Yearly Archives: 2017

All a man needs is a good horse….

Welcome back. Campus Corner in Norman on Saturday morning is where I’ll start. I arrived at 8AM and with a 5PM kick-off time I found a parking spot on the street two blocks away which was free! The streets would be closed an hour later and by noon a large crowd was already gathering. As I’ve mentioned I will be at every OU home game this year signing books and getting to hang out with Coach Switzer and Thomas Lott, the great former OU quarterback who went on to play pro ball. These two are continuing their live TV play by play on Campus Corner and I can tell you they are happy to provide free photo opportunities to onlookers. Next up for Barry and Thomas is the OU vs. Iowa game and I hope to see you there.
Sunday found me in the midst of another big crowd in Oklahoma City as day four of the Oklahoma State Fair was going on. They had a big midway with more food vendors and rides than I could count including the largest portable Ferris wheel in North America but that’s not why I was there. Disney on Ice was there with Mickey and all the rest of the Disney cartoon characters and the big Bennett Event Center was open and full of exhibits- and do I mean full. Dozens of people were there shoulder to shoulder selling everything you can dream up but that’s not the story I was after.
You regular readers know that history has always played a big role in my weekly column and one particular exhibit caught my attention; Jim Warlick’s JFK exhibit. This guy owns several gift shops in prominent US cities including one right across the street from the White House and he is well known for his collection of political memorabilia, especially things related to President John F. Kennedy. According to a press release from the fair organizers, his exhibit of real JFK artifacts takes up 15,000 square feet making it one of the largest displays at the fair in recent memory. Yes for history buffs like me this was going to be good but once again that wasn’t the reason I had stayed an extra night in Oklahoma City, getting up at 5 AM. The reason was to watch a horse and wagon competition that started at 9 that morning.
The event was called the North American Six Horse Hitch Classic and the finals took place on Sunday. Twelve final teams consisting of seventy-two horses. Percherons, Belgians and Clydesdales all pulling fancy reproduction wagons, executing maneuvers based on what the old time drivers and horses had to had to do back in the day when horses and wagons delivered the goods people needed around the country. It was all quite amazing to watch and that’s where I’ll start this story about a horse they all called Aulie.
It happened last week. She was the lead horse of the North American Champion Express Ranch team of horses and was called by the owner ‘the smartest horse he ever had.” Coming soon when the owner and driver of the team have recovered from their grief enough to be interviewed its Aulie’s story.

Till then I’ll see ya down the road…..

had to do back in the day when horses and wagons delivered the goods people needed around the country. It was all quite amazing to watch and that’s where I’ll start this story about a horse they all called Aulie.
It happened last week. She was the lead horse of the North American Champion Express Ranch team of horses and was called by the owner ‘the smartest horse he ever had.” Coming soon when the owner and driver of the team have recovered from their grief enough to be interviewed its Aulie’s story.
Locally, for you sports fans the reunion of the legendary Phillips 66ers happens this weekend, starting with a meet and greet at Arvest’s Friday Forum at the Eastside Branch. An old basketball man myself, I’ll definitely be there.
I’ll also be hanging out with some outlaws Saturday in Dewey where Western Heritage weekend is happening. There’s lots to do starting with breakfast at the Dewey Fairgrounds, my film Footprints in the Dew, The Last Ten Tapes, good food and plenty of shopping. Then Sunday it’s off to Prairie Song for a real Wild West Rodeo. Till then, I’ll see ya down the road….
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The Coleman Theater in Miami, OK will be showing this film about the previously unsolved murder of prominent rancher E.C. Mullendore III at 7PM tonight. This is the 47th anniversary of the murder. For ticket information call the theater at (918) 540-2425.

Looking forward to showing the film at the Heritage Theater in Dewey,OK Saturday morning at 10AM. There’s lots going on in Dewey all weekend so it should be fun for everyone!

Welcome back. The year was 1800 and what later became known as Washington County was occupied by several Indian tribes. Unbeknownst to these people the land they lived on was claimed by Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Yes, in the early years of the land we now know as Bartlesville and Dewey, England, France and Spain at one time all laid claim to. If not for a few turns in history, we all could have been speaking French and the upcoming Western Heritage Days festival coming up next weekend could easily have been very different. Instead of Saturday’s Tom Mix Day when longhorn cattle roam the streets along with re-enactors and live bands play western music while the crowds eat cowboy food, the French version would have changed many things. The Dewy Hotel might have been the Georges IV and Don Tyler Boulevard the Champs Elysees. Instead of Tom Mix it could have been Maurice Chevalier and we would all be eating crepes.

