Going old school with this post. Originally when I started this blog, it was always the written word and of course some funny pics. Kept it going for a few years, then a bunch of life happened and I stopped. I’ve tried to go more video post here and there but as a medium I just kind of bore myself. Reality is I like writing even if it’s just for me, right?

A couple weeks back I found myself somewhere in middle America. Tulsa, “The Oil Capital of the World” as they once called it. My daughter Ava, a huge Outsiders fan of both the book and the movie, wanted to visit there so we could go to the Outsiders museum, which is the old house where the movie was filmed, and also see several other filming locations. This may sound like kind of an odd vacation spot, but, oh my, was I surprised. Aside from the Outsiders stuff, Tulsa is quite the forgotten gem.

It’s called the Oil Capital of the Word because of the oil boom circa the 1930’s. Because of the wealth that came along with this boom, the city has a vast array of art deco architecture. The downtown is filled with these buildings. Don’t make’em like that anymore. It’s also a stop on my favorite mother road, ol’ Route 66. Which means fun little stores filled with odd trinkets and 50’s diners. There is also an incredible little art district in the the historic part of town, with museums, restaurants and even an awesome little minor league baseball park. We visited two of the museums, one being a tribute to native son Woody Guthrie and another to my fellow Minnesotan, Bob Dylan. We were there for only 2.5 days but really could have stayed for a whole week. Who woulda thunk it eh?

The kicker was that while it was late July and the temps were pushing 97-98 degrees, it felt like it was more in the mid 80’s. It’s possible because this because this desert dweller had just crawled out of Arizona that it felt so cool. But really, it’s not extreme temps, so the dryer air does make it feel cooler than it is. And to top it off, there were no bugs. Felt great to me.

Both Ava and I had the time of our lives and enjoyed every minute we were there. I will say, the only drawback was the car rental. The cheapest car available to rent was a Tesla, which I jumped all over (me so smart). But in hindsight, you might want to think twice about renting an electric car in oil country. While there were some chargers available there was only one Tesla station. Maybe should have saw that coming? Cheapest car rental :). Had to figure that out as we went.

It’s funny though, probably like a lot of people, I’m looking around the country and seeing very few options in terms of places I would like to reside in my later years. All the big cities seem to be riddled with overpopulation, crime, over-inflation and homelessness. Yet for anyone who’s spent time in the big city a small town maybe just feels a little, small? Isn’t there a middle ground somewhere? Possibly Tulsa is the place. The population is close to a half mil, which is enough to support museums, restaurants and other cultural attractions. But also it’s small enough that everything is within a 5-15 minute drive. Also housing is reasonable, (median price being about 250K. And of course in oil country gas is cheap, about 2.60/gal. (3.60 in Phoenix). That along with a relatively mild climate, what else could one ask for?  

All that said, what made the trip so awesome was having that funny little 14 year old tagging along with me reciting all the lines from the Outsiders and doing little re-enactments as we went. I mean, how can you beat that? Stay Gold Pony Boy!