April Roadtrip, Days 14/15... Primus

Day 14

Friday April 15

     Since it was my last real day of vacation, I did get an early start, heading back out to  the Witchita Mountain Wildlife Preserve.  Driving Hwy 115, I saw this sign...

     The folks in the Preserve's visitor center assured me the sign is legit.  The preserve borders Fort Sill and they do occasional live fire artillery.  She also assured me they "usually just close the road."  

     On the drive into the preserve...

    The trail I had chosen was to Post Oak Falls.  There's a trail to the base, as well as another to the top.  The trail was a bit rocky and probably could have been better marked.  But, over all, not bad.  

     Post Oak Falls.  Take into account this IS the dry season.  I asked a couple of guys coming down from the top if it was worth it.  They replied, "not really."

       From the drive out...

    Just east of the preserve sits the town with the curious name of Medicine Park.  As you might guess, it began its life as a resort and spa.  In 1906, a young lawyer by the name of Elmer Thomas fell in love with the area.  The Wichita National Forest, had opened just a couple of years earlier.  Five years prior had seen the selling of land grants and the creation of the city of Lawton.  

    The new town would need readily available water, so he built two dams, creating a small lake.  Alongside the lake, he created the Medicine Park Resort and Health Spa.  It started out fairly primitive, with guests sleeping in tents.  The resort grew.  

     Twenty years after his initial inspiration,  Thomas was elected to the U.S. Senate and sold the property.  It turned out to be a wise move on his part.  The Great Depression all but buried the resort.

     By the mid '80s, the town was in disarray.  The remaining residents began a massive restoration project.  It worked and Medicine Park is a tourist stop yet again.  One thing the town was always know for, are the cobblestone walls.  

    

    Just...wrong...

     It was time to head out and drive the last stretch to Oklahoma City.  In town, I stopped at the memorial to the victims of the Alfred Murrah Building.  It didn't seem that long ago since the bombing, but it was 1995.

    When I planned this trip, I  looking into starting and ending in either Oklahoma City or Albuquerque.  Both would have worked out just fine.  Then I checked concert listings for both cities.  In Albuquerque, Apocalyptica was playing and I was tempted.  But, in OKC, Primus was in town.  They're an acquired taste, but I've been a fan since the early '90s.  So, I bought a ticket for a place called the Criterion.  

     It's in an area they call Bricktown.  What used to be a warehouse district, is how home to numerous bars, restaurants, venues and galleries.   I booked a night in the Country Inn and Suites simply because it was a few blocks away.  

     I mentioned I was in for the show and they told me the motel has a shuttle service that runs until 2A.  Bonus.  No parking fees!

     I had the shuttle drop me off at the last brewery of the tour, Bricktown Brewery.  

     Not having to worry about driving, I lingered over an extra pint until it was time to walk the few blocks to the venue.

    

     Primus was in the middle of a Rush tribute tour.  Pre-Covid, they had done a few dates, not expecting it to take off.  Based on the response, they kept it going, at least until everything shut down.  This was their first show since.

     The band came on around 9P and played an hour set of their best known songs.  They opened with "Those Damned Blue Collar Tweakers."  

    They took a brief break, then came out for the Rush tribute.  Seeing Rush individually as teenagers impacted greatly on the future members of Primus. So, the second set of the tour is them playing Rush's album "A Farewell to Kings" in it's entirety.  

     For the encore, they introduced a new song, Conspiranoia, played live for the first time that night.  The show let out around 11:30P and I decided to walk back to the motel.  It really was that close.  

     I asked about a wake up call.  But, a sign of the times, the motel didn't have room phones.  Fortunately, the cell phone's alarm went off right on time.  

     There were four flights I could have taken that would get me home in time for my night shift.  Not feeling that daring, I was on the 7A flight out.  This way I wouldn't have to be that worried about delays.  But, we left right on time.  The downside, it was one of those flights that's just bouncy enough to keep you from getting any sleep.  

    But, we did take off and arrive on time and I had plenty of time to take a long nap.

David

4/22

PS: The next trip out is in May.  I'm just driving up to see Mom.  I tried to do this in January, but would have been driving through an ice storm on the way up, with another right behind.

     June, I'm making yet another attempt at Michigan's upper peninsula.  And then there's the trip to Jersey in late July.  I'm trying to wrap my head around this being my 40th high school reunion.  

April Roadtrip, Day 13...Bison Everywhere

 Day 13

Thursday April 14

    There were only two things on tap for the day.  First, a return to Caprock Canyon State Park.  The plan was to tackle the six mile out and back Canyon Rim Trail.  It was fairly level and I was expecting an easy go of it.  

   But first, a bison herd...

     To get to the trailhead, I had to ditch the car and walk around the prairie dog town, while keeping an eye on the other herd of bison milling around on the other side of the road.

     The trail begins alongside a campground full of RVs.  A few people were out with their morning coffee watching the bison and listening to the clearly agitated prairie dogs.  .  As for the trail, at this point, it's through a nice wide open area.  Though there's plenty of evidence not only humans use it.  

       The wide open area was beginning to narrow and I was starting to see canyons on both sides of the trail.  At about the half way point, it drops down a bit to it's narrowest point.  

     Ordinarily, I would have thought nothing of it as I walked on.  But, something was nagging at me the further I walked.  Ten years ago, I was doing a similar hike through Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.  I had chosen a double loop trail that took me pretty deep into the park.  Suddenly, there, at the one single choke point on the trail, a herd of bison and it was clear they weren't going anywhere soon.  

    If a similar thing happened here, I'd have to go the long way around.  So, I turned around.  In the end, it was the right decision.  Part of the bison herd did in fact cross the road and were now in this part of the park.  More on that later...

     From the top of the hill...

    I did add an extra half mile or so with a side trail overlooking Holmes Canyon...

      Meanwhile, at the next trail junction...

      Another short loop through Holmes Canyon...

      Yeah, I definitely made the right call to turn around when I did...

     Back at the trailhead and annoying the prairie dogs...

     It was time to move on.  On the road outside the park, there was another fence with shoes on the posts.  I just wasn't sure what all the bicycles were for.

     From this point, it was just a matter of zigzagging through the Texas countryside, back towards Oklahoma.  

    My goal for the afternoon was Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge has numerous trails throughout.  What I didn't know, they also have a bison herd.  Their herd runs six hundred.  

     There wasn't enough time to commit to a long trail, so I simply chose one in the area they call Dog Run.  The trail heads back along the river to a small canyon...

     It was one thing to be surprised with the bison encounter.  This was something else...

      There's a quirky place in neighboring Meeks I had read about, simply named Meeks Store and Restaurant.  It turned out to be an interesting place.  The food, nothing special.

     

     The plan for the morning was to come back to the Preserve, so I had booked a night in neighboring Lawton, Oklahoma.  

   Sunset from the parking lot...