The Wild West Show held at my friends Ken and Marilyn Tate’s fabulous Prairie Song Village might be known as Chanson de la Prairie Or perhaps we wouldn’t even have a Wild West Show with rodeo acts that will be thrilling the crowd on Sunday if France had won our territory.
Luckily for us we speak English and in 1899 Jacob Bartles moved across the Caney River and established the town of Dewey. We are also fortunate to have the many volunteers who put on events like the Western Heritage weekend. Larry Kerns, Cindy Bray, Fawn Lassiter, John Dickson, Nolan Jones and dozens of others have worked hard to brining you this year’s great show. If you haven’t been to Dewey’s main street lately you need to check it out, there are plenty of shops and a visit will be well worth your time. The history of Dewey and the old west will be on display starting Saturday morning with a pancake feed at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Train rides, a parade, re-enactors, food vendors, arts & crafts and a 10AM film showing of Footprints in the Dew: The Last Ten Tapes at the Heritage Theater will all be part of the first day’s events.

This film my friends is a documentary based on my bestselling book Footprints in the Dew and if you’ve read the book all the characters are in the film. From Sheriff George Wayman to Chub Anderson they will be telling you the story of the most famous unsolved murder in Oklahoma history in their own words. Seating is limited and with all the folks in town for the Dewey all class reunion this same weekend, early arrival is recommended.

The Heritage Theater also has a bar and restaurant and it has become a social gathering place in Dewey. It is so popular that the owner just bought the corner building next to the theater and is expanding. I’ve also heard that a micro-brewery is moving to town as well. Yes, Dewey, Oklahoma will be a great place to be on September 23rd and 24th.

Two days later on Tuesday the 26th I’ll be at another historical place. On April 18, 1929, local mining magnate George L. Coleman opened the magnificent Coleman Theatre in Miami, Oklahoma and this place will take your breath away. For tickets and information call the Coleman at (918) 540-2425.

Till next time, au revoir and I’ll see ya down the road……

Excited to be headed back to Campus Corner for the OU-Tulane Game where I’ll be hanging out with Thomas Lott and Barry Switzer during their broadcast.

Welcome back. Last Saturday was the opening football game for the University of Oklahoma and the Sooners didn’t disappoint their fans. A sold-out stadium meant parking was at a premium and that’s where I’m starting this week’s column. A good spot right next to the stadium where you wouldn’t be blocked in by other cars, where you could just walk a block, jump in your car and drive off cost forty-five dollars. Two to four blocks away there were parking spaces in business lots or in the front yards of private houses for twenty-five dollars. Spaces five to nine blocks away were going for ten dollars and if the Sooners keep winning these prices may go up. Several long-time parking attendants told me that will change if they lose and prices will go down of course.

I had been invited to join past OU quarterback Thomas Lott on Campus Corner which is the place to be for pre-game activities and friends even at 8AM when I got there it was busy. I circled several blocks hoping to find a free parking spot on the street close by but no luck. Then a cop suggested an area five blocks away where I found one and only one.

Thomas and Barry Switzer do a live TV feed and radio show from Campus Corner during the game and this would be my location for selling my book Footprints in the Dew which by the way is about the most famous unsolved murder of an OU student in the history of the school. I am also helping Thomas promote his new book called Getting in the Game and Joe Washington with his memoir the Seven Secrets of the Silver Shoes. Was I busy? Yes, I was but I did find that about thirty minutes before the kick-off Campus Corner clears out. Following tradition, the OU Drum Corps Band started playing right there in front of Thomas, Barry and me. Then they began marching toward the stadium which is only a few blocks away and in unison the crowd followed them. Not hundreds but thousands of people marched past us and it was quite a sight. Just moments before all those people had filled the street around us yelling Boomer Sooner and now it was empty.
It was also time for Thomas and Barry to get to work; TV cameras and big screen TVs were hurriedly set up all in anticipation of the kick-off which was now just minutes away. The two had done this during last season and they knew the drill but it was all new to me. Called “Barry Switzer’s Coaches Cabana” during every home game, they do a play by play not in the stadium but on right Campus Corner and I was right in the middle of it. Throughout the game other people drop by including past players, coaches and even a couple of local celebrities. It’s all quite a deal and that leads me to this week’s scoop. If you want to go to a game but not actually go in the stadium you can join me on Campus Corner with Thomas Lott and Barry Switzer. No ticket needed just bring a lawn chair. When the game starts it’s just you and a couple dozen others watching the game on the big screen and listening to Barry give the play by play ten feet in front of you. You can hear the crowd roaring from the stadium just feet away but you need to be prepared to pick up that lawn chair as soon as the game ends because Campus Corner gets flooded by sea of humanity again.

