When we go to a new city I usually look on the Internet for unique and interesting things to see and do and for Tulsa the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve popped up. Both Huli and I both thought this would be something different and neat to see so today we thought we would drive north a few miles and then take a trip around a gravel road and see where bison live or cattle graze like they did 100 years ago. We were both shocked by what we found. Where can you go in the United States and see the country the way it was thousands of years ago? Well, we were there today. We both set a record for being in the most remote place in the U.S. we have ever been. At one point we were probably twenty five miles out in the middle of no where. We drove on approximately 60 miles of gravel roads today. At one point we were in Kansas. We were both wondering what we would do if we had car problems. We drove 20-30 miles on a gravel road where we never met one car either going in our direction or coming toward us.
After the Tallgrass Prairie we drove east to a town called Bartlesville, Ok. They should rename the town Frank Phillips because everything in the town has the Phillips 66 Petroleum label on it. You could tell immediately you were in a little town with a lot of money supporting it. It showed everywhere. Then we saw the Phillips office buildings, research center, document center, storage facilities etc. etc. This is a very nice city but if Phillips would ever pull out it would dry up over night.
Here are today's pictures.
This is on our way to the prairie north of Tulsa.
This is a little town on our way we stopped at. There are many Indian tribes in the area and it is the home of the Osage Indian reservation.
I don 't see this many horses in a field very often.
Must be a lot to talk about in Pawhuska, Ok. today. If you watch the Food Network there is a show called the Pioneer Woman hosted by Ree Drummond. Ree lives in the prairie north of Pawhuska somewhere. It's amazing to have a blog that gets 22 million hits per month, a tv show, and several best selling cookbooks and live near the end of civilization.
Lots of saddles at the pawn shop in Pawhuska.
Here they warn you not to mess with the buffalo or they will tear you up. At other signs they go on to explain they can out jump and out run you and can be very temperamental.
These five bison were running for our car and crossed the road behind us. They can run 35 mph. We went slightly more than that so we could still get a good picture of one after he crossed the road.
You have to watch out for the cows standing in the road. There are no fences around here.
This is the back window of our car. No, it wasn't dusty or anything.
We were on a road like this for thirty miles and ended up going another thirty without passing another car for most of that trip. Kind of different for two people who are not used to being in these remote parts of the country.
For some reason the cows with the horns bothered me more than the non horned cows. I could just see one of these horns sticking through the side of the car.
In Bartlesville, Ok is another watering hole and another couple of rules to live by. I didn't know so many philosophers owned bars.
I got a new shirt at the Blue Rose restaurant/bar we were at yesterday. Thought I would dial it back and not get any fluorescent colors.
In Bartlesville this is what you saw all over town.
little town but big (out of focus) buildings. Even a Hilton.
