I Think the Wrong Guy is on This Mural in Ada

Okay, this one takes a little bit of explaining.  If you visit the "Arts District" of Ada, Oklahoma you'll notice a couple of murals in town that celebrate the artists who came from the area.  Actors, musicians, writers and other creative types are grouped together on a few buildings.  Here's the one I'm interested in today:

Take a look at the guy second from left.  He's credited as "Tom Allard."  Recognize him?  Tom Allard is a very tall actor from either Ada or Big Cabin, depending on who you ask.  There's not a lot of information on him online.  Here's one of the few pics I was able to find of him:

Big guy, right?  That's him with Kathleen Turner in the 1991 film "V.I. Warshawski."  She's not exactly short herself so you can tell he's a tall drink of water.  His height has led to being cast as tough guys, enforcers and just generally intimidating characters.

But it's also led to being cast as monsters, aliens and whatnot.  He had a recurring role on a a "Land of the Lost" reboot in the 90s as a great big Dino-Man.  He also played a tall alien in the 1991 film "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey."

 

Put aside the lingering butt shot for now (if you can).  Does anyone in that clip look familiar?  Keep in mind, our Oklahoma guy Allard is inside the alien suit.  Let's take a closer look at the mural:

Looks like the Grim Reaper character from the movie, right?  But he was played by New York native William Sadler.  So what's going on here?  Here's my theory:

The artist needed visual references for all the people he was painting.  Remember how I said there wasn't a lot of info about Allard online?  I found maybe two pics of him and neither we of any quality.  So I'm thinking the artist looked up Allard's credits, saw that he was in the Bill & Ted movie and then mistook Sadler's "Death" character as Allard.  (Death is very tall in the film.  The actor is probably wearing lifts so that he can loom over Bill & Ted.)

So we've got the wrong guy on the mural, right?  What do we do about it?  Anything?  Probably can't repaint the whole thing and just painting over the one guy might look weird.  I say we leave it and we have ourselves a brand new roadside attraction!  Your thoughts?

An Idiot Comes to Oklahoma

So "An Idiot Abroad" is a British travel/comedy show produced by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  The premise seems to be that they send their buddy Karl Pilkington on wacky adventures across the globe.  I've seen exactly one episode of it so I might not have the best grasp of it.  The second season has a "Bucket List" theme and, as you've probably guessed, it includes a stop in Oklahoma.

This episode's item on Pilkington's Bucket List was to drive Route 66.  He started on the Santa Monica end and most of the episode focuses on the western portion of the Mother Road.  The Brits seemed quite taken with the Western motifs of the culture so there was a lot of shots of cacti as our protagonist did American things like panning for gold, shooting guns and hanging out at a hippie commune.

But there was also a stop in the Sooner State to see the Catoosa Blue Whale.  Since most of the episode took place in California (and possibly Arizona) they never mentioned Oklahoma by name.  If they had, the audience might have noticed they were seeing roadside sights out of order.

He's a deadpan kind of guy but I think he liked the whale...in a way.  He was interested that it was built as an anniversary present by Hughes Davis to his wife but also concerned that future anniversary presents would most likely pale in comparison. 

Other than a few more shots from the road (including the shot above in Chelsea), that's pretty much it for Oklahoma.  Pilkington moves on to hang out with with some Amish folks and do some stunt flying in an American flag emblazoned plane. 

There were only a few minutes of screen time for Oklahoma but I think we made a good impression on our friends across the pond.  Maybe the whale can expect a few more Brits to stop by and say hi. 

As a bonus, here's a look at the Blue Whale's cameo on this season of the ABC comedy "The Goldbergs":

I Visited Belle Starr's Grave

Belle Starr, the Outlaw Queen, made her way into the pantheon of legendary wild west bandits by living an exciting life and having a series of outlandish adventures, some of which are actually true.  Yes, like many legends, most of her exploits began, not from a six-shooter's flow of bullets but rather, from the flow of ink of a writer's quill.

But tall tales beget fame and fame begets monuments.  The picture above is a statue of the notorious highwaywoman that can be found at the Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary near Bartlesville. It's impressive but it's not the only place in Oklahoma to remember the infamous rogue.  Her final resting place is near Stigler, close to the Lake Eufaula dam but you need to make a little effort to find it.  So let's take a look.

The first thing to know is that the grave is on private property so when you go, don't be douchey.  That essentially means don't trash the place.  The owners maintain a great trail that leads to the grave.  It starts at the end of their driveway and has signage instructing visitors where to go.  It's also conveniently near a historic marker.

According to the marker, it looks like the Canadian River used to pass through this area and it was home to Belle and her husband.  The outlaw life doesn't necessarily end tidily so only Belle made it back home to be interred.  And to see her final resting place, you need to head down the trail.

There are plenty of signs along the path.  Many of them warn about spiders and snakes and there are lots of "Enter at Your Own Risk" signs.  That may seem a little hostile but it's probably just the owners protecting themselves from liability.  Remember, they don't have to make their private property accessible, they're essentially just doing it to be nice.  And they did a great job on the trail.  It's an easy-to-follow short hike.

And here it is...you can see there's a fairly elaborate headstone and that she's interred above ground.  Like many graves, past visitors have left mementos like dollars, shotgun shells, trinkets, but mostly coins.  I've seen this before at other historic grave sites and I assume it's just good old fashioned "paying tribute."

I didn't stay long and I didn't want to disturb anything.  The dead need their rest.  So I headed back down the trail (only getting lost once) and was back in the car in no time headed off for my next adventure.  One that would surely pale in comparison to the those of the Outlaw Queen...

