Day 6: Good Morning, Oklahoma!
Click to play music below:
OK I’ll give you another shot. I didn’t like your state last night, but maybe today we’ll have more luck.
Welcome to Oklahoma! The state of nothing but cows and trucks.
It’s Day 6. Setting: Oklahoma City, OK. (whee) My stomach is killing me. Probably from all the fast food. See, I had a list of restaurants to go to from the show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network, BUT whenever I try to eat at one it ends up being closed. SO, I made up my own drive-ins tour and just went to all the fast food places I haven’t gone to in years.
See, I actually gave up fast food years ago in college and only eat it on average of about once per year. So, you can imagine how excited I was to drive through a KFC again, eat McDonalds fries, and order a chalupa from Taco Bell (mmmm!). But you can also imagine what a toll it had on my stomach! I think the poor thing went in shock. No more fast food for Angie.
Eating Honey BBQ wrap and mashed potatoes at KFC!
Now, about Oklahoma. I’m really happy I didn’t write this entry last night. I hated — no — I actually despised Oklahoma last night. I’m surprised I didn’t get the hell out of here as soon as I could. I was originally going to just write a blank entry for Oklahoma with the headline: “Oklahoma — A State of Absolutely Nothing” and leave it at that. But now, I feel refreshed and ready to give the dullest state in America another try.
Let’s begin with the reasons why I hate driving through Oklahoma (ha ha):
1) No people: Honestly, there’s a higher cow population than there are humans here in Oklahoma. I’ll bet money on it. There aren’t even people at the rest stops. I even pulled into random towns and only found one person just walking around. I must say though, my cow knowledge has gone up exponentially during my time here. I had no idea there were cows in so many different colors. I saw black cows, light brown and dark brown cows, some with white spots, some all black cows with white faces, and even the brave cows walking out super close to the highway, and BULLS with horns… and I saw goats and other farm animals I never saw before.
Oklahoma takes pride in their animals. This is Elk City, OK.
2) Roadkill and Litter: Dear state of Oklahoma, CLEAN your streets! There is litter and roadkill everywhere here. Used, run-down tires too. When I stepped out of my car, I almost stepped on an empty beer bottle. Then I looked around and saw at least five of them just lying around on the grass. Oh, Oklahoma.
3) Random traffic: OK I shouldn’t say there are NO people. There are plenty of people (mostly truck drivers) driving THROUGH Oklahoma. I just question if there are people actually living in Oklahoma. Apparently once I hit Oklahoma City, there was a ton of traffic getting out. It was totally random and actually quite annoying. I couldn’t stand it and just turned around, went to a Best Buy and bought my new Kodak video camera 
. But come on, traffic in Oklahoma?
4) No Parking in Hotels: It took me forever to find the parking spot I have now, and it’s a decent walk away from the main entrance to my hotel. It’s super strange, but I actually had to leave the hotel I was originally going to stay at because there just weren’t any parking spots available. I thought about it, and because everyone’s usually just driving through Oklahoma, everyone is probably just going straight to hotels and crashing there.
Basically, this state is just really boring. When I entered Oklahoma City lines, I saw about nine police cars lined up on the side of the highway with their lights on. Then I looked ahead and saw a bunch of people walking across a field toward the cop cars, from a building a so wanted to be a prison. Some of the people walking were cops. Others were just regular people. I got so pumped that something just MIGHT happen in this state and actually hoped there were prisoners escaping at the moment and all the state cops had to congregate on the highway to capture them.
But my imagination was short-lived. My friend checked the news and the biggest thing happening in Oklahoma at that time was a dump truck accident. Go figure.
I hate Oklahoma.
I’ll post more on the REST of Oklahoma and the Route 66 Museum later tonight! Below I’ve made a running list of things I’ve lost and forgotten during the trip, and things I’m currently losing (ha).
AND I just found out its 12 p.m. here now! not 11 p.m. like I thought. I have to run!!!
Enjoy the latest video attached too!
Love, ANG.
Things I lost/forgot so far:
- My glasses in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- My friend’s memory card in Amarillo, Texas.
- To write an entry on Amarillo, TX and the Panhandle! I completely forgot I went there!
Things I’m losing:
- My memory and my mind.
- My ability to spell.
- Time
Video: (you may have to scroll up and turn the music off if you want to hear)
Filed under: Uncategorized | 9 Comments
Aww, love the little video entries that you’re doing with your posts. With the plethora of cows you’re spotting, does the air smell of manure?
Fun fact: Oklahoma has the largest American Indian population of any state. Many of the 252,420 American Indians living in Oklahoma today are descendants from the original 67 tribes inhabiting Indian Territory.
