2019 SPRING TOUR

Trip Summary

Day 1 - April 5

Time Place Thing

8:00 AM Junction Coffee (Usually at Civic Meet to depart Center Music Hall)

8:30 AM Junction Coffee to Hotchatown via Depart OK-3

Noonish Rib Shack BBQ Lunch 1300 N Park Dr Broken Bow, OK 74728

4:00 PM Get Out of Dodge Lodge Check In 254 Willow Bend Rd Broken Bow, OK 74728

5ish Beavers Bend Brewery Happy Hour 46 Coho Road Broken Bow, OK 74728

7:00 PM Abendingo’s Dinner 259 Stevens Gap Road Broken Bow, OK 74728

-1- Trip Summary

Day 2 - April 6

Time Place Thing

7ish Get Out of Dodge Lodge Breakfast 254 Willow Bend Rd Broken Bow, OK 74728

8:00 AM E-Z Mart Gas Up 10053 North US Highway 259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

8:30 AM E-Z Mart Depart for Drive 10053 North US Highway 259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

Noonish Marcos Mexican Restaurant Lunch 101 W Main Street Antlers, OK 74523

5ish Get Out of Dodge Lodge Return from Drive 254 Willow Bend Rd Broken Bow, OK 74728

5ish Grateful Head Pizza Happy Hour 10251 US-259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

7:00 PM Grateful Head Pizza Dinner 10251 US-259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

-2- Trip Summary

Day 3 - April 7

Time Place Thing

7ish Stevens Gap Restaurant Breakfast 9955 US-259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

8:30 AM E-Z Mart Depart for OKC 10053 North US Highway 259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

Noonish TBD Lunch

3:00 PM City Arrive

-3- Route - DAY 1

Turn right/east out of the Kamp’s parking lot onto NW 10th Street

Take the immediate right/south onto N. Oklahoma Avenue.

Stay on Oklahoma Avenue for approximately 3/4 of a mile until NE 5th Street.

At the light, turn left/east onto NE 5th street.

Get into the right-hand lane.

Veer right onto Centennial Expressway to merge onto Interstate 235 /Interstate 35.

Stay on I-35/I-235 for approximately 20 miles through Moore and Norman.

-4- Route - DAY 1

Take Exit 108A toward OK 9 eastbound.

Follow the curve onto OK 9 eastbound.

Stay on OK 9 eastbound for approximately 4 miles to the US 77 junction.

-5- Route - DAY 1

Take the exit for US 77.

After exiting, turn left/south onto US 77.

Follow US 77 south for approximately 15 miles to Purcell, OK.

(We’re going to follow US 77 south for approximately 55 miles to Davis, OK. Supplemental instructions to help with the random turns are below).

The town of Noble is home to the Timberlake Rose Rock Museum. The rose rock (otherwise known as barite rose, desert rose, or selenite rose) gets its name from its striking appearance. Its “petals” are layers of flattened crystals that fan outward from its center, giving it a delicate floral look. Their reddish hue adds an extra rosy touch. Oklahoma is so fond of the flower-shaped stone it made it the official state rock in 1968.

-6- Route - DAY 1

Just north of Lexington, OK if you look right, you’ll see a rather unusual version of the VW Beetle. Built by Monte Bodine in 1973 or 1974, the Spider Bug is popular local attraction.

In Purcell, US 77 becomes W. Washington Street. Follow Washington Street approximately 1000 feet from the city limit to the intersection with Green Avenue.

At the intersection between W. Washington Street and Green Avenue, turn left/south to stay on US 77.

Stay on Green Avenue/US 77 for approximately 2 miles to the intersection with W. Weedn Road. Signage for this turn is poor.

Turn is just past Walmart.

Turn left/southeast onto W. Weedn Road/US 77.

Stay on US 77 for approximately 20 miles to Paul’s Valley.

In Paul’s Valley, US 77 becomes N. Ash Street. Follow N. Ash Street/US 77 for approximately 3,200 feet after entering the city limit to the intersection of N. Ash Street/US 77 and Grant Ave./OK 19.

