Overnight: Oklahoma City, OK
Today we rose early to take the car in for an oil change. I had suggested this while in Albuquerque, but we kind of got lazy (well, I guess I should say "I got lazy") and opted just for a car wash while in ABQ. But, true to form, as soon as we were well on the road out of Amarillo, the "you'd better change my oil" light came on. So, today was the day for that task. We found a GMC dealer and headed in. We were very impressed with their thoroughness in finding all the "little" things that needed to be done and left with our $24.95 oil change costing us $364.03. But, we are all set to go now and have the "little" things taken care of.
After that ordeal, we were supposed to go to the Capitol Building, but we were a bit too early for the afternoon tours. So, we headed for the World of Pigeons Museum. Yup, you heard right--pigeons. I always seem to find these strange, off-the-wall things to do. But, that's half the fun of the trip, isn't it?
It's just a small museum and facility. It just happens to be about 1/4 mile from the campground. It was hard to find anyone around to give us a tour, but after walking around in the museum part for a while, we headed outside and were finally greeted by the son-in-law of the owner. It turned out to be so fascinating. He took us to a small building where we watched a video of the pigeons' history and their role as homing birds in WWI and WWII. Just a factoid: the film was narrated by Michael Landon just prior to his death. I guess he was a fan. Anyway, after the film, the "son" brought in his favorite bird. He acted just like a trained parrot, except he cooed instead of talking.
We then went on a tour of the fancy pigeons (some we saw are shown above). I never knew that there were so many varieties of pigeons. Who knew that pigeons can have curls on their feathers??? All we normally see are those common pigeons in the park. They had just released a 6-week old group of pigeons for their first outside (but in a cage) experience today. They were really enjoying basking in the sunshine. I am going back tomorrow to take some pictures, because I just can't get over the variety of pigeons and want to share with you some of the "houses" they live in.
We were also told that homing pigeons are a hobby of big bucks---again, I'm thinking, "in pigeons???" It seems to purchase a good bird for mating stock, it costs about $10,000. Yes, that's right--ten thousand dollars. The birds lay two eggs at a time about five times per year. You can sell those birds for $5,000 each. So, you make quite a bit of money from your investment. Anyone want to invest in our new pigeon farm??
We ate lunch at the hamburger joint near the campground, and then headed off to the OK State Capitol. We arrived about 30 minutes early, but looked around a bit. The tour was a typical capitol tour, but each state's capitol has it's own uniqueness and historical significance. Of course, they are beautiful and filled with marble, stained glass, and exquisite paintings and frescoes. The surprising fact is that the dome on this capitol was not completed until 2001. It was originally designed to have a dome, but funds ran short so it wasn't re-initiated as a building possibility until this late date. One of my goals during my lifetime is to tour every capitol building that I can get to. Of course, we have driven past more than those that we have toured; we still haven't done Georgia yet. So far, the states that I can remember touring are California, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia, & Massachusetts, and, of course, our national capital: Washington DC. So, we have quite a task ahead of us!
Dave is napping right now, and I think we'll go out for a bit of Mexican tonight. After all, it's been three whole days and we are having withdrawal symptoms. Tomorrow is our final day here in OKC. We plan to go to Stockyards City to experience the cattle auction at 9 AM. Maybe that will spur us on to invest in a cattle-pigeon farm. Hey, don't laugh, I convinced Dave in 1976 that we should raise chickens.
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