Day 12 — 9/28/12
A sunny Friday in Tulsa. A zip downtown for jewelry, successful purchases for family presents and self.
Then the city’s outstanding museum for Western and Native American art, the Gilcrease. The Gilcrease is a beautiful building with equally beautiful grounds, and its dining room matches. We had a lovely Southwestern lunch by the window, admiring the scenery and the museum’s signature sculpture, “Apache Warrior” by Allan Hauser. That sculpture also adorns the left side of Oklahoma’s license tag.
For anyone interested in Native American art, the Gilcrease is a treasure. One great room after another. And just when you think you’ve seen the best, yet another outstanding piece appears…pottery, baskets, moccasins, kachinas, rattles, sculpture, paintings…each deserving a best of show ribbon.
The afternoon sped by, and soon it was time to drop Anna at the airport and say goodbye to her, my third 66 companion. Hard to believe my 6-week trip is half over.
Some thoughts and impressions on my journey at the halfway mark:
Speed limits: I was surprised at Illinois’ slowish 65mph on the freeways, even on the open road. The further west you drive, the higher the speed limit–it’s 75 for Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and other Western states.
Accents: The Arkansas accent around Little Rock has a soft twang. Tennessee talk has a lilt in the drawl, though the lilt and drawl in Nashville has its own special twang. Kentucky accents are nice to the ear, especially around Louisville, pronounced Luah-vull. Ohio and Chicago have that broad Midwestern sound. Missouri, pronounced Muh-zurr-uh, wraps Midwestern broadness with a Southern accent and a bit of twang. Oklahoma seems to have a harder twang combined with a yep/nope/sure simplicity. I love it all.