Dear Angie, another cow story after hampster story?…I hope you get good quality food today! It’s going to be long drive with 7 hours today! enjoy the day and talkto you later! Congratulations on your new apartment (final destination)!
Say hello to american indians, too! Love, mom
Hey I saw your video and heard you were going to Memphis TN tonight. Please becareful because Memphis TN is definitely not a place to just wonder aimlessly. Trust me. Last time I had to go for work, i stayed in to airport waiting for Megan to get off her flight (about 2 hours) and when I went to go pick up my bag at baggage claim (because noone claimed it) they already had a trace on me. They knew i boarded the plane in Det and the plane landed in TN and that I definietly made the flight, but i was no where to be found. They were actually going to call the police to make sure I was ok. I asked the baggage claim guy, is Memphis really that bad, and he told me it’s one of the worst states there are. Everyone there is trying to make a name for themselves so it’s like a mini ATL. So just becareful.
And if you are going to check places out, you have to check out Corky’s for BBQ. It’s better then Rendevous in downtown in my opinion.
Check out beale street if you get a chance. I wouldnt recommend doing this at night by yourself.
If you do decide to venture out to beale street at night make sure you check out club 152. They have this asian DJ – cool as hell. Hooked us up the very first time we went and remembers us everytime we go.
And check out the duckie’s at the Peabody hotel. I never got to see them but heard they were cute. If you do go, please take a video for me
Graceland is overrated I heard and extremely expensive. Everyone gets ripped off once.
Anyways, just be careful in Memphis. It’s scary…..
Love reading and hearing all about your trip. Especially glad you’re finding time to pee everywhere. You keep eating all that crap you won’t need to use a bathroom til you reach DC.
Be safe.
Angie,
I am so happy to hear that you loved the peabody hotel in memphis. I am also glad to have received your text last night saying that you were in your room safe.
How was the BBQ last night? Well I am waiting to see your post today. Enjoy the duckies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you not have anything better to do than drive through Oklahoma and bash our state. Just to let you know we have nearly 4 million people that call Oklahoma home, so you cant say that no one lives here. Next time if you dont have any good comments about Oklahoma STAY OUT of our state. Another fact, as of 2009 we have the best economy in the U.S. and Oklahoma City and Tulsa are some of the fastest growing cities in the U.S.
So next time GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!!!
If you want to bash the Oklahoma City traffic level blame the Texans. In the last year we have hade hundreds of thousands of texans moving to the okc metro area due to our economy. They have made our traffic bad now.
uhhhh James do u have nothing better to do then to come on a random person’s blog and bash it?? Its a free country she is entitled to her own opinion…..She didnt bash ur state, she simply stated what she saw and felt at the time….she also felt that it might be interesting to go there so thats y she went….she was kind enough to drive through ur state……You don’t need to come on her blog and state facts about OK. Thats great that it’s the #1 economy in the US…but the facts are that there is really nothing there but cows and well lets face it nothing…..compare tourism in america and u dont really see OK up there buddy, its just the way life is….And dont blame the Texans for your bad traffic….its not an excuse…its like saying NYC has bad traffic because people from New Jersey are working there…it doesnt change the fact that there will always be bad random traffic….so who really gives 2 shits!! It’s a blog…a personal blog, with thoughts relevant to her and what she thinks about the world….if you want to write one too thats great, but dont go on someone elses and bash it……
James,
I appreciate you sharing your opinions. I am from New Jersey, and I totally get how it feels to have your state bashed on a regular basis. NJ is more than just “dirty Jerz” or the “armpit of America” to me. And I certainly don’t smell the burning rubber and raw eggs when I go there like everyone else claims they do. I see it as a place I call home and yes, like you and many others, I will defend my home state to those who offend it.
I just want to throw out there that this is no way a factual blog. I’m not a professional journalist and no, I don’t triple fact-check what I write. Take this as more of an opinion column. I’ve only visited Oklahoma once and as a writer should, I wrote an honest review of my initial reactions and feelings toward it. And I will continue to do so with every place I visit and the people I meet.
Thanks for providing your constructive feedback, and I appreciate your sharing statistics on your home state.
Angie
I listened to James. I chose to stay out of the state, anticipating all of the feedback that you left in your comments Angie! In lieu of Oklahoma, I was able to experience Colorado, but be cursed with the boredom called New Mexico (the part where there are no trees, just grass and mountains in the distance.
P.S. We will always be biased towards things we are accustomed to. Tis all relative! So maybe OK isn’t so bad after all, it’s just our Yankee point of view (and not the evil baseball team yankee).