Malgren, Ark. We stayed in a little backwoods campground last night. The campsite was so bad that I couldn't jack the motorhome up high enough to make it level. Trying to sleep and not roll out of the bed was a task. Naturally, I was up early. Sharon rolled over into my spot on the bed and got a little more sleep. First chore after coffee was wash this dirty MH. It took about an hour, we had breakfast, and then hit the road. Neither one of us looked back. What a campground!
It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and into Ft. Smith National Historic Site which is located in downtown Ft. Smith.
In the background is the Barracks-Courthouse-Jail. After the Army left the fort in 1871, a year later the Federal Court moved into the building. Their goal was to clean up the criminals now roaming free after the Civil War. Judge Parker heard more than 13000 cases and sent 79 to the gallows. If you remember the John Wayne movie "True Grit" then you will remember Judge Parker. They still have a replica of the gallows at the Fort. The original was burned down because Judge Parker did not believe in capital punishment.There is a lot of history here and the Rangers were very good in their lectures of the years in the Fort. The long standing of the Governments policy of Indian removal of 5 native tribes started the "Trail of Tears".
We spent about 3 hours here touring all the bldgs and artifacts collected.
We left the Fort & crossed the Arkansas River. Welcome to Oklahoma.
This ride became very interesting when we were on I40 coming in to Oklahoma City. I shouted "Sharon - look out your window"
There was an Air Force AWAC that crossed over us so low it was scary. See the picture below to see what that aircraft looks like.
The rest of the ride to the Cowboy & Western Museum during rush hour didn't bother us as much as the aircraft did.North of downtown OK City is a large complex where the museum is located. It takes about three hours to tour. Since they were getting ready to close, we did it in about an hour then reviewed the pictures later. If you are ever in the area this is a worthwhile stop. They have several different art galleries depicting the old west and native american way of life. They have displays of guns, saddles, bridals, clothes, ropes, barbed wire, rodeo stars, western movie stars & Native Americans. This is a first class facility which will amaze and delight you with the stories of triumph and scenes of unending beauty.
Here are a few pictures of the many that we took in the short time we were there.
We left the Museum and headed west into the sun. It was hot and bright! I decided that we would not travel this late again, especially west. We drove to a town called Elk City, Ok. We stopped at a Walmart to do some shopping and since it was so late we decided to stay here. With the store manager's approval we parked in a low traffic area of the parking lot. With the generator running, air conditioners on, Sharon fixed dinner and we were sitting in high cotton as the saying goes. After 3 margaritas we gave it up and went to bed. No rolling out of bed this time!
Happy Trails!
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