Frasier's Dog is Not Buried in Oklahoma

The best parts of many road trips involve stopping along the way at some of the more unusual attractions.  Oklahoma is full of these kind of stops, not just along Route 66, but across the state.  You never have to look too far to find some roadside wonder to brighten up your travels.

But one thing you won't find along the back roads in the Sooner State is a monument to "Moose," the canine actor who played the role of "Eddie" on the long running NBC sitcom "Frasier."  Why would anyone even expect to find such a thing?  That's all thanks to another sitcom...

On a season 4 episode of The Mindy Project, two of the characters ("That Guy From That Thing" and "That Other Guy, I Know I've Seen Him in Something") decide to do a Road Trip Episode™.  Soon enough, the boys find themselves in Catoosa, Oklahoma.

Of course, it's a real life Oklahoma town along the Mother Road but the episode would have you believe it's the final resting place of "the dog from Frasier."  The prop department even whipped up a nice monument (which I wish I owned):

In my research I couldn't find the actual grave of Moose which leads me to believe there's just not one.  I'd like to think he was cremated and his remains were divided into lockets worn around the necks of the cast and crew of Frasier every single day.  It just feels right to me.

After reading this, if you are now in the process of canceling your plans for a Catoosa road trip, then allow me to talk you back into it.  You don't need a dead dog when you can have a giant whale:

The Blue Whale makes his home in Catoosa and travelers come from all over to walk into his big smiling face.  Unfortunately the only pic of him I have handy is this one of me shooting video of him several years ago.  At least it helps to give a little perspective of how big he is.

I'll head out there again soon to get some betters for his own blog entry.  And speaking of which, there is a grave of a famous TV animal in Oklahoma for your viewing pleasure but you'll have to head out to Tahlequah to see it:

But Mr. Ed's grave is a story for another time...to be continued?!?

The Sinclair Dinosaurs of Oklahoma

Years ago, in Route 66's prime, the roads were packed with vacationers, salesmen and entrepreneurs who drove up and down the back roads and highways chasing the American experience.  Gas stations and motels were in fierce competition to get the attention and patronage of these weary travelers so many of them got creative.

Sinclair Oil had a dinosaur theme in their advertising and so it was only natural to have some dinosaurs at their stations welcoming the empty tanks of road weary wanderers.  The bright green statues are few and far between these days but lucky travelers can still find a few at select Sinclair stations.  And the great state of Oklahoma has several you can spot on your next road trip like this one in Tahlequah:

This is a pretty standard example but seek and ye shall find some more colorful examples.  One of the best places to stop on an Oklahoma road trip is Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies in Davis along I-35.  You can pick up lunch, dessert and a selfie with a red version of the dinosaur that stands watch on their roof:

Further north up the interstate you can find an even more colorful guy in a very colorful place.  The Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley has pretty much every super hero, cartoon character and scifi monster you can think of.  And among the heroes and villains you can find this guy:

Even farther north is an example of another dino with a dramatic story.  You wouldn't know it to look at him now but a few years back, this dinosaur in Norman lost his head:

As you can see, he's made a full recovery but for a while he was completely headless.  How did this happen?  How did it get resolved?  News 9 reports:

Now, of course, you can find these guys outside of the Sooner State.  You just have to keep your eyes open on the road (which you should be doing anyway).  But if you're lucky, you can see the balloon version from the comfort of your own home.  After a long absence, the Sinclair Dinosaur Balloon returned to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade last year:

So if you want to find a couple of these guys then consider your next road trip to be a dinosaur hunting expedition.  You never know what you'll see on the back roads.

Top 5 Bones at the Museum of Osteology

If you haven't visited the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City then put it on your list.  Born from the hard work and imagination of ambitious bone-enthusiast Jay Villemarette and his business"Skulls Unlimited," the museum houses more animal skeletons than you can shake a femur at.

But what's a weirdo museum without a seemingly arbitrary list of rankings?   So with that, I present the Top 5 Bones (and/or full skeletons) in the Osteology Museum:

5.  Magellanic Penguin

You don't really think of penguins having bones...or at least I usually don't.  But of course they do.  And seeing the remains of one like this makes me think of them a little more like chickens or turkeys after a nice holiday dinner.  Birds are birds, I guess

4.  Fruit Bat

A lot of people find the giant skeletons like the humpback whale or giraffe to be the most impressive but, for me, the smaller ones are the most interesting.  Clearly a lot of work went into cleaning, preparing and arranging the tiny, intricate bones of this little guy.  Plus you get the side-by-side comparison with his taxidermy specimen buddy.

3.  King Cobra

A couple of things stick out with this creepy guy: apparently a cobra's hood isn't just skin or cartilage, it's actual bones.  You can also get a look at how a snake's jawbone allows it to open extra wide to gobble up their dinner.

2. Two-Headed/Two-Faced Calves

There's nothing better to see in a kooky museum than some kind of biological oddity, particularly of the two-headed variety.  The accompanying plaque indicates that this also happens to snakes and humans but the overwhelming majority that I've seen have been cows.

1.  Skull of a Space Chimp!

What we have here is the skull of an honest to goodness chimpanzee from NASA's Space Chimp Program.  Son unlike the other animals at the museum, being on display at the Museum of Osteolgy is only his second biggest accomplishment.

So do you agree?  Disagree?  Let me know if you have a bone to pick with the list or just go visit the museum and make your own list!

Unique-lahoma

To kick off the blog, here's our documentary short "Unique-lahoma":