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One of the goals of my trip has been to obtain a fabulous pair of cowboy boots. They’re so cool and you can wear them with anything and they’re comfy and let’s face it, badass. I’ve been wanting some for quite a while now, but I strongly feel that the best way to obtain such a character item of clothing is to let it find you. It’s much better that way because there’s a story involved. Like, maybe I would be driving on Route 66 and I see someone stuck in the mud on the side of the road, so I pull over to help them and my shoes get stuck and lost for good, so the person I helped would give me a pair of old cowboy boots they had in exchange for my good deed. Or maybe while traveling through Texas, I would see a sign for boot-making lessons and pull over and learn the trade while crafting my own pair. Or maybe I’d earn them in exchange for a week of fruit-picking. Don’t get me wrong. Here in Tulsa there are plenty of cool boot stores. But new cowboy boots are at least $200, plus you have to break them in and it probably hurts. And older boots look cooler.

So, in the process of my boots finding me, I have discovered the joy of Western vintage stores. In my search for things to do in Tulsa, I stumbled across the website for a vintage store- Cheap Thrills. Very hopeful that this might be the source of my boots, I raced over to Cherry Street and drove  back and fourth for half an hour looking for it. Finally, on the verge of giving up, I extended my search a few blocks and spotted the colorful little window front next to Tulsa Scooters. I went in and started up a conversation with the very nice and friendly owner.

Scene: Vintage Heaven. Imagine the best vintage store you ever went into, filled with all sorts of colorful attire, stylish and hokie alike. Now slash the prices by 1/3. You’re in Cheap Thrills- Tulsa’s very own hidden gem of western shirts, 70′s pants, adorable sundresses, and of course, cowboy boots.

After about 2 hours looking around the store, I walked out $80 in the hole, but with a new [old] beautiful pair of cowboy boots ($30), a 70′s sundress shirt+skirt combo ($30), and a perfect western shirt ($15). The boots, of course, are my favorite purchase. There were about 8 pairs on display there. Most were men’s styles (not like it matters), and most didn’t fit me. but when I finally got to the last pair, which I really liked a lot, and tried them on, I heard the perfect pop that accompanies a snug-fitting cowboy boot. And, to top off the perfection of my find, they were the cheapest ones in the store! They’re in great condition and cute as heck and will probably last me 15 years. That was my proudest purchase in awhile…

Check them out, and if you’re ever in Tulsa, be sure to stop by Cheap Thrills!

Cutie!

Down by the main buildings there is a museum which began as a display of all of Frank’s cool stuff. As gifts started pouring in (everybody loves a rich guy!) he built the rooms bigger and bigger around the stuff, and at last had a lovely little museum to show for it. I’m not a huge museum person, but I was pretty impressed with the collection. They had tons of artifacts and a great art collection. I feel like I’ve seen some of that stuff in textbooks before. Definitely worth checking out, even if you’re not into those things.

You also get to go into his lodge (the hangout spot), where you find hundreds of animal heads on the wall along with lots of weird collectibles. Pretty neat to check out. They also have the largest pair of steer horns in the world (9 feet). Kitschy!

The view from Frank's lodge

After doing all the inside stuff, I went out to the barns. On the way in I had met Robert, the delightfully friendly and helpful animal caretaker. Though the barns close down in the winter, he gave me a personal tour. I got to hang out with goats, zebras, a miniature horse (smaller than a large dog), donkey, peacocks and baby water buffalos (squeal!) I pretty much was in heaven. Robert also gave me lots of tips of things to visit along the rest of my trip- hot springs in New Mexico, a mini-Grand Canyon in Texas, a super pizza place to try in Arizona. He definitely was invaluable to meet and reminded me how important it is to talk to people when on vacation. Be friendly. Freakishly friendly. You’ll find much cooler things to do.

After Woolaroc, I headed north another 10 miles, past a wild horse preserve (unforgettable!)  to visit Bartlesville, a super country little city which was also founded by the infamous Frank Phillips. I didn’t stay long. On the main drag, there seemed to be only office supply stores and insurance companies. Weird! The one redeeming thing about Bartlesville is the fact that it made Tulsa seem like the most civilized big city in comparison. Nothing like a little perspective…

I stopped at a few pawn shops on the way home looking for guitars and saw, drumroll…. my first cowboy! A real, live, cowboy hat and boots, tight jeans with chewing tobacco in the pocket, driving a truck with animal feed, cowboy! This was wonderfully exciting and I’m looking forward to meeting many more of this wonderful species. Cowboys, I tip my hat to you.