-7- Route - DAY 1

Follow signs to remain on US 77 by turning left/northeast onto Grant Ave./OK 19.

After 1,000 feet, follow signs to remain on US 77 by turning right/southeast onto Chickasaw Avenue.

Follow US 77 south for approximately 8 miles to Wynnewood.

In Wynnewood, follow signs to remain on US 77 by turning right/south onto Dean A. McGee/US 77.

Continue on US 77 for approximately 10 miles to Davis, OK.

-8- Route - DAY 1

In downtown Davis, turn left/east onto OK 7 toward Sulphur, OK.

Follow OK 7 approximately 8.5 miles to Sulphur, OK.

(From here, we follow OK 7 east approximately 65 miles to Atoka, OK. Supplemental directions to help with random turns are below).

Oklahoma Highway 7 winds through a number of Oklahoma State Parks, including Turner Falls State Park, Lake of the Arbuckles, Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Boggy Depot State Park, and McGee Creek State Park.

Approximately 2 miles inside Sulphur, follow signs to remain on OK 7 by turning left/north onto OK 7/W. 1st Street.

After approximately 1600 feet, follow signs to remain on OK 7 by turning turn right/east on E. Oklahoma Ave./OK 7.

-9- Route - DAY 1

Follow OK 7 for 6 miles to the junction with OK 1.

Turn right/south onto OK 1/OK 7.

Follow OK 1/OK 7 for approximately 11 miles until the two highway’s split.

Turn left/east onto OK 7.

Follow OK 7 for approximately 11 miles to the junction with US 377.

Along Highway 7 around this area, the scattered trees and shrubs of the western prairie begin to fade into an eastern deciduous forest.

Follow signs to stay on OK 7. Turning left/north onto OK 7/US 377.

Stay on OK 7/US 377 for approximately 1 mile.

At the junction of OK 7, US 366 and OK 99, follow the signs to veer right/east to remain on OK 7.

-10- Route - DAY 1

Stay on OK 7 approximately 30 miles to Atoka, OK.

Just to the South of OK 7 is Boggy Depot State Park. Boggy Depot was built on the military road from Fort Washita to Fort Gibson in 1834.

During the Civil War, a Union raiding party fought a Confederate group at the Battle of Middle Boggy Depot a few miles northeast of Boggy Depot, which had become the major supply depot in for the Confederates. After the Civil War many of the original settlers abandoned Boggy Depot.

Inside Atoka, OK 7 merges with OK 3. Stay straight to remain on OK 7/OK 3.

Stay on OK 3/OK 7 for approximately 85 miles to Broken Bow, OK.

Just west of Broken Bow, you’ll cross over the Glover River. The Glover is Oklahoma’s last major free-flowing river, and home to the endangered leopard darter and the Ouachita-strain smallmouth bass – a unique, genetically pure strain of this fish found nowhere else in the world.

Secluded and not well-known this river has remained untamed (no dams block its course) and un-commercialized. Located in the southeast corner of the state this pristine river runs southward through most of McCurtain County. It flows from the southwest corner of the , parallels Hwy 259 until it flows into the Little River and turns off to the east.

An old iron girder bridge takes OK 3/OK7 over the River.

-11- Route - DAY 1

Inside Broken Bow, turn left/north onto US 259/N. Park Dr.

Follow N. Park Drive/US 259 for 1 mile.

Stop for Lunch. Rib Shack BBQ, 1300 N Park Dr, Broken Bow, OK 74728 (will be on your right/east).

After lunch, turn right/north out of the parking lot, and follow US 259 north approximately 9 miles to Hochatown.

We’ll rendezvous at the parking lot outside “Girls Gone Wine” and figure out what to do until check into the cabin at 4:00 PM, but we may be able to check in earlier.

