Days 84 - 86

Memphis, Tennessee thru Arkansas and on to Pawhuska, Oklahoma

We headed west from Memphis and spent the day driving through the state of Arkansas. We've been having cool evenings while still having warm days. The leaves have begun to change, but it's not the spectacular color show that we had hoped for. The leaves are turning from green to brown, with just a few hints of colors like orange, yellow or red. Oh well.

The stained-glass window in the Visitor's Center. Apparently Frank Phillips was a supporter of the YMCA Indian Guides program. I was an Indian Guide kid in my youth, and my sons and I participated in it for many years. The "Y" also had the Indian Princesses program for Father-Daughter participation and Katie and I did that as well. I have very fond memories of the time that I spent together in these programs with my sons and daughter.

Another well-known person from this area was Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips 66 Oil Company. During his lifetime he had built a home compound that he called Woolaroc. It is now a museum that contains a lot of Native American and American West art as well as stuff related to his business empire.

Our overnight stop is a Harvest Host business - the Post Winery in Altus. Arkansas. There were two other RVs that were being hosted by Post Winery in the parking lot, and amazingly, all three of us were from California! We enjoyed some wine tasting and a scrumptious lunch and happily bought a couple bottles of their wine to thank them for the overnight stay.

The next day we continued on through the rest of Arkansas and on into Oklahoma. Our destination was Pawhuska, Oklahoma. This is the home of a woman - Ree Drummond - who has a cooking show on the Food Network called The Pioneer Woman. She has a handful of downtown businesses which include a mercantile, a restaurant, a bakery, and a pizza shop, all of which reflect her down-home-country tastes. Susan sometimes watches her show and owns a couple of her cookbooks. We started off the day having breakfast at her restaurant and then heading over to the Drummond Lodge, where the show is taped.

Tomorrow we head north into Kansas.