One of the things I do when planning our trips is to make sure our travel days aren't too long. Our first day was pretty long at 395 miles, but we like to get a sense of accomplishment on our first day of travel. Texas is such a huge state that it may take two days to get out of it.
Another thing I do when planning our trip is to look for interesting or unique places to visit along the way. If walking, biking (for Bob), or hiking is involved, so much the better. It feels good to stretch our legs after sitting in the truck for hours.
For our second travel day, we went 237 miles to Boise City, Oklahoma. This place is way out in the plains. We really didn't have any reason to stay here except that there's an RV park with okay reviews. My review? Don't go in the bathroom. It's nasty. The park itself is all right. It has full hook-ups for a reasonable price. There's a little miniature golf course in the park, but we couldn't find the golf clubs and balls.
Our route today was I-27 north to Amarillo. From Amarillo, we followed U.S. 87 and U.S. 287 to Boise City. It was cold, windy, and rainy when we arrived.
This park is a little unusual. No one was there in an office to greet us. We had taken care of this reservation by phone and were told to choose a site when we arrived. Then, we were to fill out the RV park paperwork which we found in a box on a building. That paperwork was to be dropped in the locked box.
When we got to the park, it looked completely deserted. No one was camped there. It was hard to tell which way the sites were oriented. We took one pass around the campground and picked a site. I think three more RVs pulled into the park after us.
Across the street from the RV park is the Cimarron Heritage Center Museum which tells the history of this little town. We walked over to see what was inside. This museum is a little treasure-trove-packed gem. We spent a couple of hours there.
How do I start to tell you about it? We'll make a circuit of the outside items in front of the museum.
First, you are greeted by the Tin Man, a 750-lb., 13-foot tall replica of the Tin Woodman (AKA the Tin Man) from the Wizard of Oz. He has a 1/30 horsepower motor that runs his arm so he can wave a greeting to passersby. The motor never did work right and got hot so he no longer "waves" at the museum location. But his story is an interesting one.
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| Bob with the Tin Man. |
Built in August 1989 by John D. "Pete" Morris with the help of his son Bruce Morris, the Tin Woodman was originally an attraction to draw visitors to the Morris' Log Cabin Corner Café and gas station located six miles south of Laverne, Oklahoma...until approximately 2006. It was then purchased by Richard Smith and moved to Pueblo, Colorado.
Mr. Smith had paid a visit to the Cimarron Heritage Center and while there, he visited with the museum director/curator Jody Risley. Mrs. Risley mentioned she wished she had known the Tin Man was for sale as she would have liked to acquire it for the museum.
In 2011, Richard Smith decided to relocate and he contacted Jody. The Cimarron Heritage Center's Board of Directors decided to purchase the Tin Man and he made his way back to Oklahoma to the museum.
Next, I have to mention the elephant in the room dinosaur on the grounds. You can't miss it! This is an artistic representation of "Cimmy" Cimarronasaurus, an Apatosaurus that was excavated in western Cimarron County in the 1930s.
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I got in the photo so you can see
how big this dinosaur is! |
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| Info about Cimmy. |
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| A turkey made from farm equipment. |
In the photo below, Bob is standing in front of one of the bombs that were dropped on Boise City's Town Square in the middle of the night on July 5, 1943. It is the only continental U.S. town to be bombed by airplanes during World War II.
This happened during an off-course training run by a B-17 "Flying Fortress" out of Dalhart Army Field 50 miles due south. Six 100-pound dummy bombs landed around the illuminated Cimarron County Courthouse square, which resembled the target range. The bombs left behind four-foot-deep craters, but no injuries.
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Bob in front of one of the bombs
dropped on Cimarron County Courthouse
square in July 1943. |
With our circuit in front of the museum complete, we walked inside. The building is built in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright by Bruce Goff. Mr. Goff designed mid-century houses throughout the Midwest. Here are the links to two articles about this very interesting architect. [NOTE: You may hit a paywall on the New York Times article if you have used up your limit of free articles.] When I do research on my blogs, I sometimes dive deep into a rabbit hole or black hole of information about the subjects. This architectural information is very interesting. You can skip it if you aren't interested.
1. https://mascontext.com/observations/a-dialog-of-difference-reflections-on-bruce-goffs-ford-house/
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/t-magazine/bruce-goff-architecture-midwest.html
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The living room of the house in the
museum. |
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| The kitchen of the house. |
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| Button collection. |
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| Button collection. |
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| About the architect, Bruce Goff. |
Information we found in this museum included a button collection, quilts, history of the Santa Fe Trail, especially the Cimarron Route, Kit Carson, Cimarron County ecozones, projectile points (arrowheads), the Western Cattle Trail, the Dust Bowl, and so much more.
We think it's worth a visit. The collection isn't kept spotless or behind lots of glass. I don't think it's humidity controlled, but the articles and photos really tell stories of the inhabitants of this area.
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| Old quilts. |
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| Old quilts. |
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| Old quilts. |
When we finished inside the museum, we headed outside to the displays behind the museum.
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| An old schoolhouse. |
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The schoolyard. How did we ever survive
this playground equipment? LOL. |
In the dust bowl house, we are asked not to touch anything, especially the dust. That keeps it very authentic, like a dust storm just came through.
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