The Cabin information is as follows:

Get Out of Dodge Lodge 254 Willow Bend Rd Broken Bow, OK 74728 (580) 494-3400

Directions to the Cabin:

From “Girls Gone Wine” turn left/south onto US 259

Turn on the immediate right/west turn onto Kaniatobe Trails.

(It’s almost directly across from the south end of the Girls Gone Wine parking lot).

-12- Route - DAY 1

At the first intersection, veer left/south to remain on Kaniatobe Trails.

Approximately 600 feet after the first intersection, follow the curve right/west to remain on Kaniatobe Trails.

The Lodge is approximately 400 feet after the curve, on the left/south side of the road.

-13- Route - DAY 2

START Shell Station/EZ Mart Located at 9914 North US Highway 259, Broken Bow, OK 74728

Turn left/southeast out of Shell parking lot onto US 259.

We’ll drive through Beavers Bend State Park and Lake Broken Bow. The 22-mile long lake lies in the of McCurtain County in southeastern Oklahoma, and its crystal blue waters provide a variety of water recreation including scuba diving and fishing. Beavers Bend State Park, located along the Mountain Fork River just below the dam, provides cabins and many other recreational facilities.

Follow US 259 for approximately two miles to OK 259A

Turn left/northeast onto OK 259A

Stay on OK 259A for approximately 11 miles through Beavers Bend State Park until he loop returns to US 259.

Turn right/north onto US 259.

Stay on US 259 for approximately 15 miles toward the junction between OK 144.

At the junction of OK 144 and US 259, turn left/west onto OK 144 toward Bethel OK (signage is poor/non-existent). There is a gas station and a sign for Bethel Missionary Baptist Church at the intersection.

-14- Route - DAY 2

Stay on OK 144 for approximately 2 miles.

After 1.5 miles, you’ll arrive in Bethel. Turn right/north to remain on OK 144. Signage is poor. Look for signs to Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and Kiamichi Family Medical Center.

Stay on OK 144 for approximately 15 miles.

Go straight at the intersection of OK 144 and Indian Route 144 onto Indian Route 144.

Indian Route 144/Indian Service Road/Indian Highway, along with US 271 is part of the Kiamichi Trace, a military trail that followed the Kiamichi River.

Honobia, Oklahoma is the self-styled “Bigfoot Capital of the World” and hosts the three-day Honobia Bigfoot Festival and Conference in October. You may see signs declaring the Indian Highway as the “Home of Bigfoot.” More info at https://www.honobiabigfoot.com/

Remain on Indian Route 144/Indian Service Road/Indian Highway for approximately twenty miles until it intersects with US 271.

Turn left/southwest onto US 271 for approximately 15 miles.

US 271 takes us near the town of Tuskahoma, OK. Tuskahoma was designated as the capital of the Nation in 1882. A spacious Choctaw Capitol Building was completed in the fall of 1884 and remains to this day.

-15- Route - DAY 2

Continue on US 271 for approximately 20 miles to Clayton, OK.

US 271 between the Red River and Ft. Smith follows the Kiamichi Trace, that was once a military trail connecting to Fort Gibson (near Muskogee), Boggy Depot, and ultimately Ft. Smith, AR. Fort Towson was established along the Red River in 1824 to guard the border with Spanish colonial territory to the south. It was largely abandoned once was annexed by the US but later became a Confederate fort during the Civil War.

The last Confederate Army troops to surrender did so at Fort Towson on June 23, 1865. While the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, Virginia signaled the end to the conflict, it did not truly end until the surrender of the last fighting Southern troops at Fort Towson.

Depending on time, we can make a detour around via Sardis Cemetery Road/OK 2 and OK 43. The 22-mile loop will take approximately half an hour.

At the junction of OK 2 and US 271, veer right/north onto OK 2.

Follow OK 2 north approximately six miles to Yanush, OK.

In Yanush, turn right/west onto SW 240th Road/Anderson Creek Road. Signage is poor. SW 240th Road is right before you reach the gas station.

Follow SW240th Road for 4 miles to Sardis Cemetery Road.