Fun? You bet and it’s the best people watching place I’ve ever been so grab your walking shoes and join me. The next home game is September 16th when OU plays Tulane.

Till next time, I’ll see ya down the road…….
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Welcome back. After doing some research on the internet, from what I could tell the cow sale held this past weekend outside of the town of Yukon, Oklahoma was possibly the richest in the country and maybe even the world, and I was there along with cowboys from around the globe. I’ve covered this sale in the past but this year was special as I had the opportunity to ride in the famous Express Ranch stage coach. The coach is drawn by a team of six rare black Clydesdales who just four weeks ago won the Calvary Stampede championship in their class. The horses and the beautiful stage coach they pull won every division of competition which is something that has never been done before. Then two weeks ago they won the National Championship in the U.S. Friends these horses outdid them all and I got the chance to be pulled around by them, it was quite a deal!

I also got the opportunity to hang out with country music giant Neal McCoy who performed for guests following the first day of the sale. McCoy’s gold and platinum albums, along with his 15 USO tours, have made him a much loved figure in the country music industry and since I couldn’t afford any cows the stage coach ride and meeting Neal were definitely highlights of the event for me.

The actual “Big Event” auction as they call it took place on Saturday and friends these aren’t your average cows. A quarter million dollar cow wasn’t unusual; yes that’s two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for one cow. With over seven hundred head, you can see why this sale brought in the big boys in the Angus cow industry and the biggest rancher in the bunch doesn’t live in Canada or Europe but right here in Oklahoma. I recently wrote a story about this man who is about to be inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in November and whose giving spirit has impacted thousands of lives. While at the sale I found another example of his generosity and commitment to helping others which you readers in the cattle industry probably know about. For the continuing education of America’s youth he has quietly donated four and a quarter million dollars for junior youth scholarship programs and I can also tell you from personal experience with the man that he has given more show calves away to youth than many ranchers own. The love of God, country, family, his friends and youth characterize this man whose name of course is Bob Funk and if you would like to read my past columns about him copies are available at the E/E office.

Till next week from one of the most spectacular rock formations in the North America, I’ll see ya down the road………

Welcome back. When reading a book I often find something that I think you, my readers, would find interesting and in my library as you long time readers probably could have guessed are shelves filled with the life stories of men like Jack Drummond a guy from Oklahoma.

Born in Osage County in 1896 when Oklahoma was part of Indian Territory, he grew up in Hominy and went on to get his college education starting at what was then Oklahoma A&M and going on to the University of Illinois. During World War I Drummond enlisted and became an officer in a three hundred-man Calvary unity. In 1920 after the war he came back to Oklahoma and bought his first ranch. He was on his way to fulfilling the dream many say he had of becoming the largest landowner in Osage County, the largest county in Oklahoma. In a matter of ten years Drummond’s first two-hundred-acre ranch had grown to almost one hundred thousand acres adding some land in Texas along the way as well. By the late 1940s Drummond had expanded his business interests to include oil and gas leases, feed lots and sales barns just to name a few. Ranching from the Front Seat of a Buick: The Life of Oklahoman A.A. Jack Drummond is a great story and its available at most Oklahoma libraries.

Another biography of local interest concerns a man born in 1899 in the small Kansas town of Horton where his dad was a train engineer. This boy, who earned the nickname “Boots” because from the age of three he always wore a pair, would go on to become the head of one of the largest oil companies in the world. He became friends with presidents and kings and queens around the world but he never forgot his roots and that man’s name of course was Kenneth “Boots” Adams. The book about his life has the same name.

Frank Eaton or “Pistol Pete” as he was called was a cowboy, scout, Indian fighter and deputy United States Marshall and his life story, simply entitled “Pistol Pete”, is another library book that’s worth your time.

