HOM: Oologah

When we left Rolla we kept going SW, mostly on I-44, but I made a side trip up into Kansas and visited Coffeyville, where the Dalton Gang met its end. This was a dual-purpose side trip -- I wanted to be able to say I'd visited Kansas & I have always been interested in Cowboy history. I see that Coffeyville is now the home of Amazon's main distribution center. When I was there, it was a quiet little country town. That's Progress, I guess. From there, we headed for Tulsa and Oklahoma City, with a side trip to Oolagah. Why Oologah? Will Rogers' birthplace! Some of my favorite quotations came from him and his cowboy wisdom.

• Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House.
• Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.
• Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.
• I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.
• I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they do today.
• I'm not a real movie star. I've still got the same wife I started out with twenty-eight years ago.
• Nothing you can't spell will ever work.
• On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.
• Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.
• The best doctor in the world is the veterinarian. He can't ask his patients what is the matter-he's got to just know.
• There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.
• This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
• The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best.
• The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.

We scouted Tulsa and Oklahoma City and found quite a few good books to send Jerry-ward. We had a funny episode in one of the bigger book stores we shopped in. I found a reference book on rare Western Americana in a rack of other books and debated on buying it but decided it was too expensive and put it back. When we checked out I mentioned the book to the shop-keeper, who instantly got excited. It seems it was one of his personal reference books and he'd misplaced it a few weeks before and been looking for it since. Nope, we couldn't find it again for him. I have always been grateful for that episode, though. When I misplace things in-store, it encourages me to remember that I'm not the only Absent-Minded Bookman. TBC (Me) (Blacktail Books)