-16- Route - DAY 2

Turn left/south onto Sardis Cemetery Road. Signage is poor. Look for sign to Sardis Cemetery.

Once you can see the lake, drive carefully. There is not much shoulder, but people will fish off the bridges.

Follow Sardis Cemetery Road for five miles to a Y intersection. Road signage is non- existent.

Veer left/south to remain on Sardis Cemetery Road.

remain on Sardis Cemetery Road over the causeway for approximately two miles. There does not appear to be space to pull over or stop.

After crossing the bridge, Sardis Cemetery Road meets OK 43 in a T intersection. Signage is non-existent.

Turn left/east onto OK 43.

Follow OK 43 for approximately 9 miles to the intersection with OK 2.

Turn right/south on OK 2.

Stay on OK 2 for two miles until it joins with US 271, then resume directions below.

-17- Route - DAY 2

Sardis Lake is named for the now defunct town of Sardis, Oklahoma. The town was founded in 1905. During the 1980’s, the US Army Corp of Engineers built Sardis Lake to serve as a and for tourism. The town of Sardis was emptied and is now covered by the lake.

The only remaining vestige is the town cemetery, now located on an island in the lake connected to the shore by a short causeway.

In Clayton, look for the OK 2/US 271 junction. Signage is hard to see. Turn is located next to Corner Café and just before the large Shell station.

Turn right/south onto OK 2. Stay on OK 2 for approximately 35 miles to Antlers, OK.

-18- Route - DAY 2

During World War II, a training flight conducted by Britain's Royal Air Force went awry in poor weather and two planes crashed. One crashed into the south slope of White Rock Mountain above Moyers (visible to the right/west between Kosoma and Moyers), Oklahoma, and another crashed on Big Mountain (west of Wadena, OK). Two fliers lost their lives in the latter crash. School children from Rattan, Oklahoma erected a monument to them, the AT6 Monument, on Big Mountain in 2000.

In August 1975 the Kiamichi River came to national attention when two elephants escaped from a circus in Hugo, Oklahoma and were hunted for days in the bottomland of the river. Hugo was a popular winter spot for traveling circuses beginning in the 1930’s, and is sometimes called “Circus Town, USA.”

Hugo actually sports a cemetery called “Showmen's Rest,” which is dedicated to deceased circus performers.

After entering Antlers, turn right/east onto W. Main Street/US 271.

Lunch stop in Antlers at Marcos Mexican Restaurant, 101 W Main St, Antlers, OK 74523. Marcos is on the corner of Main Street and High Street approximately one mile after the turn from OK 2. After lunch, continue on US 271/W Main Street eastbound for 1.5 miles to a Y intersection.

Veer left to stay on US 271.

As US 271 crosses Big Cedar Creek (just south of the OK 144 junction) it winds through Sulphur Canyon. You’ll notice the walls rise sharply as you cross the creek. Sulphur Canyon is so named because it has a natural spring with sulphur- containing water.

-19- Route - DAY 2

Stay on US 271 for approximately 28 miles to junction with OK 144.

At the Y intersection, veer right onto OK 144.

Stay on OK 144 for approximately 36 miles to the junction with US 259.

Turn right/south onto US 259.

This section of US 259 is listed as one of the most scenic roads in Oklahoma. The scenic portion runs from Big Cedar to the north down to Idabel in the south.

John F. Kennedy traveled to Big Cedar in 1961 to open US 259.

Stay on US 259 for approximately 35 miles to Hotchatown.

-20- Route - DAY 3

START Shell Station/EZ Mart Located at 9914 North US Highway 259, Broken Bow, OK 74728

Turn right/south out of the parking lot onto US 259.

Follow US 259 south for approximately 8 miles to Broken Bow, OK.

The land that would become Broken Bow was owned by the Choctaw tribe prior to being settled by colonizers. The town grew up around a lumber company started by the Dierks brothers. Broken Bow is named after the Dierks brothers’ hometown, Broken Bow, Nebraska.

