Finding new things going through Oklahoma

 We came into Oklahoma on Highway 60 but just 7 miles in, turned north on Highway 15 to Shattuck.

We stopped at this rather interesting gas/reststop.

We were in luck again with nice, clean restrooms.  We have stopped at some "doozies" before but on this trip, we have "hit gold", if you can say such about public restrooms.

The army also stopped.  Lots of men and women in uniform came in the gas station.  I overheard the clerk ask where they were headed.  "North" came the reply.  Not going to reveal more.

There are 37 windmills at the Windmill Museum and Park, no two alike.

There is also a dug out at this park.  "In August1904, Alexander and Eva Ehrlich filed a claim on a piece of land seven miles southwest of Shattuck. From the caliche rock found on their own land they hewed and shaped the stones for the family dugout. The original dugout was larger than this reconstruction as many of the original stones could not be moved due to the lay of the land. The Ehrlichs and their nine children lived in this half-dugout until they could build a two-room, two story frame house. At that time the dugout became a cattle shed."

Dinosaurs in Woodward!

We picked up 412, also called the Cimarron Highway.  We have often traveled 412 from I-35 to Silaom Springs, Ark, but this was a first for us to be on it in western Oklahoma.

It was just captivating!

We got off 412 and headed north on 8/58.  We've seen several white churches like this.

I saw on the atlas that there was a sod house museum.  Unfortunately, being Sunday it was closed.

Allen's pharmacy tech, who was intrumental in getting Al hired on at the hospital, was born in a soddy!  She has passed on now, but we enjoyed hearing what it was like for her to have a dirt roof and walls.

A sad old house.

We had no idea at all that we would be coming to something we had never heard about before.  How had we not heard about it??  There is actually a salt lake in Oklahoma.  It is half as salty as the ocean!  You can even walk on the salty end and dig in the salt.  "Crystal enthusiasts can dig for hourglass selenite crystals, a rare and fragile form of selenite, which is a form of gypsum. Digging times are available from April 1 through October 15."

Had we known about this, we would have brought our grandchildren!  

Kegelman Air Force Auxiliary Field is located by the park.

For a lake park bathroom, these were A plus!  Brand new.

The marsh and ponds for wildlife were all dried up.  No water at all.  The drought has been really hard in this part of the state.

We took highway 11 onto 81 and back toward home.

My grandmother was a Hostetler.  Should have stopped and seen how we are related!

We had seen this historical marker once before, when we traveled to southern Kansas with Rich and Carolyn Dewey!  I remember reading it.

Our windshield was bug splattered by the time we got home.

It is so fun going on roads we've never been on before and discovering new things!

How do you know about these things unless you adventure?

As a believer in Christ, I have also found that the more I search the Bible, which is the very Word of God, the more I find!  The more exciting it is to learn new things!  God's Word is inexhaustible!  What an adventure it is to "journey" this pathof life with Him!!  He is my "road map"!!