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Southwest Oklahoma
Roamin' the Range
Karen and I can hardly wait to begin this tour on our Honda ST 1300. The land to cross is part of the vast Great Plains that stretch from North Dakota through Texas. And because we have lived on the east coast for years, many of the stops planned along our route represent the first time either of us has returned since the carefree days of our youth. Our five-day, 610-mile tour begins and ends in our hometown of Oklahoma City.
Will Rogers once quipped that "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, just wait a minute." The sky is leaden and threatening as we depart Oklahoma City on Interstate 44 south, and I'm thinking that we'll be waiting much more than a minute before this day's Oklahoma weather improves.
Monday: To the Wichita Mountains
State Road 37, mostly void of traffic, takes us west on straight, two-lane blacktop. Approaching Hinton, though, several nice sweeping curves appear and we enjoy tearing through them. After turning south on US 281 in Hinton, we arrive at our first stop in a little over a mile. A steep paved road drops into the 200-foot-deep Red Rock Canyon. The canyon's bottom is forested with sugar maples along a creek that forms a small lake. In centuries past the Cheyenne used the canyon, which is well protected from the cold north wind, as their winter quarters. All but hidden, this jagged red gash in the rolling plains of western Oklahoma is now a 310-acre state park with hiking trails and camping areas. ...
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