2023 CANYONLANDS ADVENTURE - BACK AT THE BIG TEXAN

 

DAY #3 – TUESDAY – JULY 4, 2023

 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – SANTA FE, NM

548 – MILES / 1,574 – TOTAL MILES

 Today, started as we checked out of the Fairfield Inn – Quail Springs just north of Downtown Oklahoma City.  This hotel was nothing to write home about. It was an old and dated hotel that could definitely use a remodel. It was clean enough, but I would stay here if I was traveling on my own.

We check out, boarded the bus and departed just a few minutes after 8 a.m. and made out way to downtown Oklahoma City.  At 8:30 a.m. we pulled up at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The Memorial Museum didn’t open until 9 a.m. but our guide has arranged for a Ranger to meet our group and take us on a tour of the grounds.

This was the site where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood. On April 19, 1995, a terrorist named Timothy McVey detonated a truck bomb here. That blast destroyed the building and claimed the life of 168 innocent People.

We Began our tour at the Survivor Tree. The tree stood in the Parking Lot of the Federal Building. People who arrived early for work would get the cherished spots in the shade of the tree. During the Investigation, federal agents want to chop the tree down to recover pieces of evidence. But they spared the tree and it survived and today stands in tribute to those who survived the blast.

Our Next stop was at the reflecting pool that sits between the Gates of Time.  At the west end of the Pool is the 9:01 Gate. It represents the innocence of Oklahoma City and our Nation in the Minute before the Bombing.  The Reflecting Pool occupies what was once Northwest 5^th Street where McVey parked his truck bomb.  At the east end of the Memorial stands the 9:03 gate represents the moment following the bombing, when Oklahoma City and our nations was changed forever.

Our Last stop was at the Field of Empty Chairs.  Here sit 168 empty chairs that represent each person who died that terrible morning. Each Chair bears the name of a person killed in the blast. There are 19 smaller chairs representing the 19 children who were in the building’s day care center.

Several people in our Group opted to take a quick tour of the museum when it opened at 9 a.m. This was my 3rd visit to the Memorial and I decided to forgo the museum. I don’t care how many time I visit; a wave of emotion sweeps over me. As I walk through the Chair Garden and read the names of each of the Victims, even today, almost 30 years later, I still can’t help but shed a tear. Especially as I stand silently at the small chair bearing the Name of Bailey Almond.

Little Miss Bailey Almond had just celebrated her first birthday the day before the terrorist attack. She was in the daycare center when the bomb exploded. In the minutes following the bombing an amateur photographer snapped a picture of a fireman carrying her limp body aways from the destroyed building.

As I stand at her small chair in the chair garden and visualize that photo, a wave of emotion sweeps over me and tears stream down my cheek.

I take a few moments to compose myself and begin the walk back toward the bus. As we depart, the ride to the Oklahoma State Capitol is made in emotional silence. 

We make a brief stop at the Capitol where we jump off for a few quick photos. Then we make out way back to Interstate 40 and head west toward Texas.

A couple of hours later as we rode along beside old Route 66, we passed the famous leaning water tower near Groom Texas.  We also pass the Big Cross that stand at the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Cross rises 19-stories above the flat Texas Landscape. Around the cross are magnificent sculptures depicting the Stations of the Cross, along with the three crosses on Mount Calvary and the empty tomb that symbolizes our Risen Lord.

I visit the Cross on Easter Sunday back in 2018. It was an amazing visit that I shared with a few of my traveling companions on this trip.

We stopped for Lunch at one of my all-time favorite eating places. The Big Texan in Amarillo.  The Big Texan is home to the 72-ounce steak challenge. This is my 4^th visit to this popular restaurant, and I have never had a bad meal here.

As our group is seated, I notice that there is a young lady seated on the stage attempting the 72-ounce Challenge.  She doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of finishing it but I do admire her spunk.

While we are having our meal, the young lady throws in the town and admits defeat. She is quickly replaced by another challenger. This time a cowboy in his late 20’s or early 30’s.  By the time we finish our meal, he is slowing down, and it is apparent that he won’t succeed either.

As we say goodbye to the Big Texan, and pull back onto Interstate 40, I realize that we still have a long way to go. It is going to be a long afternoon. A few miles west of Amarillo we pass by the iconic Cadillac Ranch.

This is where in 1974, a man named Stanley Marsh buried 10 Cadillac’s nose down in a pasture field. For almost 50 years now, people have been stopping with their bottle of spray paint to cover the cars with graffiti.

Moving west we cross into New Mexico and the landscape soon changes from the prairie of the Texas Panhandle to the sandy desert of New Mexico.  We also lost another hour, as we are now on Mountain Daylight Time. About Mid-afternoon we run through a brief rainstorm and are reward by a vivid and beautiful rainbow.

We make our afternoon rest stop at the Love’s Travel Center in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.  When my dad an I passed through here back in 1984 there wasn’t anything in the area but a small rest area. Now there are a couple of truck stops and a few other businesses.

Soon after our afternoon Break, we arrived at Clines Corner. He we headed north on U. S. Route 285.  Here at Cline’s Corner, we said goodbye to Interstate 40, which has been our primary route since we joined it near Dandridge, Tennessee some 1,340 miles to the east.

At 7:30 Mountain Time (9:40 Eastern Time) we pull into Santa Fe, New Mexico and arrive at the Hilton in the Historic District. This will be our home for the Next two nights.

Here in Santa Fe, we can now slow down and really begin this adventure. Tomorrow, we spend the entire day in New Mexico’s Capitol City. I have never been here before, so I am looking forward to my time here in Santa Fe.