The Rest of Day 6

Pulling away from the officer, I continue my way north, to Oklahoma City. Upon first arriving, I'm surprised how humble it is to be a capitol: no tall buildings, not a lot of energy, and in general it just looked...rough. I find the capitol building. It's only 3 or 4 stories tall and no wider than it is high, made of red brick, and from the amount of yellow buses, apparently the building right beside it is a school. I drive around the building, trying to find the front so I can take a picture. It's then I notice several signs around the building. It's the same sign, but there's lots of them. Every 20 or 30 feet around the property, small, wire-framed signs pinned into the dirt. I slow down to read one. I don't remember all the words that were on the sign, but I definitely recall it saying “Catholic School”. This wasn't the capitol, and I was gonna get arrested for pedophilia if I got out and started taking pictures.

Correcting my GPS (the capitol buildings are sometimes hard to find), I realize I'm on the outskirts of Oklahoma City.

The actual capitol building is much more grandiose and not nearly as humble as its Catholic Schoolhouse cousin. I lose some respect for Little Rock though, because it seems both it and OKC decided to look just like the White House. Rather than be impressed this time, it just feels unoriginal.

Out front is a large tower with a sign saying, “Phillips 66,” on it. I see no explanation as to what it is. I do, however, see a panel with some unmarked buttons on it, but being in Oklahoma I worry it's some sort of tornado alarm and wonder what kind of loud, obnoxious, attention gathering sound I'll make by pressing one of them, so I walk away.

Oklahoma seems to have a deep Native American ancestry. Not only is it shown on their flag but the memorials/artwork they have outside their capitol as well.

And now I have to tell the truth about Oklahoma in relation to my trip: in every state I tried to pick at least 1 thing to see aside from its capitol and National Parks. When it got to Oklahoma, I couldn't find one. I really tried, but Oklahoma remains the 1 state I couldn't find anything interesting enough to go out of my way to see. Eventually, I just settled on seeing the Sonic restaurant headquarters, located in downtown OKC; I didn't stop to take a picture because it wasn't that interesting.

That being said, I did see 3 interesting things in OKC that make me think, at the very least, that city has some hidden energy to it. Those things were 1) a party bus. It was a tour bus driving around when I was looking at the capitol, full of people and blasting hip hop music. 2) I had to let in a stretch Hummer when driving on the interstate, and 3) a Lamborghini. I've never even seen one of those in Columbia. I'm sure they're there, but the point is, I spent 30 minutes in OKC and saw those 3 things, which makes me think there's something more to Oklahoma than my Google searches let on. But until I know for sure, I leave with a new phrase in my mind, “Oklahoma: it's just OK.”

My next stop is in Amarillo. It'll be dark by the time I reach it, and I definitely want to see the Cadillac Ranch, so I'll need to find a Rest Area between OKC and there. The drive to make this happen is excruciating.

Oklahoma and, as I call it, the finger part of Texas, are in real life, exactly as they are portrayed in the movies: flat, long, and boring. I'd always wanted to see it for myself, and I'm glad I did, but after a few hours of it your mind fades away. You no longer have anything to pay attention to. It's not like being tired, you're perfectly awake, but your consciousness is gone. It doesn't help that there are fewer and fewer radio stations the deeper you get into the middle of nowhere, and trust me, it is the middle of nowhere. No exits, no restaurants (hope you filled your gas tank), nothing but flatland, and on this day, fog. A thick fog had come down, so that if there ever was anything within a quarter mile of you, you couldn't see it. A bubble of fog, disallowing you from seeing anything other than nothingness. I forget for what reason, but I needed to continue driving in it after dark, but as dark fell, the fog closed in to the point I couldn't see beyond 70 feet in front of me. I managed to find an 18 wheeler and stayed behind him the whole way: I figured it would be easier to follow his moving taillights rather than the road I could barely see. It was the worst night of driving in my life.

I did however get to see some windmills during the day...

...and that was pretty cool.