I recently got a rare book which tells the story of John Wayne’s life aboard his famous boat, The Wild Goose. If you don’t know about Wayne’s boat, it was a converted 136-foot U.S. Navy mine sweeper. This is where Wayne called home during the last sixteen years of his life and the book was written by the boat’s Captain and Wayne’s close friend Bert Marshall. It gives the reader an insider’s look at the life of this beloved star and his many famous friends. On Board with the Duke is hard to find but it’s a must read for Wayne fans.

One friend of Wayne’s who appeared in many of his movies is Woody Strode. Strode was a black man who along with Jackie Robinson broke many of the color barriers in their respective careers and paved the way for others who came after them. Strode’s autobiography is Goal Dust and it is a fascinating story.

My book shelves are full of books like these but luckily you don’t have to buy them all like I did. Just go down to your local library and you will find most of them. Happy reading and till next time I’ll see ya down the road….
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A few strange tales from my recent trip…..

Welcome back. The stone carvings here in the Piedra Lumbre basin in northwestern New Mexico weren’t carved by man but by nature, through thousands of years of exposure to wind, snow, rain and brutal sun. Dinosaurs lived here and thousands of them died here too making this hidden valley called Yeso Canyon home to one of the largest dinosaur discoveries in the world.

In the 1800s another bunch of animals known as the Archuleta brothers would invade the canyon. They were a ruthless gang of cattle rustlers who killed anyone who got close to the secret canyon they had found. Their outlaw ways lasted a dozen years before the brothers met their maker when one brother was shot and the citizens of Abiqui hung the other. It was then that a woman and child showed up who had been held captive by the brothers. Maybe not in their right minds, the pair told their rescuers to beware of six foot long human like beasts that were covered in red hair which the woman called earth babies. They were also quoted as saying that an old witch who had transformed herself into a cow with wings also flew through the canyon.
By 1915 some semblance of law and order had come to the area when a wealthy easterner named Carol Stanley acquired the deed to the canyon with hopes of turning it into a dude ranch for other easterners and the name Ghost Ranch began surfacing. At night guests were terrified by weird screams and as rumors spread the stories about the ranch grew bigger.

A few years later Carol Stanley and another wealthy easterner, Arthur Newton Pack became partners in the property and the ranch really developed. It had it all, a natural stream, good dirt and those multicolored mountains that surround this hidden paradise. Stanley and Pack knew that if they built a few cabins people would come and they did. From movie stars to Presidents, folks came from all over the world.
In the 1920s Arthur Pack bought the whole canyon and with new drive and more money he expanded the ranch. Big name people like the Johnson brothers of the Johnson & Johnson Company built small bungalow style homes on the property and brought their families to stay at Ghost Ranch for months. Georgia O’Keefe visited for the first time in 1935 and eventually moved permanently from New York to the ranch.

World War II brought a different kind of fame to Ghost Ranch and that fame had a name. It was called the Manhattan project and with it came jobs for everyone in the area. The story of the “secret city” of Los Alamos built by New Mexican labor has become the most profound chapter in American history. Many of the scientists working on the atomic bomb in the secret city during 1942 visited Ghost Ranch which is less than 30 miles away as the crow flies. When World War II ended, their involvement with the ranch brought new prominence to this little known area but this is a story that will have to wait for another time.

Now open to the public, you can visit Ghost Ranch and the secret city of Los Alamos yourself. This is a part of our history we should never forget.
Till next week when I’ll be spending time with 5,000 boy scouts outside Cimarron, New Mexico, I’ll see ya down the road.

Welcome back. I find it hard to believe that Wild Brew is celebrating its 19th year. For those of you who don’t know this is the big annual fundraiser benefiting the George Miksch Sutton Avian Research which is just a few miles outside of Bartlesville. Among its many achievements, the Sutton Center was responsible for the reintroduction of bald eagles to this region and now it is common to see these majestic birds flying overhead.
When the event started in 1999 it was housed in a private airport hangar at the Tulsa Airport with only fans to beat back the August heat. Fortunately, now you can enjoy a wide variety of craft beers and delicious food in the spacious and air-conditioned Cox Center. Put August 12th, Tulsa and the Sutton Center on your calendar for a party where I can guarantee you’ll have fun.

I heard the Fabulous Midlife Crisis Band for the first time at Wild brew years back and they have become one of my all-time favorite groups. Just recently they performed for a huge crowd in the streets of Bartlesville and they will playing at various venues in the area throughout the summer with a show that brings out the ‘60s and ‘70s in everyone.

