Thunder Take Game One!

James Hardin only had 5 points in the Thunder's game 1 win over the Heat in the NBA finals but stay tuned. I bet he catches fire before the series is over.

HOME IS WHERE THE RED BARN IS.....

I live in the friendliest little town of Arcadia, straight down historic route 66 in a land where time has forgot us. When you come into our sleepy little town from Edmond you will travel west down 66 until you come to Soda Pops, which even though it was built only a few years ago holds the essence and spirit of Route 66.

Virtual Tour Of Soda Pops
Official Web Site

Breakfast is served only on the weekends 7-10:30, Lunch dinner 10:30 am to 9:00 pm. They also have events, for instance, when I snapped this picture they were having a car show. In any case you'll meet some of the friendliest people in the world at Pops. I stop in at least once a day either to eat, fuel, or just to visit.

As you travel west ward down the mother road you will come to 2 Brothers Pizza and the Arcadia Liquor store, located on the south side of the road, both are located in the same building. Trekking onward you will see the historic red barn on the north right before you get to main street. On the south side of the road you will see the now vacant but once proud Hobo's Tavern, a bed and breakfast that was first started in the 30's, a safe haven for weary travelers to lay their heads and get a bite to eat. It was as much museum as restaurant with the pictures of past travelers pictures on the wall, Will Rogers, Marlon Brando, Lady Bird Johnson, and Fay Wray all made their way down the mother road to Hobos. A tear forms in my eye when I see it vacant (along a biker apparel shop has set up business in one of the out buildings).


There is of course a lot more to see. Farms and historic land marks like this old abandoned filling station, which as local legend will have it was here even before the mother road was officially established. The station was here before electricity ran though but you could gas your car and buy cold soda pop on the days that the ice man came through. Then sometime in the late thirties the owners were sold a pair of counterfeit ten dollar plates. They started making their own money, this went on for several years until the G-men raided the station and it was never to open again. However, sometimes it is said if you break down near the station a friendly spirit will fix your car and refill your tank. The Spirit of the mother road lives on.


I Love my sleepy town and can't see myself living anywhere else. From where I live I can look down upon the west side of town on one side and see the lake from the other side.

Fall of the House of Fucktard

This is all that is left of my ancestral home located in the high plains of Texas. A once mighty cattle ranch that in it's zenith took as many as 2,000 cattle to market and sold 350 horses to the US cavalry. This is the new section of the house, built in the early 30's, the older wooden structure built in 1870 burned down in the 1980's.


This is Sean Fucktard, patriarch of the Fucktard Klan. He lived in Albany New York before the civil war. The son of Irish immigrants he was a carpenter by trade that briefly attended West Point (didn't graduate) but served as a Cavalry officer on the Union side during the Civil War. He was a captain by the wars end and was wounded at least once, shot in the left thigh. My brother has his Cavalry sword over his mantel. Great Great Great Great (not sure for certain how many greats) Grand daddy Sean came to Texas after the war and established the Fucktard Ranch. He made a good living raising horses and driving the Long Horn herds that had prospered during the war off to market.


This is Great Grand Daddy Howard with his wife Great Granny Keira Fucktard.
My Grandfather Connor and his sister Grace are the little ones. Great Grand Daddy would run Irish Whiskey Moonshine in the car (think it is a ford) behind them in that the Fucktard Klan fell on hard times in the 20's. 300 acres of the over 900 acres of the ranch was sold off in 1922. But the Moonshine business was good to the fucktard's and Great Grand Daddy was able to build on to the house in 1933.
In the large basement of the house there was a large cooper still that I donated to a local historical society in 1995.

The House and ranch did fairly well until my father was killed in the eighties (he was at the worse place at the wrong time in Northern Ireland) and my mother boarded it up and moved back to Canada. Some transients started a fire and burned the main house in 1989. My mother sold off all but 30 acres of the land and put in a trust fund for me and my brother. The house is still owned jointly by me and my brother (my father was Irish had had two more illegitimate sons but my mother gave them no inheritance). My father left a stipulation in his will that the house must remain in the family.

Horses! Man's true best friend.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against dogs but horses are man's true best friend. After all they carried him along on their back for centuries. Did his work and got him to places faster than he could get there by himself. These two are mine, chowing down on some grass in my back yard.


A couple of West Texas paints, they don't have much grass to eat due to the drought all across Texas.





Another Texas horse out of Synder,Texas. Wind Field Ranch in the back ground and the horsie has a friendly mule to play with. He came right up to the fence and let me pet him. Sadly I didn't have a carrot for him but I promised him one when next I ventured that way. He seemed to understand.

Route 66, The Mother Road.

It is hard for me to put into words my feelings about Route 66, it is a very magical place like going through a time capsule. It runs through the heart of my town, Arcadia Oklahoma. Where time has stood still and it is like driving through a Museum.
Route 66 was established in 1926 and ran from Chicago to Los Angles, during a different time and era. Traveling was much more an adventure that it is today and one was much more dependant upon the good will of strangers along the route. In the early days, much of the route was just plan dirt road. It wasn't until the mid 30's the it became paved. In 1985 Route 66 was retired having been replaced by Interstate 40 for the most part, an interstate system established during the Eisenhower administration.

A tale of Sadness

Abandoned houses always make me a little sad. I always wonder, what happened to the people who lived here, their hopes and dreams. Was this a tragedy or did they move on to better life? There are a lot of sad stories out here in the panhandle and plains of Oklahoma and Texas. This house is about 50 miles west of Woodward, Oklahoma. I first found it in 2008. I didn't have a camera that day. I went inside the house and on the back wall, still somewhat visible I found a message that said:

We had many great years here, my daddy built this house but the lord has other plans for us. The dust, the sand, and the wind won't stop. Most days now you can't keep the dirt outside. Nothing will grow and most of the live stock has died. I buried my daddy last week and my husband left us. We are leaving for California this day June 12, 1933.
-Mary May and Ron and Sally May.

When next I came through,maybe six month latter I had a camera but the wall of the house it was written on had fallen in. I did a little digging but I was never able to find anything about what happened to these people. I suppose the migrated much like the Joad's did in the Grapes of Wrath.

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Will You Buy My Magic Bus?

The other day I was driving to Seiling Oklahoma and came across this bus for sale between Watonga and Oakwood on highway 281. Not only can you buy this "Magic Bus" but you get "Free Delivery" which I am willing to bet will involve a diesel wrecker.



I made sure that the number was visible, would want you to miss out on this deal of the century.