Eastward, Ho! Day 11 & 12: An eye-related scare and the Will Rogers Museum

 Wednesday, June 10

Last night, Martha had some issues with what she thought were an allergic reaction to pollen or something around the campsite/lake.  Woke up feeling fine though so we went ahead and drove the Sammy over to Bartlesville to meet up with Andy and Rhonda G. to tour the Woolarc Wildlife Preserve, a legacy of Frank Phillips of Phillips Oil fame.

On the way there, Martha started feeling worse and worse in terms of pain in the eyes, so after meeting up with Andy and Rhonda, we made our apologies and hurried over to a nearby Urgent Care facility.  Martha was given a numbing agent for the pain (which wore off very quickly I must day) and a steroid shot for what was diagnosed as a strong allergic reaction.

We then headed over to the local Walmart to get some antibiotics in case an infection developed.  Martha was not feeling well at all and was experiencing extreme sensitivity to light as well!  Once we got the antibiotics we hurried on back to the campsite so Martha could get some rest inside the darkened VRRV.

She would end up feeling much better later on after some rest and the steroid shot having taken effect, fortunately.  The plan is to confirm things are OK with an eye doctor tomorrow in the town of Claremore, OK where we also plan to tour the Will Rogers Museum.

As Martha rested, I was outside and saw another visit by the neighborhood Great Heron:

The girls next door then decided to once again walk towards the Great Heron, causing it to take flight again....

Some people.....

Here's tonight's sunset for our last night here at Birch Cove:

Thursday, June 17

We left the lovely camping spot in the Birch Cove COE Campground and drove SE towards Claremore and the Will Rogers Museum.

First though, Martha went to see an optometrist and her eyes are fine, mainly a case of Eye Dryness with some allergy thrown in.  She's much better now, no need for further steroids or worry.

The Will Rogers Museum is very nice, impressive facilities and very well laid out.  Admission is only $7, $5 for military/veterans.  There were a couple of school groups in the building but it was large enough to enable me to avoid them.  It was otherwise not very crowded.

The life and times of Will Rogers, Oklahoma's Favorite Son, actor, radio personality, comedian, vaudevillian and beloved commentator is detailed using mostly photographs, paintings and printed media.  Here's some of the stuff that caught my eye, by no means even close to what's on display:

I can picture him using a laptop....

Remington Artwork

Will was part Cherokee Indian

I liked the dioramas depicting scenes of his life, here he is, typing away at an article for publishing while working as an actor in the movie: Connecticut Yankee.

Here, he's broadcasting on the radio for the first time:

Unfortunately, the country lost Will Rogers, along with flying ace Wiley Post.  Their airplane crashed while near Point Barrow, Alaska:

A model of the plane they were flying in before the crash

A painting based on a photo taken before their final flight:

Will Rogers is buried in the Memorial Area, of which the museum is a part.  He, his wife and kids, are together:

After the museum, it was the doctor appointment for Martha which I talked about before; then it was on to the campground for the next few nights:  Short Mountain Cove, another COE site, this one along the mighty Arkansas River.

The site itself wasn't as great as our last site but it'll do.  It's got power and water, not much shade and no swim beach area but for $10/night, not bad.  We'll be exploring nearby Fort Smith (Arkansas' second largest city) I think and just generally relaxing.

Eastward, Ho! Day 10: Pioneer Woman and her Kitchens

 So, we'd camped at the Birch Cove COE Campground in order to be within 20 miles or so of the town of Pawhuska, OK.  Martha wanted to check out the shooting locations for a favorite show of hers on HGTV called Pioneer Woman.

Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman, is a famous TV personality who shows viewers how to prepare her recipes with a Midwest home-style cooking.  She opens her "home" at her family's ranch near Pawhuska to tourist and we were in town at the right time for a viewing.

Rhonda and Andy, friends of ours from the Dallas area, had driven up and met with us at noon today.  We went in Andy's car to Pawhuska, found the lunch wait at the mercantile store the Pioneer Woman had restored was almost two hours!  So we decided to grab a quick bite elsewhere then headed out to the Drummond Ranch.

Quite the spread, this ranch.  We made it there with no issues and the following pics show you a glimpse of the lodge used for shooting the HGTV episodes of Pioneer Woman:

The below pics show one two sumptuous kitchen setups in the lodge, very fancy.

The first and more industrial kitchen used during the early portion of the show:

The huge back deck from where you could admire the huge ranch the lodge is situated within.

Returning back to Pawhuska, Andy and I checked out the historic architecture of the downtown area while the girls checked out the offerings at the Mercantile Store owned by Pioneer Woman.  Covid seems to have affected her supply lines as the offerings really weren't very much.  (more later on re this architecture, possible)

A homage statue to the Osage Indian Warrior

Andy at the Osage County Court House

Salt and Pepper shakers at the Mercantile

While we wandered around the downtown, Andy spotted signs that a portion of the downtown had been configured as a movie set!  Turns out, they're shooting the movie: Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  

The cast and crew were off shooting somewhere else apparently according to the security guard we chatted up. If we end up seeing the movie, it'll be neat to see the spots where we were perhaps!

Tourist activities complete, we went back to the campground and cooled off with a dip in the lake, all four of us.  After some snacks, Rhonda and Andy left for their hotel in Bartlesville and we agreed to meet up with them tomorrow, there, to tour a nearby attraction.  Tune in for that destination.