How about a day drive??
I've ran a few of the sections on the south east corner mainly from Talihena south to Hugo. Got a weekend free and clear of the wife and kids (though my daughter usually goes on stuff like this with me) so decided to go knock out another leg of it since it wouldn't take more than a day trip to do it. The OAT (OKLAHOMA ADVENTURE TRAIL) is actually setup for dual sport and adventure style motorcycles kind of like the various back country discovery routes setup by Butler maps so don't expect anything difficult or crazy on this route.
If it's raining it can cause these back roads to be a totally different experience especially if you get too close to the shoulders.
I left my house in Greenville around 630 and ran into town to see if anyone else was going and to pick up breakfast. No one else showed up so I pushed north east on my own. It's about an hour and ahalf from Greenville to Hugo. Not a long drive by anymeans but boring.
Hugo is also known as Circus Town USA. A bunch of different circuses have used the town as a winter time stop over and headquarters for over 50 years now. Apparently 3 still to this day call the town home during the winter time. The main draw to the town as far as the route goes besides fuel and possibly food is the Mount Olivet Cemetery which has a whole section that is dedicated to the circus folks and performers. It's called Showman's Rest and has some interesting tombstones. On it's perimeter are a series of granite pedestals with Elephant statues topping them.
This lady had a ton of kids, grandkids, and great grandkids
Zefta Loyal. Apparently well known in the horse community? Dunno I'm not a horse guy.
My brother is very much into rodeo. Figured I might as well grab a shot of Lane Frost's grave while I was there.
A while on down the road I stumbled across this wood working shop that had "free kindling" out front. I grabbed a few pieces and tossed it in the Jeep. The shop was closed.
Not too much further down the road I came across "Muddy Boggy Creek". This would be a river where I came from haha. This area did have a lot of low lying swamp land.
As is typical with many of these back road bridges there is a side trail to get down under the bridge, where locals tend to hang out..........and drink tons of Keystone Light apparently.........then not pickup after themselves. Not in the pictures was a deceptive mudhole at the top. I went though it to the right and saw water pop over my hood for a second. Should have checked the depth first haha.
Human beings are so trashy
I saw plenty of areas along this route where people were using some spots as dump areas.
In contrast with the large fancy cemetery at the start of this thread I stopped by this little sparsely populated cemetery I just happened to come across. The newest grave site I found in here was 2013. Being born was a dangerous profession in the 18 and 1900s. Lots of gravestones in this one with born and died dates less than 10 years apart, some same day.
A crude gravestone someone has tried to perserve. All that is legible is the last name
This was the earliest Born date I found in there. I have to say this is the first grave stone I've ever seen marked as "War of 1812".
Just a neat bridge I came across
Mason's Lodge in Albany, Ok.
The highlight of the trip. The Carpenter's Bluff bridge. It's an old railroad bridge that was converted to a vehicle use bridge. Was actually in regular operation up to a few years ago when they built a new wide 2 lane with shoulders bridge right next to it. Of course the whole area surrounding this bridge is destroyed with litter
I saw at least 2 flat screen TVs and a few couches and countless pieces of plastic, cardboard, ect ect ect. The old wood planked foot bridge on the side of the existing railroad bridge is rickety with whole sections of planks missing. Theres At least 2 spots where it looks like people tried to build a camp fire directly on the wood planks. Insane.
Most of the way across the bridge you can see the river bottom
And of course there's the obligatory side trails that will get you down on the river under the bridges.
YOu can see the rope tied to the bridge that folks use to swing into the river. Considering the height of the bank, shallowness of the river and length of the rope it seems like it would be easy to mess yourself up on that thing haha.
A little bit before getting to the bridge I had put my lunch on the intake manifold to warm up
Lunch of Champions. I've been really impressed with these little bagged meals from Campbells. Just wish they had more variety. Maybe they'll expand the line.
Even with the ricketyness of the foot bridge it was still walk able just watch where you are stepping. I went out about mid span found a section that was missing it's guard rail and sat on the edge and had lunch and looked down the river using the binos.
I always like historical roadside stuff.
Welcome to Preston, Tx. The original town is under all that water now, sacrificed by the Army COE to build Lake Texoma. The only thing left is the cemetery up the hill which a church group was cleaning up when I went by. Now the area is just vacation homes on the Lake Texoma. And no I did not back into the water there was a large HD pickup there right before me that was backed into the lake. Not sure why. This town is not part of the OAT I just like Ghost Towns and it was only about 20 mins away after I got off of the OAT and pushed back into Texas.
After this I pushed on back to the house another 1.5 hour drive south east. I had basically driven a large triangle. This section of the OAT is about 110 or so miles long. The roads are nicely maintained for the most part and you can easily maintain 45 MPH or so safely. It may not be hardcore trails or the like but cruising all day with the windows down, nice weather and very little traffic but cows to keep me company made for a nice day. Next section I'll be checking out will be Durant to Mount Scott north of Wichita Falls.
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