It was the last chance to visit sis, the nephew & the bro-in-law in Enid OK before they move to Japan, so I felt it was important to make sure that the kid had a chance to visit before the party leaves Enid. The kid had been to Iowa and Illinois the weekend before, so I was worried he would rebel against more airplane time, and more interruption of his routine. To the contrary, the kid is born road warrior, loves slow Southern summer days, and agrees that he and I should bail on our workaday life and start ridin' the rails like a modern day Bojangles. Not sure we'll go that far, but it is nice to know the kid is willing
Since there are no direct flights between Oakland and Okie, we had to connect at LAX. That is ok because they have an area where a young chi can do some squats and leg-lifts in full view of the beautiful people in the cab line.
My little alpha male usually goes the extra mile and spreads the joy a bit with a full-on power move with the back leg. It impresses the ladies and scares the beta males.
Our layover was long enough that we had plenty of time to chill outside, but since it is June, it was still too cold for us to be super sun-worshipping. We would get plenty of that done when we landed in OK.
So far, the little Roomba has done pretty well with family dogs. He & my mom's dog aren't life-long chums by any means, but they got on well enough to hang under one roof. I wasn't sure how things would go with sis' dogs since they are both younger and have a well-established pack dynamic. Oh, and Booms is aggressive sometimes and likes to bitch-smack other dogs in their own domains. Not nice. Yet, our initial fears passed and the Roska-dogs basically looked at the midget like a bit of a curio and gave him run of the casa. By the time we left, I think Booms was all but an honorary Enid-iot.
It was a weekend of firsts for me & the kid. Most importantly, the kid hasn't been to OK before (that I know of), but he was born in Texas! This was his first return to the great Southwest since he was just a pup on the range. The kid also experienced his first thunderstorm (there ain't many in Oakland), and even if not his first, it certainly was his biggest (he did ok, but he did dive under the covers.) Sis also lives right along a fairly busy BNSF Railroad train line, so the kid also had to deal with a loco horn for real. He did excellent.
Where we live in Oaktown, we hear the UP trains and Amtrak through town all night long, but they are distant from the actual apartment. Not so in Enid. Everywhere in Enid is near one track or another - that is one of the things I like most about it!
I love trains and love train-picture hunting in Enid, but I also have become a big fan of dog parks. Sadly, Enid has NO dog parks! All of our walking and exercising had to be done street level, and while it may make me a bad parent, one of the easiest walks was to take the kid down by the tracks.
There aren't many 5-lb hobos on earth; after all, trains are big! The railroad life may not have been set up for small dog enjoyment, but the kid did the best he could. In this case, he couldn't hit the stones at high speed without hurtin' his paw, so he did the "Tween-Tie-Leap" to keep up with me. His agility could come in handy if we ever really did choose a life on the rails. I think he probably could win a junkyard dog Olympics with skillz like these.
Not wanting to get smooshed or to have my mutt eaten by hobo jungle refugees, I didn't keep him on the rails long, and we made our way back into the subdivision. The kid likes running around as much as anyone, but he loves rolling around on the grass too, and the lawns of the nation's interior are far superior to the anemic lawns of the west (the west shouldn't even try - it waste's water and the results are weak!) The kid LOVES the great lawns of the great plains!
As a state, OK is not very bike or pedestrian friendly. I saw few sidewalks in Enid and even fewer bike lanes. It is fair to say, with the Chisolm Trail heading through town, Enid makes more provision for cattle on the hoof than mankind and his canines on theirs. I am not sure if ranchers down in Mexico, even in the state of Chihuahua, actually use Chihuahuas in their ranching operations, but Booms loves snarling at cows. If that keeps them doggies rollin' then my doggy probably would feel quite at home on the Chisolm Trail. I may never know since he stopped walking before we got there. Sigh.
Boomie's first trip to OK is a big deal, but in truth, I was thinking more about it being (very probably) my last visit to the state of OK. Without my sis and her fam there, I have not many reasons to go back. I know they weren't converted into big fans of the state, and I must confess, it really isn't for me either.
I love Enid because of the amazing silos through town. I have never seen anything like it in my life. It is actually beautiful in its own way. The winter wheat harvest starts right about now, and I would have loved to catch the silos in full swing, but I was just a smidge too early. I think if I ever were to make it back there, it would be to see Enid during the harvest. The land of the plains is beautiful, but to see it come alive at harvest, with trains a-go-go, would likely be epic for me. Since late June is harvest - and the time when they have their "Hoggin" festival - I may find myself there again someday. Only time will tell.
One habit I have been indulging of late is the complete abandonment of vegetarianism when in an area where competent BBQ is served.
Outside Enid a bit is the town of Lahoma, where Turkey Creek BBQ is located, and this has become a regular stop on visits to NW OK. Getting to share quality BBQ with the nephew is can't miss (though I think he had the grilled cheese with fried okra.) I have a bias against all BBQ that isn't pork based, but to the degree one can call turkey and brisket BBQ, I think the folks at Turkey Creek know how to lay it down.
