Still OK in OK

September 11 – Oklahoma City

Before we started our trip west, we wanted to make time to see a little bit of southern Oklahoma, so we headed south to Wynnewood to visit Joe and Norma Menefee. Joe is the type of guy who is (truly) your best friend within ten minutes of meeting you. Just standing in line with a bunch of strangers, he can make connections that few can. Joe and David met in 2001 in the beginning of a series of cases that David handled for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. Now retired, Joe put in over 30 years with OG&E, starting in his teens.

Joe and Norma live on a nearly 500 acre spread about an hour south of OKC. They grow mainly alfalfa and soy, and have beaucoup pecan trees. (They even have Buckeye trees.) Norma takes care of about six horses.

They’ve done a lot and, as one friend of the Menefees put it, “Joe has a lot of stuff.” They have six buildings on their property including their house. They have been working on their house this year, reclading it in some pretty cool cultured stone. They’ve laid some concrete porches that surround the house and that will be the subbase for pavers. The interior features a huge cooper sink in the kitchen, and wood burning fireplace in the living room that will be their back-up heat (through ventilation to other rooms, and a geothermal heating and cooling system that sounds sweet. (When it was on while we were there, standing next to it, it made less noise than your average refrigerator.)

Joe and Norma's house

Their other buildings contain all manner of equipment, including at least two tractors, a backloader, a combine, a baler, at least half a dozen trucks (some that even run), a couple of cars, his-and-hers four-wheeler ATVs, his-and-hers John Deere mowers, his-and-hers sprayers, the largest power washer that we’ve ever seen, miscellaneous trailers and two Harleys. (And these are only the things that we remember.)

For Norma’s horses, they have a newly created stable area, with a shower area and tack room.

We took an ATV ride around their property. It was quite impressive: from their numerous fields to several creeks, and a lake stocked with bass. We also saw more grasshoppers than we’ve ever seen before in one place.

Gassing up the ATV with Joe Menefee and his dog Jake

Ready to roll with Jake as our guide

A long horn that Joe keeps, according to Norma, "for his head"

Norma with Lily and Ellimae

The Menefees took us for a ride around Wyennewood and the vicinity. Wynnewood is located on State Route 77 which, like Route 66, at one time had been a major thoroughfare. In the case of Route 77, it was the main road between OKC and Dallas. About a half hour south of Wynnewood is a town called Turner Falls. The home of – as you might guess – Turner Falls, it is a recreational area located in the Arbuckle mountains. “Mountains” in Oklahoma is a relative term, but the Arbuckles are famous for containing vertically striated layers of rock, created by tectonic pressure that pushed the horizontal deposits of the ancient ocean floor to outcrop vertically. These mountains contain some of the oldest rock in the United States.

Turner Falls is also home to Smokin’ Joes BBQ. A place so popular that at 3PM on a Saturday afternoon, they had a line extending out the door. In fact, we couldn’t find an open spot in the restaurant; we had to eat outside. Nevertheless, it lived up to its billing as one of the most popular places to eat in southern Oklahoma. We met several people in line who had come a fairly long way (including one group who had driven up from Texas).

We also drove through the Chickashaw National Recreation Area, which featured some lakes and streams that were being well used. We also drove through Sulfur, Oklahoma, which, as the name might imply, got its name from a sulfur spring into which they had drilled a well that turned into a fountain in the middle of town. At one time, the town hosted thirteen train loads a day to bath in or drink the sulfur water. As we drove around town, we wondered whether being a business in Sulfur might have some drawbacks. We saw a sign, “Sulfur Meat and Dairy.” It didn’t sound too appetizing to us.

We drove back to OKC starting at a little after 7. Driving along the backroads from the Menefees' farm to the Interstate, we couldn't help feel that we were on the set of the movie, “Twister” (which we were – the movie was filmed, in part, on the Menefee farm and the surrounding area.) Once in OKC, we drove through Bricktown, a hopping part of the city, with numerous restaurants and bars. We walked up to the Skirvin Hotel, a recently renovated hotel with an old-time feel, dark wood and red felt drapes and a wood-paneled piano bar in the lobby. We had a night-cap and a little bar bite. It was a nice way to end the day.