Norman to Guymon, Oklahoma

In the morning, I decided to skip downtown Norman, maybe another time, and drive into Oklahoma City, past yet more oil wells.  They really are everywhere.

 I drove into Oklahoma City from the east through a traditionally black neighborhood, providing a nice foreground for the state capitol.

This is directly in front of the capitol.  No kidding, an oil derrick and tanks.

 Not sure it looks any better without them, another massive stone pile.

The capitol was constructed without the dome, which was added only in the last ten years.

 The rest of the interior feels worn, but it houses a nice gallery of Oklahoma art.

 The state flag dates from the 1920's and is surprising given the history of Indians in the state.

On into downtown, compact but alive, a few nice glass towers and people out on the streets.

 On the east edge of downtown lies an area of brick - yeah, Bricktown - with cafes, bars, and not one but two brewpubs.

But the highlight of the area - maybe of my journey so far - is the baseball stadium and its homage to an Oklahoma native son, the greatest baseball player ever.

 Back through downtown, headed north,

 I drove through a pretty residential neighborhood

 to a hip, artsy strip for lunch.

Liking the feel of Oklahoma City, I thought about staying and touring the art museum, but the day was too nice to stay indoors, so I motored northwest out of the city on Hwy 3 to Kingfisher.  The land mostly open now, I've left the trees behind for much red dirt farming. I had driven through a fair amount of red dirt country before, especially in Alabama and parts of Mississippi, but not like this.

 Luckily this is explained by the Oklahoma state soil map.  http://www.ogs.ou.edu/pubsscanned/EP9p16_19soil_veg_cl.pdf
Driving on, the land slowly became more open, less hilly and drier, punctuated by oil wells, grain elevators and wind turbines.

 Kingfisher.  No kinfishers, perhaps from the complete absence of water.

 Note this guy is riding on red dirt capped by a layer of caliche.

 From Kingfisher, I drove through Watonga, then northwesrt on Hwy 183.  I thought it would be empty, but the road were busy especially sith trucks hauling oil, cattle and grain.

 Unexpectedly, cotton.   Althought there is a lot of dry land wheat farming, there is also quite a bit of irrigated ground along the way, all of it groundwater from the Ogalla acquifer that underlies such a large part of the midwest, and provides the water for so many of the crops from Nebraska to Texas.  And that will some day be gone.  As wikipedia reports:  "Present-day recharge of the aquifer with fresh water occurs at an exceedingly slow rate, suggesting that much of the water in itspore spaces is paleowater, dating back to the last ice age and probably earlier."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer  .  Whether it should be used on cotton - and whether it should be used for commercial agriculture until it is gone - are questions worth asking

 Turning due west into the wind on a narrow road through Sharon to Shattuck, more dry land

 irrigation

 and wind turbines.

A little movie, with me singing Woody Guthrie

 If you look closely at the bottom of this one, you can see the door where people go inside and climb up the inside of the tower to work on the generator in the head.  Gives you a sense of just how tall they are.

Classic western scenes - this was surely dustbowl country

 And the road just goes on

and on

 and on

and on.

Mesmerizing.  Finally into Shattuck, some kind of a town

 the north on 15 for 20 miles or so,

  more of the same, dry but still rolling country

 turning due west into Texas

through more small towns, Follett, Darrouzell, Booker, across the top of Texas

 to Perryton, hoping for a room  but the town was full up with truckers and oil workers

 ao I drove north, back into Oklahoma to Balko in the setting sun, then east

 the road going on and on and on.  Luckily for me, it ended for the night at a motel in Guymon and a well deserved rest.