So I didn’t write much on our drive of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail eastern half. But I did take a million photos.
Thursday
After Ft. Washita, we headed further southeast toward Carpenters Bluff Bridge near Denison, popped down into town for a quick bite, and then drove along a bunch of rural farm and ranch roads over toward Hugo Lake State Park and finally into Grant where we stayed at a Choctaw Casino for the night.
Friday
Much more interesting driving today, heading out from Grant through a really neat logging area which was packed with tall pine trees and creeks, and a few strange markers.
And then onto the Talimena Scenic Byway over to Mena, Arkansas for our cabin for the night. That was a stunning drive over a mountain ridge that I really didn’t expect to find in southeastern Oklahoma.
I don’t have a lot of photos from the cabin outside Mena because it was, well, a murder cabin in the woods. And it had a giant binder full of strange conspiracy theory material for guests to read…
Saturday
Our big off-road drive for the trip was the Kiamichi Trail up toward the fire tower. It ended up being a really awesome adventure that alternated between clearings in the mountains and tree-lined pin-striping hill ascents.
It was a beautiful day. Though most of the landscape was a muddy-brown before spring, we got quite a view of the mountains and there were enough pine trees to keep things looking a little green.
We made a quick stop for a trailside lunch before continuing on through an even denser forest area to the most spectacular things we saw on the whole trip, the Kiamichi Fire Tower.
There was even a long flooded area that George took off into, bravely, not knowing the depth. Turns out it was pretty shallow most of the way, but that woulda made a nasty tow-out if needed…
The rest of the afternoon was spent winding our way back down, which was not particularly difficult but rather slow going. We spent the night in Heavener, Oklahoma at a tiny roadside motel.
Sunday
We started out at the Heavener Runestone, which was cool. Archaeologists have been trying to determine its meaning, and every few decades a new opinion comes out. According to the linked Wikipedia article, a 2007 masters thesis now believes that this is a modern creation. Either way, it was definitely worth the detour, and the park surrounding it was gorgeous.
We spent the afternoon playing in the rain, driving over old bridges, watching a tugboat pass through a lock on the Arkansas River, and exploring the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center. After all that, it got quite late and we had a pretty exciting night drive on a muddy unpaved farm road that weaved back and forth over a river for the better part of an hour before we landed for the night in Locust Grove.
Monday
Our final day of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail started in Locust Grove and was a pretty uneventful day. More ranch and farm driving as we wound our way back to Tulsa. George and I had a rematch of our little 0-60-0 race from OAT West (I beat him by two feet in the ’05 Xterra but he was also driving alongside Evan at the time and I’d had the road to myself). This time I lost… but it was also my first ever “high”-speed start on this transmission, if I can get any credit for that. George’s prize was a flat that he had to plug in Lenapah. Later that afternoon we ended up back where it all started at Keystone Dam.
I gotta say, it’s been a great ride. And just like OAT West before it, I saw incredibly beautiful landscapes from a state I’d lived in for years but only barely knew. I bet we’ll be back again to repeat some of this.