September 16, 2010: Oklahoma City - State Fair, Memorial, and Cockroaches

I woke up in Joplin, Missouri today. I was about 9 miles from the Oklahoma line. After doing a few errands and grabbing lunch, I headed west.

In 2006, when I made my first ever visits to Oklahoma and Missouri (two states I visited early on in my travels), I drove from Wichita, Kansas, visited Oklahoma City and then headed to Joplin. It seemed like a neverending drive on I-44 from Oklahoma City to the Missouri line. I visited Oklahoma City and Joplin all in one day. The visit to Joplin was a "token" visit as it was so late. I went to two truck stops, had dinner, bought postcards, was fascinated with the fact that I stepped foot in Missouri, and then headed back to my friend's home in Wichita, Kansas, arriving around 2am.

Back to 2010. As I headed west, I passed by the truck stops and was reminded of the fond memories of the first time I "ventured out" by car in the Midwest. Of course, now I've been to Missouri seven times and Oklahoma six times over the years.

Unfortunately, I-44 is a toll road in Oklahoma. It's tolled from the Missouri line to where I-44 merges with I-35 as it gets close to Oklahoma City. Unlike the NY Thruway, you just have to pay at tollbooths that are periodically on the interstate. There are two of these. There are also tollbooths at many of the exits. If you plan to get off at a tolled exit, you must get a receipt at the main toll booths. It costs $8 to go all the way to the end of the tolled section. They don't charge around Tulsa since there are lots of exits there.

Oklahoma likes to promote its small cities that are along the interstate. Besides, they get a toll when you use one of these exits. I stopped off at Miami, which is close to the Missouri line. I wanted to see it briefly. It has a cute downtown with lots of shops, but nothing peaked my interest. It cost $0.75 to use the exit. When I went to get back on I-44, a tollbooth attendant inquired as to where I was going. They must ask because they give you a different ticket depending on whether you head west or east. The ticket states that going in the opposite direction from what is printed on the ticket is illegal. Having the ticket meant that I could pay less at the general tollbooth on I-44.


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I stopped off at the "world's largest McDonalds" (at least that's the claim that is made) in order to walk around a bit. This particular McDonalds sites on a bridge above I-44. I don't think I've seen any other interstate rest stop like that.

My destination for the evening was the Oklahoma State Fair in Oklahoma City. There would be a performance by the Ely Young Band, and some interesting Native American displays relating to the Trail of Tears. (Andrew Jackson forced Native American tribes to go to what was then "Indian Territory" and later became the state of Oklahoma.) As this was the opening day, the fair only cost $1.

The fair was nice and VERY crowded. I never could find the building housing the displays. The band was good, but extremely loud. I had gotten a fairly close spot at the beginning, but quickly decided to move way back....if I wanted to preserve my eardrums.

After the band was done, I stopped at Braums (a fast food chain in this region) for a quick dinner. Food at the fair was expensive...and actually probably less healthy than fast food. They typically have a store attached with baked goods, their own brand of ice cream with odd flavors, etc. I decided to have a sundae with peppermint ice cream and cappuchino flavored frozen yogurt.

I checked into the hotel and then headed out to the Oklahoma City Memorial (around 10:30 at night). While it's open all day for visitors, they encourage people to come back at night to see the memorial tastefully lighted up in rememberance of the victims. I was there at night in May, 2010. I tried to get pictures but could not do well with night pictures. Having more knowledge about options on my camera, I was better prepared this time. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a tripod. Night photos require longer exposure times and I cannot hold my arm steady enough to get a good night photo.

I got back to the hotel, ready for some rest. This was a decent hotel, recently refurbished, and certainly not the cheapest option. (I use Choice Hotels because of the point deals which lead to free nights.) Then, I noticed something moving on the floor. It was a cockroach! I have NEVER been to a hotel room with cockroaches. When it was just one, I was going to ignore it. But then I happened to find a dead one on the floor. I decided to see if I could get another room. I took the roaches to the front desk, wrapped in tissues. The clerk immediately offered to move me without my even asking.

As I was taking my stuff out of the room I originally had, the clerk called and said the manager wanted to comp my stay for the night. Hey, no problem with that! I was just happy to get to a different room. But I'll take a free night without having to spend points. Basically, this was done with the hopes that I would not write about the roaches on TripAdvisor.com. And yes, since they showed they would bend over backwards for customers, I'm not going to mention this on TripAdvisor.

As I went outside to get something from the car, I was reminded that I am in the South. Insects are just bigger and they're everywhere here. There were much larger cockroaches outside, along with at least one giant cricket (almost the size of a baby mouse). Other insects were swarming the outdoor lights. Basically, with the conditions in the South, the hotel is fighting an uphill battle to keep cockroaches out.

In any event, it was definitely an interesting and unexpected evening.