The city lies within the Little Dixie region of Oklahoma, an area originally settled largely by Southerners seeking a new start following the .

Turn right/west onto OK 3.

Follow OK 3 for approximately 85 miles to Atoka.

In Atoka, look for intersection of OK 3/US 75 and US 69. At the intersection, turn right/north onto US 69/Mississippi Ave.

Stay on US 69 north approximately 1.3 miles to the split between US 69 and US 75.

-21- Route - DAY 3

Atoka Turn left/west onto US 75/OK3 toward Coalgate and Ada.

Stay on US 75 for approximately 15 miles to the junction of US 75 and OK 31 in Coalgate, OK. In Coalgate, follow signs to remain on US 75.

-22- Route - DAY 3

Coalgate The town of Coalgate, Oklahoma was founded in 1889 as a coal mining camp named Liddle in the Pushmataha District of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory.

The town name changed to Coalgate on January 23, 1890. The new name was taken from the steel gate or "coal gate" that separated the trains from the coal mines north of town.

Coalgate was the site of the very first bank closing performed by the State of Oklahoma when the International Bank of Coalgate was closed on May 21, 1908, and Herman C. Schultz, acting as an Assistant State Bank Commissioner, liquidated the

-23- Route - DAY 3 bank, paying off all depositors in full and returning the excess to the bank's shareholders.

Turn right/west to remain on US 75/OK 3.

Approximately four miles past Coalgate, US 75 splits from OK 3. Stay straight to remain on OK 3.

Stay on OK 3 for approximately 30 miles to Ada, OK.

In Ada, Oklahoma On April 19, 1909, an organized mob hanged four men, including notorious outlaw Deacon Jim Miller, who was set to be tried for the murder of a former U.S. marshal and Ada resident. The town had a population of about 5,000 at the time, and 38 murders a year at the time of the lynching.

The Daily Ardmoreite reported that the four lynched men were "one of the bloodiest band of murderers in the state of Oklahoma and an organization of professional assassins, that for a record of blood crimes, probably has no equal in the annals of criminal history in the entire southwest."

Outside Ada, OK 3 merges with US 377. Follow signs to remain on US 377.

Remain on US 377 for approximately 42 miles to Interstate 40.

Just prior to hitting Interstate 40, you will pass through Bowlegs, Oklahoma. The traditional but unverified story behind the name is that the community is named after Chief Billy Bowlegs, a

-24- Route - DAY 3 leader of the Seminoles in Florida. Bowlegs is thought to be an anglicized spelling of Bolek, which was a Seminole name.

Following extensive conflict with the US Army in Florida, the US Government bribed Billy Bowlegs to relocate to Indian Territory peacefully. Upon his arrival in Oklahoma in late 1858, A journalist described the chief as having “two wives, one son, five daughters, fifty slaves, and a hundred thousand dollars in hard cash.”

Turn left/west onto Interstate 40.

Follow Interstate 40 for approximately 45 miles to Oklahoma City.

-25- Gas Stations

Gas stations are sparse in places on Day 2, but there appears to be fuel available in:

Hotchatown Honobia Yanush Clayton Antlers Kosoma Octavia Smithville

-26-

Useful Information

Ryan Reaves’ Phone (405) 203-9939 Number: Lodge Location: Get Out of Dodge Lodge 254 Willow Bend Rd Broken Bow, OK 74728 (580) 494-3400

Useful Addresses Rib Shack BBQ 1300 N Park Dr Broken Bow, OK 74728

Beavers Bend Brewery 46 Coho Road Broken Bow, OK 74728

Abendingo’s 259 Stevens Gap Road Broken Bow, OK 74728

E-Z Mart 10053 North US Highway 259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

Marcos Mexican Restaurant 101 W Main Street Antlers, OK 74523

Grateful Head Pizza 10251 US-259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

Stevens Gap Restaurant 9955 US-259 Broken Bow, OK 74728

-27-