We left Halstead and worked our way southeast onto US400 East. Eventually we got on US169 south. These were both nice, wide roads in Kansas. Then we hit Coffeyville, KS, where we drove through town and saw the campgrounds full of people working at Amazon for the Holidays. Soon we were in Oklahoma and US169 was not as nice a road. Eventually we turned on OK88 and it was a nice, wide road. We landed at the Claremore Elks lodge, just off OK88. The only other RV was being stored while the owner was out of town.
The weather was warm and sunny. Nice.
The next day we drove down to Tulsa to use a coupon that was expiring and drove around a bit. We had originally planned on having lunch in Tulsa, but it was early enough we made the half hour trip back to Claremore and tried Hugo's Family Restaurant, which got rave reviews on the internet. Since they serve only breakfast and lunch we decided to have breakfast. Here is Diane's meal, bacon, pancakes and eggs.
Here is Bill's Chicken Fried Steak, eggs, and biscuits and gravy instead of toast.
Yes the portions were huge and neither of us could finish everything. The food was quite good and very reasonably priced. Hugo's is known for their bacon.
Notice all the bacon Diane has? The special allergy shots are working since she could eat all of the bacon with no issues.
Now that we were stuffed we headed to the Will Rogers Museum/Memorial.
The museum is by donation and they ask for $5 for adults, which we were glad to pay.
A photo of what it looks like just in the entrance.
There are movies and videos playing, art, radio broadcasts, lots of photos and newspaper articles. There is a lot here. Will Rogers was one of the best ropers in the world of cowboys, plus he told jokes, he sung, he wrote many newspaper articles, he gave speeches, he acted in movies. If there was a way to communicate, he used it. Successfully.
He loved to travel, he loved his family and he loved to fly. He died in a plane crash in 1935. He had plans to live much longer but he had bought this nice piece of land in Claremore, close to where we was born, to retire to. Now it is a museum.
Will Rogers is still quoted extensively. Here are some quotes of his.
The view out back that Will Rogers wanted to retire to. (The view out the back of the Elks lodge is similar since it is about half a mile away.)
We enjoyed learning about such an amazing and good man. We are glad we made the effort to be in Claremore and to visit the museum.
Sunrises at the Elks lodge were a treat and we actually saw them since sunrise was after 7AM.
Now we are heading to Memphis.
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