Oklahoma, Okay

When I first thought about the prospect of driving through Oklahoma from Santa Fe to get up towards St Louis, my initial reaction was EGADS! No wait, that was from the Music Man. With temperatures hot enough to fry some egg whites (low cholesterol cliche), my main thought was keeping the air conditioning in my new surrey with the fringe on top going.

But then I started to think about a tidbit my brother read in some best seller about expectancy v. expectations. I think the premise is one says you acknowledge and are open to something happening to you in the events of the day whereas the other says you are anticipating what it will be. One leads to possibilities, the other to disappointment. So I gave it a try, and guess what? I'm a fan of Okla-homa, Okla-homa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma....all aboard!

At Juanna's, a family owned Mexican cantina in Prague, Oklahoma, you can get a chicken & cheese enchilada dinner with a frosty mug of ice cold beer for $6.99. Delicioso!

Further up the road you can stop to view a mural of Jim Thorpe - the greatest athlete of all-time. A Native American, Thorpe won the 1912 Olympic gold medal in both the pentathlon and the decathlon. He went on to play Major League Baseball, NFL football and barnstormed with an all-star basketball team. He never met a sport he didn't like, and he was good at all of them. In his lifetime he had his share of hard knocks. A victim of the Great Depression, he struggled with alcoholism and poverty after his playing days were done. A national hero, he was stripped of his track & field Olympic medals 6 months after the Stockholm games for having accepted money to play in a minor league baseball game in 1909. Most thought taking his medals was highly unjust. 30 years after his death, the medals were reinstated. Thorpe's Indian name was Wa-Tho-Huk, or Bright Path. From small beginnings in a small town in Oklahoma came our country's greatest athlete holding high the Olympic torch. Bright path indeed.

Will Rogers never met a man he didn't like. He was from Oklahoma, too. While traveling on a secondary highway, I saw a roadside sign for the birthplace of Will Rogers in Oologah, Oklahoma. Another small beginning in a small town in Oklahoma. My Dad loved Will Rogers. He wasn't alone as in his day, Rogers represented the thoughts of a nation and his friendly demeanor and kindness towards others was a model for many. A lot of his thought was influenced by his parents who shared stories around the kitchen table during a time when there was no internet, television or radio. It was all about the spoken word, and his dad, Clem, had some stories to tell. From reminiscing about plantation life in the South to the Civil War to the Trail of Tears (Will was 1/4 Native American) and Texas cattle drives, Clem had the tales of a lifetime. His mom, Mary, often played the piano to entertain the family after a long day's work. Incredible how much influence a loving family and enterprising parents had not just on Will Rogers but on all in the country who followed his lead. I'd have loved to sit in on the conversation for just one night.

Jim Thorpe and Will Rogers all on the same stretch of road - wow! I'd say it was something in the water, but I don't recall seeing any. In retrospect my jaunt through the Sooner state was way beyond my expectations. But then again that was the point. Hey Joe, that expectancy thing really works!

A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people. Will Rogers

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