Blogs from Oklahoma, United States, North America - page 2

WE HAVE RUN AGROUND, CAPTAIN RANEY The Arkansas and Colorado Rivers originate only a few miles apart in the Rocky Mountains near Leadville, Colorado. They are, however, on opposite sides of the Continental Divide. Snowmelt in the Arkansas River drainage bounds merrily along until it flows into the Mississippi River and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Snowmelt that finds its way into the Colorado River drainage maunders off jauntily through the Grand Canyon and finally empties into the Gulf of California. Sometimes vagaries of the wind are all that determine which snowflakes go where. Other vagaries were at work to determine the final destination of the USS Batfish. The Batfish, SS310, is a Bilao class submarine that was commissioned in August of 1943 and saw action in the Pacific during WWII. It is best known ... read more

Oklahoma! Oklahoma is one of the most successful programs in all of college football history. It’s one of those places that every fan of the game should put on their list to visit. I bought the ticket for this game before the season even began. Last year was my first year not going to a TCU football game since I applied to that school back in 2014, and I felt a little bad about that. So when the decision was made to visit as many big-name places as I could this season, I looked for a date and location where going to a TCU game could satisfy that quest. At Oklahoma, the weekend before Thanksgiving, seemed like the best option. No need to hurry back on what would definitely be the longest road trip of the ... read more

THE GREEN CORN REBELLION Triggered by opposition to World War I and the draft, this tenant farmers' revolt broke out in three counties along Oklahoma's South Canadian River in August 1917. While antiwar sentiments fueled the Green Corn Rebellion, it actually grew from long-standing grievances many tenants held against local landowners, businessmen, and state and local authorities. The farmers were particularly angered over the growing control of land by small numbers of wealthy landholders who often resorted to rampant land speculation and outright fraud to obtain property. Speculation and falling crop prices had by 1917 forced over half of Oklahoma's farmers into tenancy. As a result, many tenants and small landowners joined the state's Socialist Party and affiliated organizations such as the Oklahoma Renters' Union. The Socialists proposed expanding the public domain, enac... read more

DEACON JIM MILLER For such a deeply religious man Deacon Jim had some serious pathological deviations. Both of his parents went up the flume when he was a child and he went to live with his grandparents. At the age of eight years he murdered them in their sleep and went off to live with a married sister. At the age of seventeen he murdered his brother-in-law, J. E. Coop, who was also sound asleep. He was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison but was released on a technicality. He then went to work as a ranch hand for Mannen Clements over in McCulloch County. Mannen was killed in 1887 and soon thereafter the killer was dry gulched in the Miller style. Deacon Jim married Mannen’s daughter, Sally, in 1891 and got ... read more

After impulsive, unplanned and spur-of-the-moment trips to both Alaska and Hawaii in 2018, I spent a relatively quiet, event- and attraction-free winter in Apache Junction AZ. I am always working on my “one-of-these-days” long-range mental calendar – the precursor to my “written in pencil” calendar, my “written in ink” calendar and, finally, my etched in stone calendar. Both Alaska and Hawaii had been bouncing around in the mental calendar since the beginning of The Great Adventure in 2010, but neither had made its way to a sheet of paper by New Year’s Day of 2018. Cousin Marilyn’s son and daughter had taken her to Hawaii in Fall 2017 for her 80th birthday. That got me to thinking about a momentous landmark to celebrate my 70th birthday. I decided spending my 70th in Alaska would be a ... read more