BOILING SPRINGS STATE PARK, WOODWARD, OK-CAMP 7

Once again we chose to stay at a campground we were familiar with.  This time it was campsite # 4 in Boiling Springs State Park.  I blogged about this campground in 2009/2010 as well you can read the write up about it by clicking on the hyper link above.

The campsites there are basically first come first served.  This time we were in one of the only ten 50 amp sites in Whitetail campground, site #4.  While the site wasn’t bad, we have had better, much better. 

Our nightly rate was $21 instead of the posted $23 because this is an Oklahoma state park and they give a $2 discount to seniors. It is open year round but the maximum you can stay is two weeks and there are no weekly discounts.

The picnic tables are so close to the pad asphalt pad that if your unit is very long you might have to park a little closer to the benches of the table than you prefer. At 37 ft we barely fit on the asphalt pad, in fact our rear stablizers were on the gravel part of the pull through site.

We choose site 4 because it had a bit of shade, appeared to be an easy in and out and the drop off from the pad to the gravel was minimal, unlike a couple of the other sites where it was almost a curb height drop off.

The bathroom was a few rows over and while old and needing some renovation it was clean.

We weren’t allowed to fly the quadcopter at this campsite so I am afraid still shots of the area will have to do.

As the sign indicated there are three types of campsites at this particular campground and the best shaded sites are the tent sites.  However we saw a LOT of big red ants in those campsites, so if you are tent camping come prepared for them. 

In our evening walks we went a couple of places at the state park itself.  One was the nature trail very close to our campsite and directly behind the nice playground with its own version of the “Kissing Rocks” (see Dogpatch USA, post).

The other was the boiling spring itself.

While on the nature walk we took various photos of the campground, some unique natural “sculptures”, huge Osage Orange (Bodark) trees and the nearby tent sites.

This tree was at our campsite and upon looking at it various times we decided it was a tree spirit couple.  Do you see the bearded man and his mate?

When I wrote previously about Boiling Springs State Park I wrote about being disappointed about the “boiling” area. Not so this time.  They have greatly improved the area where you view the bubbling effect of the glaciers of years ago.  There is now a nice park area with information panels, benches and a nature trail to enjoy.

While the actual “boiling” of the spring in this area is not all that spectacular, it is interesting.

Every evening we would see this beauty or one of its herd show up just a couple of campsites away from us.

While at Boiling Springs we naturally took a side trip to Ft. Supply and another one to Shattuck, OK to visit the Windmill Museum, both were interesting and free.  Although they do accept donations. The best type of entertainment.

In our travels through Gage, OK we stumbled across a Jim’s Metal Art Museum that was out of business, but still had numerous sculptures sitting around. 

WINDMILL MUSEUM AT SHATTUCK, OKLAHOMA

Another of our many stops in our travels was this small, free (donations welcomed) museum at Shattuck, Oklahoma.  In a day when windmills hold the promise of our electrical future a museum dedicated to the history of these ingenious devices seem just the thing to see on a very windy and hot day. 

There are four buildings on the site.  The one that holds item too frail to be outside any longer, the gift shop/office, a renovated soddy and the living quarters of the original owners.  You can tour any or all of the buildings with the volunteer that is working that day.

The lady that lead us around and told us the history of many of the items, sorry I forgot her name—one of the perils of not writing blog posts immediately after a visit, was very knowledgeable and pleasant.

She braved the heat and wind to walk over the slightly uneven ground with us as we took photos and asked questions.  It was all very pleasant.

When you think of windmills if you are older you think of the tall cone shaped ones with big blades and tulips. 

If you grew up in farming country on the plains it is more likely you would think of the metal ones that have the blades out front and a simple tail behind. 

The younger generation now thinks of the three blade electricity generators that cover the nation now.

They all do the same thing, they harness the power of the wind to do work for us. 

Many fine specimens were on exhibit here at the tiny museum right on the corner of the highway.  You can’t miss it. 

