Godsman Travelogue

An information board outside The Courthouse provides the following story of life in the late 1800′s – early 1900′s. The nearest courthouse in those days was in Berryville, about 12 miles north. But, sometimes due to weather conditions, the roads could be impassable and/or the river crossing (ford) could be closed. The sheriff and county judges petitioned the government for a courthouse in E.S. This was granted, and initially they operated from a single room. Dissatisfied with this arrangement- they decided to acquisition a bigger building to house the courthouse. the night before the vote was to take place, the sheriff discovered 2 of the county judges were not going to bother showing up. So, he called on the Chief of Police, and dispatched him in the late evening, with 2 extra horses, to collect the 2 wayward judges. They arrived around 5.00am, not impressed with being roused from their homes, and forced to ride to town. When the vote was taken, it was a tie, due to these 2 judges. The tie breaker was the sheriff, who voted in favour of the motion to appropriate funds for a new courthouse. The current building, built of sandstone was completed in 1903.

We visited the Sam Walton museum in Bentonville. He was the founder of Walmart, back in the 1980′s. Another day we went to Fayettevile, about 40 minutes drive south. Lots were first sold here in 1828, and the town soon became known for an interest in education. Several small colleges were founded in the 1840′s and 1850′s. Arkansas Industrial University, established in 1871, became the University of Arkansas. Current enrollment is around 15,000. Their sports teams are known as The Razorbacks – a wild hog with a razor sharp spine. We completed most of the Historic Walking Tour, before using our vehicle to seek out Clinton House, on the west side of the campus. This small, unassuming house holds a place in history. the entire home consists of one bedroom and 1800 square feet. During the 1970′s, it was home for two people who would shape the future of America and The World. Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham were married in the living room in 1975. From 1974 to 1976, they taught law at The University of Arkansas. We really enjoyed Fayetteville, but were sorry we did not have the time (or energy) to walk around the university grounds, where there are many historical markers.

I’m not going to give you a day-by-day account of our activities. Just a synopsis of everything we did during our week, here. Bella Vista is classed as a retirement community with about 25,000 population. There are 8 golf courses in the valley, which also has Hwy 71 drive through on a north to south path. There are also a few strip malls and gas stations. When we arrived, gas was $3.45 per gallon, but it has been creeping up almost daily. By  3rd april it was $3.54 per gallon in some places. Four miles north of Bella Vista is the State of Missouri, and we visited a liquor store there one day, called Macadoodles ! It has everything there ‘on sale’!! Two litre bottles of Smirnoff Vodka – $20. Well known names for rum, scotch, tequila, etc were all in a similar price range. We’ve never purchased scotch in the U.S. because its usually very expensive, but not at this store. Perhaps we will pay this place another visit before we come home!! Doug and Phyllis had purchased John a new Adams driver for his big birthday in mid-April. so, a couple of days he and Doug went to the driving range, and John actually had a 1 hour lesson. He will be having a 2nd lesson, just before we start heading for home on 11th April. Anne bought him a new putter. He played 9 holes at one course, one day, then played 18 holes at another course. The new driver works very well, but now he needs to brush up on the other parts of his game.

On Saturday morning, after such a beautiful Friday, we awoke to low cloud and a threat of rain. The temperature only reached 48F all day. We visited the Science Museum, which is very interactive, and attended an IMAX theatre showing on the history of flight. Then, it was time to hit the road, to return to Tulsa. We were pleasantly surprised to find the Best Western Airport motel, was very quiet and only 7 minutes drive from the Terminal Building. Neither of us felt like driving into the downtown area of Tulsa, so after a quiet spell of reading, we went out for supper, to a buffet place!! Ate far more than we needed, but enjoyed it all, including our first taste of catfish!

The next morning, we took our Enterprise car back to the airport in light drizzle and very cool weather – 38 degrees fahrenheit!! We had driven close to 300 miles in 3 days. John’s brother Douglas, met us at the airport with his car, and we headed for Bella Vista, Arkansas – 150 miles away.

This 150 mile trip, crossed flat farmland with a fair number of cattle, as far as we could tell. It was still cloudy and drizzly, with limited distance vision, and the temp did not rise above 40F!! Doug took us to an IHOP for brunch, just outside Tulsa, then we went direct to his home. A beautiful home surrounded by trees, with the 6th hole of one of the 8 golf courses, in the area, along his property line. The area is very hilly, with narrow winding, barely 2 lane roads, throughout. We checked in to the Timeshare around  4.00 pm,. Our unit was 2.5 miles from the center, in an apartment type condo complex. beside another golf course! Obviously, a vehicle was a must, for staying here, and Doug kindly gave us the use of their Toyota Sequoia, for our entire stay. He and Phyllis, would use their other vehicle – a Jeep Wrangler. Our unit has a large living room/dining room/and full kitchen combination. This means the kitchen had a stove, complete with oven, four burners, etc. There was a microwave, fridge and dishwasher. A 6 seat wood dining table with matching chairs. The living room had a gas fireplace, coffee table, sofa, 2 chairs, and large TV with both VHS and DVD player. and, on southeast side had wall of windows and door onto deck where there was an electric BBQ and 2 lounging chairs. Down the hall, on one side were two enclosed bath and dryer machines, as well as storage cupboard. On the other side was the door into the huge bathroom, complete with toilet, huge 2 person jacuzzi and 2 person glass walled shower, along with 2 personal sinks. Lit by day, by a wall of  glass block windows! The next room was the bedroom with smaller TV, kingsize bed, etc. Very nice indeed. A window on each side of bed opened onto treed area, where birds woke us every morning with their chirping and singing at dawn!

