OKLAHOMA

My great-granddaddy Beane "married" a Quapaw indian maiden and brought her

from Arkansas up to the Indian Territory in 1878. That made him a real

"sooner", huh? My mother's family -- Kirk's -- all looked like indians, but

that wasn't quite respectable in the 20's so they didn't talk about Grandma

Beane. Her extended family is scattered all over OK, and my son married an

OK girl and graduated from Oklahoma U. _Oklahoma Football_ called my Uncle

Clyde "the best scatback that ever played for Oklahoma." So I have deep

roots in this country.

"Way down yonder in the Indian Nation,

A cowboy's life is my occupation,

In those Oklahoma hills where I was born."

I wasn't born here, and I'm only a "crypto cowboy" but as I travel from

Wichita to Okie City, to Hobart (west of the City, and south -- half way to

the border) I am stricken by the "Oklahoma hills". They are rolling hills,

cowboy county, and I feel a remarkable kinship with the land and the music

that sings about it.

Oklahoma City is large, of course, the largest city in America because they

incorporated the entire county. It's mentioned in one of my jazz favorites,

"Route 66" -- "Oklahoma City is might pretty..." so I look on the map and

sure enuf, there's a little patch of Route 66 still there in the City. So,

I get off my route (I-40) and travel west a little while on OK 66. I think

others share my nostalgia. An old black 60's Corvette Spyder travels along

with me, stoplight to stoplight, for four or five miles. A jeep is stopped

in front of me at a light, and it has two captivating stickers on the back

window.

"Hee, hee, you just got passed by a girl!"

and another sticker, with a big circular shield that shouts "ROUTE 66",

surrounded by "KING OF THE ROAD".

Clearly Route 66 is as important to Oklahomans as it is to me! When I

rejoin I-40, I find that, by traveling 66 for a while, I have avoided about

20 miles of construction, single lanes, and limited speeds. Serendipity,

eh?

I spend the evening with my grandkids, giving the oldest a guitar lesson,

and listening to the youngest read Dr. Seuss's _Green Eggs and Ham._

Homilies. The core of our values, eh? And I have breakfast, say my

goodbyes, and "leave out" for Texas.

RZ

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