Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, Lawton, OK
It was either a full moon or pretty near to a full moon last night. Either way it lit up the red cliffs of Palo Duro Canyon and just added to the magic of this incredibly beautiful Southwest camping site. We had visited this campground about 6 years ago and did a really fun bike ride. Since then, this State Park has really become all about the mountain bike riding experience. There were lots of trails to choose from! First thing this morning, after a false start due to a bridge being rebuilt, we finally found the perfect trail. Even tho I'm much more of a "Rails-to-Trails" bike rider, I really did enjoy riding through the rough terrain, thru the canyon and up to the cliffs. It seemed like we had the whole canyon to ourselves and really enjoyed the bunnies running across the trail and the birds singing away. We did a solid 10 mile ride before finally heading out. What a great way to start the day.
We continued our drive thru the panhandle of Texas and passed through some sad little towns. I suspect that by the next generation these towns will no longer exist.
As it was now, they seemed on the verge of being ghost towns barely hanging on and situated so forlornly in the dry dusty plains. They all had the ubiquitous court house in the middle of the square, but almost every store front was vacant, dilapidated or boarded up. At one point we stopped at a DQ (pee break for me, ice cream for Ned) and there was a sign taped to the front door saying "Sorry, out of ice cream. Expecting truck delivery sometime today." DQ's are as common as Baptist Churches in these Southern towns, so it really did feel a bit blasphemous to have this last bastion of Southern Americana fade away.
When we rolled into Oklahoma it was as if someone waved a magical wand over that imaginary geographical state line. Suddenly, the dry arid plains with sage brush rolling around turned into fields of newly planted cotton or wheat. The terrain sprouted occasional trees and gentle rolling hills.
Tonight we are staying at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Southwestern Oklahoma. Yes, the internet didn't fail me on this one! It is touted as being wild, rugged, and weathered. It's 59,000 acres and we are camped amongst 650 head of bison, 300 head of longhorns and too many prairie dogs to count. We took the scenic backroads into the refuge and as we drove over a hill, were in awe of the bison herds wondering about and delighted in watching the antics of the prairie dogs. The campground is under a grove of oak trees and has all the modern amenities a girl could want - flush toilets and hot showers.
Tonight as we were eating dinner (Grilled rib-eye steaks and sweet potatoes) a brilliant brick-red colored little bird sat about 2 feet from me. He hung out there for several minutes just chirping away. Pretty cool! We took a drive at dusk to see if we could spot anymore bison. We saw a few, but not as many as this afternoon. Loving the wide open range with all the wildflowers and wildlife.
