Chickasaw and Turner

 

I had a little bit of engine trouble, as in my Check Engine Maintenance light is on. I called the Chevy dealer and they can't get me in for another two weeks. Bummer. I found a company called YourMechanic who does house calls. They came out and checked the codes. Coolant Fan issue. The guy said there was a loose plug, he plugged it in and the light went out. I sort of think he might have just cleared the code, but what do I know.

From Oklahoma City, we move south to the Chickasaw Nation. I'm camping at The Point which is a campground in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area - another Junior Ranger opportunity. It is nice to be out of a private RV park and back out more in the wild.

This rattlesnake skin was taller than me.  Wowzer!

Is this where I mention that my Check Engine light came back on? I am now in a small little Oklahoma town called Sulphur. I look up mechanics and found Dusty's Diesels. Good reviews so I show up there. Dusty reads the codes and I now have two issues. The cooling fan thing and a DEF heater in my DEF reservoir is bad. I now know more about this stuff than I ever cared to know. Dusty tells me that he is not a mechanic and can't fix my issues. He does tell me that I need to get my own code reader so I know how serious these issues are. My primary concern is that my truck does not strand me on the side of the road someplace.

But since I'm in the town of Sulphur, I decide to take advantage of the tourist sights before I panic about the truck.

The Chickasaw Nation was one of the five civilized tribes that President Andrew Jackson sent on the Trail of Tears. They were one of the last tribes to be relocated and they fared a little better than the other four tribes. They were a little bit more prepared. They have a wonderful Cultural Center which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was one of the only people in the Center so I got a lot of attention. First there was a welcome dance where six people danced. They dance counter clockwise around a fire because their hearts are closer to the fire and the fire's smoke brings their prayers to the Creator. The men sing and the women keep the rhythm. They use stones in evaporated milk cans strapped to their legs to keep that rhythm, about 24 cans on each leg. There was lots of history of the Nation. This particular nation seems to have thrived in their new location.

One of the features in the Center was a trail you would go down.  I think they called it the Spirit Trail or something like that.  There were all these motion detectors that as you walked by, stories would be told.

Tis The Season

The other highlight of this area is Turner Falls, the highest falls in Oklahoma. It clocks in at about 70 feet, so not particularly stupendous, but it was still satisfying. This is a dual waterfall, but since they haven't had much rain in Oklahoma, we were down to one stream. It was sort of cool because the powers to be had constructed a pool and swimming beach at the foot of the falls. I imagine that it is quite the spot in the summer.

Eastern Oklahoma is sort of pretty.  All rolling hills and such.

Turner Falls

Been a while since we've seen a sunset