Saturday, August 20, 2016

Wichita, Kansas

This morning we visited the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City.  It was a rich experience.
We thought wistfully of our friend Tom who would have loved to walk through the exhibits with us.
He appreciated the cowboy way of life and had a museum worthy collection of belt buckles.

The National Cowboy Museum had several sections. First, there was an exhibit about the building of the transcontinental railroad. It was an amazing accomplishment and opened the west. We spent a lot of time with sculpture and paintings of cowboys and Native Americans.  I especially liked the Remington sculptures and the Charles Russell paintings.






There were also rooms dedicated to Native American art, Western performers, and the American Rodeo. After looking all we could, we went outside for lunch and then walked around the garden.  

The garden was filled with sculptures, including a giant "Coming through the Rye" and the "Buffalo Bill" shown above, both by Remington.  Another interesting feature of the garden was the memorials to and gravesites of horses and bulls and a Texas longhorn named Abilene, who had lived on the site for years. 

After we gave proper respect at the museum, we drove north to Wichita, Kansas, to visit looper buddies, Linda and Floyd Walpole.  We often visited with Linda and Floyd on their boat, Tumbleweed, when we were doing the loop.  They recently completed their second Great Loop and returned home.  We are spending the night with them now.  Such a treat to tell and hear boating stories and to be in their home.

As we drove into Kansas, we passed a large group of windmills.  
They are huge when you see them up close.

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