly above Texas and Tulsa is only about four and a half hours away from Arlington. Craig wants to visit the historic area in Tulsa where Black Wall Street once stood. AND, we can check ✅another state off our list.😁

BLACK WALL STREET. 🏢💒 https://www.history.com/news/black-wall-street-tulsa-race-massacre

We departed Arlington a little after 2. We fueld up before we hit the highway.

Oklahoma is Choctaw Nation; Native American land.🦅🪶 Alot of open green fields with cows and several Casinos.

We hadn’t eaten ALL DAY, and we were hungry.  Between Oklahoma state line and Tulsa on the 75 are loads of fast food places, which wasn’t what we wanted. 🤨 I found a Cracker Barrel in Tulsa about 15 minutes from Black Wall Street, it will have to do.  We stopped for dinner and decided to spent the night in their RV friendly parking lot, because it was already getting dark. We will visit Black Wall Street in the Greenwood District, in the morning.😁

MONDAY, 10/12🎁🎉🎈

Last night, about 3 a.m. we were both awaken by some fierce winds.🌬 It felt like someone was pushing our little rig and we were rocking back and forth. I grabbed my phone to check the weather and 🎥 film the trees 🌳 that were blowing. Winds were 15 to 20 MPH with 50 MPH wind gusts. There was a weather alert for high profile vehicles to use extra caution. The winds subsided this morning about 7 a.m.

Sidebar: TODAY is my birthday, 65 years young. I am officially a senior citizen.🤭 🧁🥂🎁 We are doing exactly what I wanted to do for my birthday. TRAVELLING!

We woke up to a chilly windy morning; jeans and jacket weather. It was still a bit windy, but nothing like last night!

We got ready for the day and headed to the famed Black Wall Street area about 9 a.m. and walked around town. What was once a thriving self-sufficient communityt is now only about two blocks of memories.😔

This very friendly gentleman approached us and asked, “visitors? are ya?” We said, yes. His reply “I could tell,” smiled and introduced himself.  Bobby, 85, is a life long resident and historian. He proceeded to share some Black Wall Street history with us and pointed out some markers and signs for us to see.

The sign listed 164 businesses, yes, I counted them. This was just a SAMPLING of the establishments in this self- sufficient community. They had everything; barber shops, banks, real estate offices, grocery, drug and shopping stores, pet groomers, hardware…EVERY type of store that anyone would need. They had no reason to leave their community; a truly self-sufficient community decimated because of deep seeded hatred.😔😢

The Greenwood Cultural center was not open due to Covid. However, there were several plaques and memoriums in the area. This picture below is not clear, but it listed all of the businesses lost during the massacre and their financial claims; which, to this day have remained unpaid. 😡

This was a good historical visit. 👍🏽👍🏽 We decided to get a bite to eat and headed to First Watch for some brunch. (Jessica introduced us to this establishment in Arlington.) Craig liked it so much, he found one here in Tulsa!

Oklahoma, thank you for your hospitality. On to Wichita, Kansas to see the KEEPER OF THE PLAINS.✌🏽