Tag: Air Fryer

Mostly Woolaroc

After Hamilton, MO we drove to northeastern Oklahoma and Copan Lake, a relatively small Corps of Engineers lake just at the OK/KS border. Site was fairly unlevel but lovely.

Copan Lake at sunset. Lots of trees in the water.

I set up the sewing machine since we would be here a few days. This is my current setup. I got a bunch of appliqué done, but it was so slow!

My sewing setup at Copan

I also experimented with our newish Air Fryer from Gourma. I took a “just add water” muffin mix and added some gorgeous blueberries. I reduced the recommended temp by 25 degrees and the time by 15%. It worked!

Muffins made in the Air Fryer

We found this grumpy snapper trying to cross the road. He was big; his shell was close to 12” long.

Moved this very irritated snapping turtle across the road

We were primarily here to visit some places neither of us had been to since we were kids. The first spot was Woolaroc Animal Preserve and Museum near Bartlesville, OK. It was the retreat of Frank Phillips of Phillips Oil Company (Phillips 66 fame). There is a LOT of old oil money in this part of the state, and they spent lavishly. Frank decided he wanted a large ranch with exotic animals, space for his friends to come out and play cowboy, and to show off the early American artifacts he had. As you enter the attraction (now owned by a foundation), you drive through a series of large animal pens.

Water Buffalo in Oklahoma?
Not worried about us at all
Lake at Woolaroc
Decorative waterfall
Lichen encrusted rocks
Eastern Oklahoma is known as “Green Country” for a reason. The small building is the Phillips family mausoleum.

This year they had a fur trader’s encampment set up with two re-enactors. We are close to the Arkansas River, and fur traders travelled up the river to the mountains.

The older re-enactor was voluble and knowledgeable. He even let Kevin fire his muzzle loader! Kevin didn’t hit the target, but he did get close!

Kevin firing a flintlock rifle.

We finally got to the museum. The entry is definitely old school “Noble Savage” style, and much of the interpretation inside is similar. The artifacts make up for it though!

The entry to the museum
So so many items in a small space
A tiny piece of the outstanding pottery collection at Woolaroc
Hand made birchbark canoe made by an Ojibway woman in Minnesota. They didn’t think she was worthy of identifying by name 🙁

My normally very sore back let me walk through the entire thing, though I didn’t get to dawdle much. All the physical therapy I have been doing seems to be (finally!) working.

Not everything was old. There is a scale model of an oil field and a lot of equipment. The airplane was one of many built by small companies in the heyday of early aircraft. The company that built it no longer exists.

Some modern items too

A few miscellaneous things to note:

The restaurant is just a concession stand in these COVID times, but the BBQ bison burger was pretty good. We at dinner at a local diner, the Cohan Restaurant which just happens to be the only one in the very small town. Mediocre, but edible.

Next post will be about the Gilcrease Museum, another incredible place we visited on this trip.

On the road south

We had the motorhome on the road Tuesday morning by 9:00 am. Yup, we were anxious to be traveling again! We had packed, vacuumed, and brought the slides in on Monday, so all we had to do was finish picking up the house a bit and packing toiletries. Oh, and there was a stop to pick up a McMuffin and a McGriddle. Luna responded ok to the traveling, finally coming out after a few hours on the road, but Minnie wasn’t seen until we parked.

We stayed two nights at Country Charm RV Park in Hamilton, MO. It is a pretty place but the interior roads were a bit tight with the Jeep hooked on. I did like the view though! We were on the outside loop, and summer is well underway here.

The view from my chair outside the motorhome

Hamilton is the home to Missouri Star Quilt Company, a sort of Mecca for quilters. They own a large number of shops in the small town, each one with a different style of fabric. For example, one shop was full of only batiks, while another was filled seasonal fabrics. I ended up buying some novelty fabric that will become a gift for someone when I get back.

The town also has a number of murals.

As you can see, it is also the boyhood home of J. C. Penny. We didn’t stop by the little museum that the house is now though. You can just barely see it through the trees.

Hidden by trees is the J. C. Penny home

It turns out that Sisters on the Fly, a women-only fishing group that has small vintage trailers, was having a gathering in town. They allow tours of their cute rigs occasionally, but we didn’t stay around for one. I am guessing they were the ones who planted a flock of flamingos on the grass nearby.

We also went to an Amish grocery in Jamesport, MO. They had all the wonderful bulk food items I usually get in Kalona, IA. We ate lunch at The Country Cupboard in Jamesport. Nice chicken friend steak! I think only southerners are really good at making this, and I certainly can’t fry anything well. We then came back to the campground, relaxed, and enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather – high of 75, puffy clouds, no wind, moderate humidity.

I also cooked some strawberry muffins using the bake setting on my Gourma brand Air Fryer.  Tomorrow we head to northern Oklahoma. They were wonderful! I lowered the temperature 25 degrees and decreased the time by about 15% since the air fryer is basically just a small convection oven. I have an oven in the motorhome, but it takes a long time (and lots of power) to heat and cook. The air fryer should be very useful for baking when we aren’t connected to electricity.

Oh, and a bonus video of Minnie discovering another cat in the mirror. Watch the photobomb at the end.

IMG_4895