Day 1
Saturday, April 2, 2022
The flight was originally supposed to leave at 8A. Instead, it was delayed until 10:30A. It's a bit rough when you work overnights, but an early start is always preferable. Later in the weekend, I read a news story about massive amount of flight cancellations. So, I really shouldn't complain about the two and a half hour delay. Besides, I did get an extra hour sleep and a decent sunrise as I packed the car.
And the walk through the airport rainforest to Terminal B never gets old.
There were two stops for the day. In the original timeline, I'd hit the first around opening time at 11A, and the second before they closed at 4P. Sadly, I knew I'd never make it to Goodwell, Oklahoma in time. But. I just kept reminding myself, the flight very well could have been cancelled.
I've had numerous nightmares dealing with airport rental agencies. The folks at the Oklahoma City Airport AVIS couldn't have been better. I received an email telling me which vehicle was mine(a KIA Sportage...decent ride, but surprisingly hard on gas). I drove off airport property minutes after arriving.
Years ago, my friend Deb sent me a link listing the oldest bars by state. I don't go out of my way for them, but if I'm passing by, they're always worth a stop. That brought me to the town of Okarche and a little place called Eischen's. These days it's more a restaurant that has a few beers available.
Peter Eischen first opened the restaurant and bar in 1896, when Oklahoma was still just a territory. It was briefly closed for Prohibition, but reopened by his son Nick and grandson Jack. Like the canopy outside says, it’s the oldest in the state.
The wooden top for the back bar was hand carved in Spain in the early 1800’s and installed in the bar in 1950. Unfortunately, only a small section survived the fire of 1993. The bar itself reopened eight months later.
The staff was great, the chicken sandwich decent. The Irish Red Ale came from Expenditure Brewery, right up the street. Knowing I'd never make the 4P closing time up the road, I walked up and stopped in for another pint. The Pluto Is Still a Planet IPA hit the spot.
After lunch, it was time to head into No Man’s Land. With the Mexican-American War over in 1848, the question became, what to do with all that land. It wasn’t just what was won from Mexico, but also the disputed borders with the Republic of Texas.
There was also the question of whether these new states and territories would be free states where slavery was banned, or would they leave that up to the them to decide. California banned slavery, the others didn’t.
In exchange for the federal government assuming $10 million of its debt, The Republic of Texas agreed to give up sections of New Mexico, Colorado and south-western Kansas when it joined the United States.
The southern border of the Kansas Territory would have been thirty-five miles south, along the line of Texas’ current northern border. The Oklahoma Cherokee objected, as this would take their land. The government agreed. The border was moved north. East of the panhandle would be absorbed into Oklahoma. Between 1850 and 1890, the remaining land was unaffiliated with any state, simply appearing on government maps and documents as “Public Land.” The locals referred to it as “No Man’s Land”
In the town of Goodell, there's a museum dedicated to the history of No Man's Land. This was my 4P deadline I knew I could never make. Instead, I drove on to Boise City, capital of Cimarron County.
No one really knows for sure the origin of the city’s name. I came across four very different possibilities. One, it was named after Captain James Boice, leader and hero of the 1st Missouri Infantry. Two, that city in the Idaho Territory. Three, The Boise Cattle Company. Four, it was part of a land scam and used the French word for “wooded” to give a false impression of the area.
My home for the night was the Townsman Motel, a rather unassuming place just off Main Street, and only blocks from the county courthouse. The motel was petty dead, with plenty of empty rooms and parking spaces. To their credit, they spread everyone out. Note the Subway Sandwich shop sign. It does come back in the narrative.
Low on sleep from the night before, and from the long drive, I called it a day and crashed out hard.
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