It was about 5 miles each way from our Timeshare to Doug and Phyllis house, and we entered both addresses into the GPS. One night, when we were leaving Doug’s to return to the timeshare, we came out to find thick fog. The GPS came in very handy to provide us with the turns.

We found a very nice, newly refurbished Howard Johnson motel on S.Meridian in  Oklahoma City, and stayed there 2 nights. We were still in ‘rest’ mode, after our travels, so spent the rest of that day at the motel. Had supper across the street at Denny’s, and walked 2 or 3 blocks, just for exercise. When we awoke on friday morning, the sky was clear of all clouds, and there was promise of a nice sunny day. Which turned out to be true, and the temp rose to a high of 80F !!!! Anne drove to Bricktown, which is in the old part of OK City. Free parking was available at Bass Pro Shops, so we left the car there. Then took a trolley bus tour (for Free) around Bricktown. Nearby, there is a new looking Baseball stadium called the A.T.and T. Bricktown Ballpark. It’s address is 2 South Mickey Mantle Drive, and is the home stadium for the Redhawks! Oklahoma has a rich past. Before the creation of America’s interstate highway system which made driving from here to there a breeze, there was Route 66, also known as the Main Street of America. This hwy travels 2400 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles, meandering through the heart of the nation. Nowhere is this historic road, built in the 1920′s, better preserved than in Oklahoma. One can still find small towns awaiting their first traffic light, neon-lit truck stop cafes, old fashioned filling stations, and vintage hotels advertising “air-cooled rooms”. It is now known as US 66. Between 1817 – 1840, the Federal Government relocated the Five Civilized Tribes- the Cherokee, the Seminole, the Chickasee, the Choctaw and the Creek, from their homes in the S.E. United States to the newly created Indian Territory, that would later become Oklahoma. Between 1866 and 1889 Texas ranchers moved their cattle along the Chisholm Trail to reach the railroad in Kansas. Those paid to move the cattle north were called “cowboys”, and they came to symbolize the rough, rugged, often romanticized image of life in the American West. The legacy of this cowboy lifestyle can still be found in business offices throughout Oklahoma City and Tulsa, where Stetson hats and glossy leather boots compete with brief cases and cell phones. In 1879, Will Rogers, the humorist, was born in Oologah. In 1897, the first commercial oil well was drilled in Bartlesville, and in 1889, the unassigned prairie land of the Oklahoma Territory opened for settlement. The dirty thirties, 1933 – 39, saw thousands of depression era “Okies” fleeing the dust bowl of the Great Plains, and move to California’s fertile valleys. There is a wonderful museum here, dedicated to the men and women who pioneered the west, called the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  We have visited a similar museum at Cody, Wyoming, and felt our couple of days here, could be better used seeing other places.

After lunch at The Spaghetti Warehouse, we paid $7.50 each for seats on the canal boat cruise, which took us through downtown, for almost an hour. By now, it was a beautiful sunny, warm day, and we really enjoyed being off our feet! This tour took us all around the main portion of downtown, also known as Bricktown. There are buildings throughout built of brick in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s, and still in use. But, not as their original purpose. similar to downtown Calgary, an energy giant – I think it’s Devon Energy – is building a new skyscraper, 50 floors high, which will be the tallest office tower in the state. One point of interest were bronze statues commemorating The Land Run in                 . These are full size statues of horses, people, and wagons. At the moment there are about 20 statues on the side of the canal, but when completed there will be 48!! All very life like, but black in colour. After a rest at our motel, we drove to Stockyards City. This area contains the worlds largest live cattle auction. We parked the car, and went for a walk, looking in various western clothing shops, before entering Cattleman’s Steakhouse, for supper. We were so late in the afternoon, there was hardly a soul to be seen, but from all the parking lots, we felt it must be a hive of industry earlier in the day. After a lovely meal we returned to our motel, and had a great night’s sleep. Oklahoma City attractions include many, many museums, history centers, and heritage centers. Just south of Bricktown flows the Oklahoma river. This river and the Arkansas River that flows through Tulsa, have been developed into navigable rivers for transporting material to New Orleans, about 500 miles downriver.