From Kansas to Oklahoma

In yesterday's post I showed you a few pictures from our road trip to Kansas. We had a serious decision to make while on our adventure, because on the day we left Colorado, in fact only a few hours after we drove away, the Waldo Canyon fire breached the ridge and our beloved Colorado Springs began to burn. On that day, almost 350 homes were lost (and sadly, two of them belonged to friends of mine). Thanks to our smart phones, Pat and I got the news in real time as our friends were posting horrifying updates to Facebook. We were faced with the dilemma of whether to continue our little trip or turn around and go back home. In fact, we were quite anguished and I blogged about it from Kansas -- you can read my post HERE. We decided to at least make it to Atchison, spend the night and see the Amelia Earhart Museum in the morning, then make a decision about whether to go home or not. After seeing the museum we had a long talk. Ultimately we decided to stay the course and continue onward to our next destination:   Tulsa, Oklahoma. There would have been no point in going home, and the air quality by all accounts was very bad in Colorado Springs. So to Oklahoma we went, and I'm glad we did. We had a great adventure.

The photo above was taken not far beyond the state line. We were amazed at how different the sunsets in Kansas and Oklahoma are from what we get in Colorado Springs. For one thing, we never get a perfect orb of a sun like this, and those blood red skies. I would describe this as quietly spectacular.

Below, a few more photos below from our brief trip to Oklahoma.

One of the reasons Pat chose Tulsa as a destination was that he was certain they must have good barbecue there.  He was right.  A lot of research and deliberation went into choosing just the right barbecue restaurant, and it came down to a little place called Elmer's.  I am a vegetarian, but I told Pat I'd have barbecue with him so I had some chicken (and it was delicious).  Above is Pat's meal of smoked barbecue ribs, baked beans, Texas toast and coleslaw.  He was in heaven!
 

After fortifying ourselves with delicious Elmer's barbecue, we went out in search of landmarks used in the film Rumble Fish, which was shot on location in Tulsa by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983.  This large arrow features prominently in the film.  It's pretty cool that we were able to find it.

This bar was featured in Rumble Fish as the pool hall where Rusty James and his friends hung out.  A few pivotal scenes took place here (not to mention that the bartender was played by Tom Waits!).

I shot this view of Tulsa's downtown without realizing that Francis Ford Coppola used almost exactly the same shot in his film.  When we got home from our trip we watched the film again, after not having seen it for well over two decades, and I almost fell off the couch when I saw the similarities.  I think he must have been standing only a little to the right of where I stood to take this picture.  You can see his shot in the trailer to the film.

Last but not least, Cain's Ballroom, where the Sex Pistols infamously played in 1978. Of course Pat and I are huge fans of the band -- when we were in London several years ago we tracked down a couple of venues where they used to regularly play. It's kind of fun that we were able to see one of the only seven places they played in the U.S.!