Conclusions: visit Woolaroc! Awesome day.

My Route- Mt. Arlington, NJ to Tulsa, Ok

On Saturday, January 1, I took off from Morris County, NJ in my 1993 VW Cabriolet, bound for who-knows-where. This little car has carried me relatively safely since last March, so I figured, what’s another 3000 miles? The trip was delayed just long enough for some of those necessities like getting new tires, installing a radio for the countless hours of lone driving, and duct-taping the flapping convertible top down. (See photo). Since *someone* spilled alcohol on my cell phone at New Years, my first stop ended up being my hometown BJ’s and Verizon store to get a replacement. With that sorted out, I began the great journey I’d always sort of wondered about. What happens if you just get on Rt. 80 West and keep going?

Dad! Take a picture of me before I go!

The result, as it soon became clear, is 5 hours of boredom! Ok, I exaggerate, but let’s face it, Pennsylvania is not the most exciting place in the world, and the stretch on 80 only offered a nice blip of scenery every hour or so. I won’t dwell on this part very much… let’s move on.

Ohio turned out to be slightly more exciting. By then I was into the groove of driving. I sustained myself all day with free samples sent to our nutrition blog- Superfoodie.org. Thanks again Qbel Chocolates, GoGoSqueeZ Applesauce, and Adina For Life Holistics juices. The rest of Ohio and part of Indiana flew by. By 9:00 I was dead tired and looking for a place to stop. The only things off of the highway seemed to truck stops- a few fast food joints, motels, and gas stations, and the last few I had stopped in creeped me out big time. Like, I walk into a convenience store and the heads of four creepy old men (the only people in there) turn and stare as I walk across to the bathrooms. It may have been tiredness or insanity from 11 hours of driving, but my paranoia kept me driving for another hour before finding a hotel which passed the test.

That being said, I spent an uneventful night in a Comfort Inn a few miles east of Indianapolis. At this point I should introduce my traveling companion, a delightful little bunny called Bunny. He happily hung out in his cage in the backseat during the day, and I’m sure I had too many conversations with him than I’d like to admit. I didn’t want to pay the hotel’s $10 pet deposit, so I snuck him in in a cardboard box and he spent the night hanging out in the bathtub.

Bunny hanging out in his backseat castle

In the morning, we set out around 10. I was still on my NJ schedule and woke up later than I would have liked to left, but hey, the trip was supposed to be about relaxing, so I didn’t give it a second thought. In the brightness of the morning, the eeriness of the Midwest suddenly seemed cheerful and friendly. I drove through Indianapolis (seemed pretty nice, except for the massive clouds pouring from their factories… worse than industrial NJ or Delaware) and continued on through Mississippi. I guess the next thing I remember after that is getting close to St. Louis. First awesome thing- giant Cahokia Mounds built by the Mound Builders. Unfortunately I wanted to reach Tulsa by evening, and didn’t stop for more info. Wikipedia it, people!

The arch of St. Louis looked pretty awesome, as did the Mississippi River, but again, didn’t stop. I still had another 5 or 6 hours of driving. The landscape of Missouri was beautiful. Very Ozark-y. I spent a lot of the time pretending I was on horseback in an old Western. (Don’t judge- you’d be doing the same thing if you’d been driving for that long!) By then it had started snowing pretty badly, but my sliding was minimal. I slowed it down and made use of the Cab’s manual trans to keep in control.

The first signs of road-side kitschiness that I was so much looking forward to started appearing- donkey farms, walnut-bowl factory outlets (whatever they are!), and hand-painted signs for “chainsaw carvings”. (That just made me giggle again). At this point I knew it was becoming the road trip of my dreams.

I pulled into Cali’s house around 10:00pm exhausted but excited to being the Oklahoma portion of my adventure. Stay tuned for stories and pics from the Sooner State.