At some level, it probably is sacrilegious to give prime BBQ to a dog, but this is a dog who was on very good behavior and they always give me more food than I can eat there. It is true that the kid would eat room temp horse meat from off a workboot with relish, but I did detect particular enthusiasm for the brisket and turkey I brought out for him. When done right, BBQ needs no sauce, and indeed, the Lahoma stuff needs none (though I enjoy what they make available.) The kid was quite pleased to not have to get so messy to partake.
The place was packed so we didn't have the choice to eat outside. I think the only improvement we might have had - from Boomie's point of view - was to be able to seat him! He missed the social benefits of communal dining, but I think he will manage.
Since Enid is nowhere near an interstate and is tucked into one of the lowest population density areas of the continental US, it really is a time capsule in many ways. With all the railroad activity, it probably was easier to get in and out of town in the 50s than it is today. It really feels like it is just out there in the middle of nowhere and passed-over by time. I realize lots of people get nostalgic for small town life back in the day, but each time I get closer to its remnants, I feel as if I would just as well see it in a coffee table book. Actually, I'd probably prefer it that way since it distills down much of the value.
Small town nicey-niceness is probably something I would appreciate more if I had kids, but I went to a cookout/party with some of my sister's Air Force co-worker/friends, and almost none of them were small-towner Okies, and we had just the nicest summer afternoon you can imagine. Places are really geographic in a secondary sense - the value of a place is really a matter of the people you find there. Sitting out with strangers who get to know each other by playing with their kids or by playing a game of Hillbilly Horseshoes (Cornhole, or Bean Bags) would be awesome anywhere. If I was tossin' the bags on a Manhattan rooftop, in coastal Carmel, or in an Enid backyard, the value of the event to me personally would be determined pretty much the same way - by the kind of people I met. I liked the people I met at the party, and would have liked them anywhere.
After the politics of the last 8 years, I have had a gut full of all the shit about who the "real" Americans are and what region is the caretaker of our national values. So much of the self-congratulating done by the Heartland Value types is based primarily on how little people there know about what goes on beyond the end of their nose. It is no different than New Yorker Know-It-Alls who betray how little they realize NY is an anomaly. The truth is usually complex, tough to reduce, and based almost exclusively on the individuals you meet.
Case in point - my visit to a performance by a Jefferson Davis impersonator put on in one of the big Enid parks. While it is true that there is not enough demand for even one Jeff Davis impersonator in much of the north for there to be anyone who can do it, I found that the occasion of finding one presenting in Enid wasn't as one-dimensional as I expected it would be. One of the first things I do when I get somewhere new is to scan for local radio stations - especially on AM radio. In Enid, there aren't many local stations, but one is a crackey-right wing station which is mostly syndicated stuff, but local enough to have had the impersonator on their morning show as a guest. I listened, half-asleep, and couldn't believe anyone would spend time trying to make the case that Ol' Cross-Dressin' Jess was a nicer slave-owner than he is given credit for! That someone wanted to push that angle, and do so in public, draws me like moth to flame!
I thought for sure the presentation would be wall-to-wall Confederate apologists, militia kooks, discontent Conservatives/Bush voters, and the usual rabble a hard-right state like OK could field with ease. While there was some of that there, I have to say, the actual Q&A segment after the Jeff Davis speech re-enactment (which was the usual southern rectal-bilge), the questions from the audience could not be said to be sympathetic. So little so, in fact, that the character said that Okies were basically Yankees anyway (for future reference nutjobs - Yankees are New Englanders...the two lads from Illinois behind yer ass-whoopin' weren't Yankees, they were just good old fashioned upper-Midwesterners doing a job they didn't particularly relish.) This was quite a pleasant surprise. It doesn't change the fact that they had such an event, but with OK trotting out the old "Sovereign State" BS lately, I was pleasantly surprised. I went to the event for anthropological reasons, and it may be that not everyone there went in sympathy either. One can't assume.
Eventually, it was time for me and the kid to head out. I made my visit to the farmer's store to buy some cheap blue jeans (I have lost much weight and their $9.99 jeans are a good hedge against further weight changes in either direction - plus I love farmer's stores.) I had sweet tea from Chick-Fil-A. I basically did everything but buy fireworks and blow crap up just because I could. If indeed it turns out that is my last visit to OK, I can't say I didn't give it the old college try.
The kid was plenty rested by the time we headed home and was exceptionally well-behaved at the airport and on the plane.
Cultural relic and D-list celebrity Wavy Gravy was on our flight from OKC to Los Angeles, and it was tempting to get the dog riled up and have Mister "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" attack Mister "Don't Eat The Brown Acid", but I too am a man of peace and love, and in looking at the condition Mister Gravy was in after a life of hippy hedonism, there is nothing anyone could wish on him that didn't visit him organically.
I hope to see my sister, nephew, and bro-in-law again before they leave the country, but it is possible that I won't. In that event, I will see them next in Tokyo Japan which is about as far from Enid as anyplace gets on earth.