We spent the morning at Don and Marie's farm and had a great time feeding their cattle. We learned that when the hay dries up, its protein value diminishes so the cattle's diet is supplemented with protein pellets. All of the cattle know Don and come when he gets to the field. Some were shy with us but others were happy to eat the pellets that we offered. Don also took us to the Southern Cheyenne - Arapaho Indian lands, which are just across the road from their ranch, to see buffalo. The tribe has a herd of around a hundred buffalo that originated from Oklahoma. They are kept for enjoyment and tradition. The herd was off somewhere but we did see one in the corral.
After a nice long visit with Don, Marie, and Matt, we had to leave. Our next stop was Oklahoma City, not far as the crow flies but lots of traffic. We've been used to wide open spaces and not many cars, so this "back to the city" traffic wasn't fun. Mark, though, by researching with his trusty iPhone, found us a fabulous vegan/raw food restaurant for lunch. They have an innovative, excellent menu. Yesterday carnivore's delight, today veg-head heaven.
We spent a couple of hours at the excellent National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. It is a large, very well organized, informative museum. It includes sections on Western history, film, clothing, horses, barbed wire, even a replica of a Western town. We particularly enjoyed the rooms dedicated to Charles Russell and Frederick Remington.
We had planned to continue on old Route 66 north of Oklahoma City but had to forgo that as by now it was after 4 and we had a 4-hour drive ahead of us (that's if we used I-40). It was a long day and by the time we arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas we were definitely ready to stop for the night. We've completed our Route 66 adventure and are now ready to head into the south.
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