It was at this location we purchased our third souvenir for our travels (the second was a t-shirt for Gary from Jack Sisemore’s RV Museum because we loved the place so much) .  I purchased a pull chain for our camper ceiling fan that was a prairie style windmill.  In case you haven’t guessed already  we like for our souvenirs to be useful.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  Our first stop was to walk through the towering windmills to the original home of the owners.  It is furnished with many original furnishings.  I always like to take a peek at how people use to live. So this and the soddy were both interesting to us.

My favorite of the windmills had some interesting blades on them.  The blades would either open all the way or just partially depending on the wind needing to be caught.

The first photo shows one such red and white redmill open all the way and the second shows a couple of them partially closed, much like a collapsible umbrella.

Once again a genealogy name popped up as we toured historical areas this time it was Ballew some of my husband’s ancestors were Bilyeu which was at one time in history Ballew.  Possibly a relative goes with this marker, but then just as likely not.

While the museum is small it was worth the trip over to Shattuck from Boiling Springs and it was on the way back from there we came across the MetalArt Museum in Gage.  So it was two free viewings for the price of fuel for one.

There were other items there like a well digging rig to made from auto parts, horse troughs and much and other items of a by gone era.  So the windmill museum was definitely worth our time.

Jan who loves finding different types of museums all over the USA in and away from OK

FT SUPPLY HISTORIC FORT

In November of 1869 a 450 wagon train crossed the Kansas prairie to enter what was then Indian Territory to establish Camp Supply.  This was the beginning of a long a busy history of Ft. Supply in northwest Oklahoma.

In 1894 the fort was abandoned for military use and sat pretty much vacant until 1908 when it became Oklahomas first state operational mental institution. 

In 1969 the Oklahoma Historical society took over the remaining five historical buildings.  These were what we were going to see on the first morning we set out to visit Fort Supply.

Our first surprise arrived when we arrived at the gate of the William S. Key Correctional Center.  You read right, it was a penitentiary that shared a gate with the historic site.

No one had told us that the historic site was ON the grounds of a penitentiary.  As we sat there at the gate, stunned, verifying that the sign to our right said we were indeed at the gate for Ft. Supply as well. 

A guard came to the gate, checked out the contents of our truck, both front and back, and asked who we were there to see.  We told him the gentleman we were to meet and he told us he wasn’t there today.

We told him we had made a special appointment, but the man was late for the appointment.  I called the curator and discovered he needed to reschedule.  So we did.

The next day, he was late again, but he did show and helped us really enjoy the history of the fort.   We were able to go into a few buildings and wander the grounds with certain limitations.

Because parts of the historic site are actually enclosed inside the fencing of the prison we were not allowed to use our quad copter for the privacy of the inmates, nor could we take photos of certain areas for fear we would get their images in them. 

As we wandered around trying to imagine the fort in the height of its glory we looked at the renovations that have been done to help preserve this bit of our history.  One such building was the guard house. 

It had recently been renovated, although they were still looking for period correct items to complete the reconstruction.  They even had the sign up that they needed these items.

If you know where these items can be located I am certain they would be thrilled to know.  However, because they are currently self funded by donations to the historical society for a few years to come because federal funding has ran out a donation of these item would be even better.

Because of its location and budget limits you will need to call to make an appoint to visit the site and to be touched by its history.

There is no cost to visit the location, but donations are accepted. Here are a few of the photos we snapped that day.

The guard house as the renovation nears its end.

9-35, 37-39,

The commissary

Once we had visited the buildings, collected a few brochures and made a donation we were released from the prison grounds and headed back toward Boiling Springs.

Along the way we passed this historical marker.  The Boone it was referring to was Nathan Boone, one of my family members.  So we found it interesting and snapped a photo.

It is strange how once you get into genealogy you become more and more interested in history.

Jan who enjoys seeing items of days gone by, especially when they tie to her ancestry in and away from OK