We broke camp and left Black Mesa around 10:30, making one last stop inside the park at an overlook of Lake Carl Etling, where the water was shockingly low. Pray for rain!
Lake Carl Etling
Starting in the far western panhandle, Oklahoma is 478 miles wide, so it's a long drive from Black Mesa to Edmond, in central Oklahoma. The shortest route is around 350 miles, but we added another 40-plus miles for diversions.
The Cimarron Heritage Center in Boise City is closed on Sundays, but we stopped for a look anyway and were not disappointed. Cimmy, the Cimarronasaurus – 65 feet long and 35 feet high – is sized from bones of an apatosaurus that were excavated in Cimarron County in the 1930s. Explanations for other displays were less obvious.
Boise City, Oklahoma
Jana and Cimmy, the Cimarronasaurus
Tom and the Tin Man
The bomb outside the Heritage Center is one of six dropped on Boise City in 1943 by a B-17 whose crew had gotten off course and decided the town courthouse resembled their practice target in Conlen, TX. Oops! Each bomb contained four pounds of powder. The bomb on display did not explode. No word on what happened with the others...
Practice bomb dropped on Boise City
Old Santa Fe Rail Depot
When the Republic of Texas sought to become part of the United States in 1845, federal law prohibited slavery north of 36°30' latitude, so the northernmost slice of Texas had to go. That left a strip of land 167 miles wide and 34 miles deep with no state or territorial ownership. Officially, it was called the Public Land Strip, but it was more commonly known as “No Man's Land.” The area was loosely populated by outlaws and drifters while the federal government basically ignored it, until it was finally folded up into Oklahoma Territory in 1890.
East end of No Man's Land
100th Meridian, where the Panhandle joins the Oklahoma pan
In the rural town of Gage, OK, we made a quick stop to see “Mech Brontosaurus,” a dinosaur made of old wheels. There were a few other scrap metal sculptures strewn around the site, but Mech was the best.
Mech Brontosaurus, Gage, OK
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Gloss Mountain State Park, also known as Glass Mountain State Park, is an area of dazzling red mesas in northwestern Oklahoma. The soil of the mesas is capped with a layer of gypsum that contains selenite, which has a glossy sheen that sparkles like glass in the sunlight, giving the park its name. It was overcast today, but the landscape was still cool.
Gloss Mountain State Park
The plain beyond the mesas
On top of Cathedral Mountain Mesa
Following the trail along the mesa's edge
A 1.2-mile hiking trail leads up a steep, steel staircase to the top of Cathedral Mountain Mesa and across the mesa's flat top to spectacular views of Lone Peak Mountain and the surrounding countryside. Buzzards abounded at the top of the mesa, but we're not dead yet!
A contrast of colors
Buzzards waiting for Jana to fall to her death
Jana tempts fate at the cliff edge
Lone Peak Mountain
It took until dinnertime to finally reach Edmond. We grabbed some burgers at Sonic before heading over to Jamie and Brian's house, where it was time to sample some of Brian's home brews. They'd taken a more direct route home and beat us there by a couple of hours.