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| "The Golden Driller" is as tall as the Statue of Liberty, sans pedestal. |
The John Brown Memorial Park and Museum was not open for the day as we passed the exit. On the way back, we'll be heading for a day game, so no John Brown on this trip. This is in keeping with all the times we missed John Brown historical site in New York State!
We also passed Will Rogers' birthplace and museum, and Coffeyville, a small town which boasts about its run-in with some outlaws called the Dalton Gang. We aren't especially interested in either place, but it was interesting to know they were there.
We also passed through the tiny town of Talala. Tala-la. Not only do we see Tala's name in that, but I called her Talabobala. Ah, Tala. Cookie often reminds me of her: so beautiful, so smart, such a little devil.
The most direct route from KC to Tulsa was not a major highway, but mostly one lane in each direction. We drove through huge stretches with nothing but farmland to the horizon, and through some very tiny communities, until we hit the ugly outskirts of Tulsa. Outskirts look the same everywhere.
The previous day, I had booked a walking tour of downtown Tulsa. I saw it online and it sounded good. Tulsa has a relatively large collection of art deco buildings, and hidden tunnels built by oil magnates who didn't want to mingle with the riff raff. When we got into town, it was pouring -- the first rain we've seen on the whole trip. (We had beautiful weather for our game in St. Louis, and the following night, the game was rained out!) We didn't really want to spend two hours walking in the rain, but the guide said the tour was mainly indoors.
Mary took us through several nearby buildings, walking us through Tulsa's history and pointing out architectural and design details. It was... all right. Not stupendous, but not bad. We learned a lot about the city's history, from an Indigenous settlement, through the cattle industry, the discovery of oil, various economic busts, and finally the revitalization of the downtown. And we definitely saw architecture and art that we would not have seen otherwise.
I was wondering if Killers of the Flower Moon would come up, and it did. Once, through one of the oil magnates who married an Osage woman -- but apparently loved her, and they were married before her land become so valuable, and a second time when we were in a building where part of the movie was filmed. I asked her how the book was received, and she said "very well". She also said the same is true of the "race riots". None of them learned about this when they were growing up, but the city now acknowledges these difficult parts of its history.
Race riots: that's what white Tulsa calls the massacre. The same term that is used for the turmoil in inner-city Detroit and Newark during the 1970s. There was only one "race" rioting in Greenwood, Tulsa, and it was white. The incident is more accurately described as a pogrom -- an act of terrorism. And it was a massacre, of Black people by white people.
We were very tired after a long drive and a two-hour walking tour. We drove to our Airbnb, and had a rude shock. Allan walked in first and immediately said there was a very strong smell -- and Allan has almost no sense of smell. I was barely over the threshold before I started to cough and choke. It was a scented air "freshener" smell, which I am very sensitive to. The smell was so strong, that even standing on the driveway with the front door open, I was coughing.
I messaged the host and asked if there was something we could unplug or undo to air out the house. He told me the locations of three plug-ins, and also said a lot of rain was expected, so not to leave the windows open. We then realized we couldn't stay there. There was simply no way. Breathing is not optional!
I had to find another Airbnb at the last minute, with about an hour before the same-day window for booking would close. I figured, book something now, worry about the refund later. I really wanted an Airbnb, as opposed to a hotel, because I want a kitchen, and I had been planning on doing laundry. We are staying in Tulsa five nights, and an Airbnb would be much more comfortable.
I did find a place pretty quickly, at a comparable price. It seemed very far away, but we later realized it's just on the other side of the city. Both places are outside of downtown, but in opposite directions. The first place was in a neighbourhood clearly in transition, with tiny little houses, some lovely and some very run-down. The place we're now staying in is upscale suburban, an apartment above the garage of a large house. It includes a small deck overlooking a wooded area. On the drive there, I was still coughing.
Allan went out to get supplies (there was only decaf coffee!) and dinner while I started doing laundry. I also messaged the first Tulsa host, who said I should officially cancel the booking through the app. He refunded four nights out five, and no fees. This would have left me paying $330 for the privilege of almost having an asthma attack on someone's driveway.
There was no point arguing with the host. He was acting like he did me a huge favour by issuing a refund at all. He kept saying I should have told him in advance, he would have taken care of it. That never would have occurred to me; in a lifetime of travel, this has never been a problem.
I ended communication with the host and contacted Airbnb support. It didn't take long, and I did end up with a full refund, which has already gone through on my credit card.
Today and the rest of this week, we have finally arrived at the impetus for this trip: the Bob Dylan Center and the Woody Guthrie Center. Besides the exhibits, Allan will do some deeper Dylan research. He feels like he needs weeks, months, or years to read and listen to everything in the extensive Bob Dylan archives. We've talked about how our time here cannot be enough, and how we should choose to feel grateful we were able to be here, rather than focusing on the incompleteness.
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