There’s another date to save for an event I’m starting to get excited about and that takes place a few miles north where Tom Mix lived for a while. September 23rd and 24th are the dates not only for Western Heritage Days but also for the Dewey High School all class reunion which is held every two years. Since somehow I’ve made it this long (47 years), I’m inviting everyone to downtown Dewey for a big party on Saturday. The streets will be closed and there will be food vendors, live bands, a parade, clowns and horses all in celebration of Tom Mix and the town of Dewey. Not from Dewey? Well no matter, all will be welcome at this gathering.

The Cow Thieves and Outlaws Reunion committee is also geared up for another big gig at Woolaroc on September 30th. It is always a worth the trip to Frank Phillips country home as he called Woolaroc and at night when the birds and animals come to life with hoots and howls it is a very special place.
We are fortunate to have these great events and a dozen more at least all happening in the northeast corner of Oklahoma. Every once and awhile I try to mention the folks who make all these things happen and without whom many worthwhile causes, especially museums, would suffer. Merriam’s dictionary defines a volunteer as “a person who willingly renders a service without compensation.” Friends, make sure to thank ‘em the next time you attend one of these fundraisers.

For me and for you the reader, starting next week and beyond it’s the place called Casa de Sol in Spanish and because of security it’s seldom seen. Guarded 24 hours a day by cameras and foot patrol, for many people around the world the ground I’ll be walking on is sacred.
Till next time from what I would say is the “house of the sun”, I’ll see ya down the road.

Welcome back. Somewhere between the sun and a man’s last breath lies a stretch of land in north central New Mexico that many think is enchanted and many others consider to be heaven on earth.

Traveling from Cimarron up into the Sangre de Christo mountain range you first come to towns with names like Angel Fire, Taos and Red River. This area is called the “enchanted circle” where the mountains contain lush valleys filled with trees and green grass. As you pass over the mountains going west the landscape on the other side slowly changes to a desert terrain and big rocks replace the trees. These are huge rocks hundreds of feet tall, shaped by thousands of years of wind and rain and colored in shades of purple, pink and bronze. Santa Fee is 100 or so miles to the south of this area and Pagosa Springs, Colorado is 105 miles away on the north border.

Famous in the early years before statehood as a hideout for bandits, another place in this region that is supposedly haunted is known by locals in Spanish as “El Rancho de los Brujos” or in English as “ranch of the witches.”
From the earliest days of settlement to the present this area has drawn film stars, artists and writers, both rich and poor. Known for its beauty and peaceful setting, nowadays visitors to the ranch routinely find relics of the past not only from early human inhabitants but also from the dinosaurs who roamed here in big numbers.

The beauty and mystical quality of the area was best captured by one of America’s most famous painters, Georgia O’Keefe who lived and worked here from the 1920s until her death in the 1980s. O’Keefe came to the area to visit other artists who were already living in Taos and Santa Fe and when she discovered this place she found her spiritual home. The remoteness and the rugged grandeur of the landscape gave her an endless source of subject matter for her paintings and also suited her need for seclusion.

When she first came to New Mexico O’Keefe had been living in New York with her husband, the famous photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz. Together they had been building a name for her work but at the time she was not as well-known as he was. After discovering New Mexico O’Keefe began spending more and more time there and after Stieglitz’s death in 1946 she moved there permanently.

O’Keefe learned about Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, New Mexico in 1934 when Arthur Newton Pack was running a dude ranch on the property. For the next few years she was a guest there every summer until in 1937 by a fluke she found “El Rancho de los Brujos” where Pack owned a small adobe house. She convinced him to sell her the property and it eventually became her fulltime home in the spring, summer and fall. During the harshest winter months when Ghost Ranch became inaccessible, O’Keefe moved to a second home in the village of Abiquiu which she had purchased from the Catholic Church and rebuilt into an eight room home with a large studio and gardens.

Over time O’Keefe’s many paintings of this particular New Mexican landscape, ranging from the gently rolling red hills to the imposing jagged mountaintops made her beloved Ghost Ranch famous around the world. Today there is a museum dedicated to her work in Santa Fe and her home on the ranch is open to the public by reservation only. I’ve been here many times before and I can tell you it takes some work to get to but it is well worth the effort.

Till next time, I’ll see ya down the road….
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