Texas and Oklahoma

After several great days of R&R in Texas,
it was time to mosey on.

The first stop on our northward journey was to be
another GPS point; in actuality, our first stop was to put
on our rain gear because the sky was once again
looking REALLY menacing.

Our second stop was here, at this flooded-out road
about two miles from our destination coordinates.
As we sat sweltering, peeling back out of our rainsuits,
a local pulled up to take stock the situation.
After some humming and hawing, he determined that it
was probably "The Old Stone Church" that we were
looking for, and gave us alternate directions.

(Yes, I've crossed much bigger rivers on my motorcycle,
but I was with far less discerning company at the time.)

...And indeed, our target was
St. Olaf's Kirke.

Built in 1886 for the Norwegian
settlers in the area,
this historic church is beautifully
maintained inside and out.

Oh, and there are lots of turtles
on the roads around here.
Just so you know.

Our next planned stop was a GPS point
in downtown Ft. Worth, but with the
St. Olaf Detour we would be getting there
smack dab in the middle of rush hour.

On top of that, Zumo kept warning me of
severe weather alerts in the area which
supposedly included hail and high winds.

Hmmmm... No thanks.

Instead, we kept west and picked up Reno,
Texas for our first IBE point of the day.

Our next photo op
was at the Oklahoma border
for another IBE locale
and three more easy points.

Oooh - look at that enthusiasm!

We called it a day at the
Ardmore, Oklahoma KOA,
netting us both a nice place to camp
and another IBE pic.

A call to our back-up weather source
(Mom) confirmed that the weather in
Dallas had been extremely dangerous
that evening. Looks like that three
point sacrifice was a good call!

That evening we dined like kings on
left-over Rudy's BBQ, and awoke the next
morning to find that the storm had provided a
pretty pleasant layer of coolness.

Not quite rain, just really damp air.
Hey, as long as it's not flooding or hail storms,
we'll cool off any way we can!

On our meandering journey through Oklahoma
to our first IBE point (Chattanooga) was possibly
the most regretted missed photo of the entire trip.

We were cruising up this tiny back road in the
middle of nowhere when we came upon about a
dozen cows standing side by side, all backed right
up to the fence giving us the tail-end salute.
It's like they knew we were coming...

I was laughing so hard - you couldn't set up a shot
like that - but I'm sure by the time we stopped and
got the camera ready they would have found more
pressing matters to attend to elsewhere.
<sigh>
At least we'll always have the memories...

Another zig-zaggity dip southward
returned us to Texas,
where we picked up IBE point Fargo.

Peak Population: 200

Current Population: This sign, plus the
guy who wandered by to laugh at us
taking pictures in front of this sign.

Back in Oklahoma, we found ourselves
on a tiny one-lane road passing through
a little wisp of a town called Elmer.

In admiring this great old building I saw that
"Post Office" was painted over the doorway;
needing stamps, we decided to stop.

On our way in we noticed that the tile work in front of
the entryway read "Bank", and the design of the room
with an old brass cage in front of the counter
certainly supported that declaration.

It turned out to be a Post Office, and I asked the lady
working the counter what the story was with the
conflicting signage. She said that the building had in
fact been a bank, but the post office moved in after the
bank closed due to a robbery. She thought the
robbery took place in 1902, but her mom was born in
the next town over in 1920 and she knew for sure that it
was robbed some time before she was born.

Isn't small town history awesome?