Worst 5 things about Oklahoma? (Oklahoma City, Tulsa: rv parks, relocate, apartment)

[Maxine3]

Well, I have to tell you that all of our experiences in Tulsa/Catoosa were bad.
We were there twice, actually.
Please bear in mind that the places we were probably had a lot to do with it. The KOA Campground and Lake Valley Trailer Park.
We left our state to find work.
OK is a right-to-work state and ours was all union.
My Husband got a job the first day at very low wages. We put the kids in school in Catoosa. After about two weeks, we decided to try AZ, and so we went to AZ, NM and Texas. No jobs (1981).
We left Texas and went up through southern OK and heard that Sadat had be assinated. By noon we were nearly to Tulsa when I saw my first tea cup sized tarantula. By nightfall one son had broken his leg (again). Well I was ready to head out the next morning, but my husband already had a job. He bought a used pickup and three days later rolled it over on a gravel road to avoid hitting a bovine
We were at the KOA for about two months while waiting for a space at Lake Valley. Someone's van got the windows shot out one night, there were several fist fights. While one guy was at work, his girlfriend packed up and left him without even a tent.
We finally had our new trailer delivered and moved to Lake Valley. We stayed the school year and I was shocked at the behavior of the people.
To be fair, many of the people were out-of-staters, and Oklahomians were not involved in any of the unpleasantness, that I know of. In fact, all were very nice to us.
One woman came running over with her baby while her husband ran after her and dragged her to his pickup, by her hair, and drove off.
One day while he was at work, she came with family and U-Haul and cleaned out the place. Left him with a pillow and a blanket.
A young woman was staying across the street, with friends. While they were at work, her husband came over in a stationwagon. As soon as she opened the door, he grabbed her and threw her off the porch on to the cement pad and really shredded her arms. Then threw her in the car and grabbed bags of her things, from inside the trailer, and tossed them in after her and drove off.
One day my son came running home and said an 11 year old kid was chasing my other son with a fishing knife because he didn't want my son fishing in the pond. The manager talked me out of calling the police. She said the kid had big problems and the parents both worked (people had to to eak out a living) and left him alone. They had been warned several times and now would be evicted.
I was used to driving in snow, but those ice storms around the Tulsa are really unbelievable!
After everything I saw there, I'm afraid to even fly over Oklahoma
I could write a book---
Oops, it looks like I already have....

[jessaka]

Trailer parks can get pretty bad. I know I used to manage one. I would never again. And that was in Del Mar, CA, one of the richest towns in CA. I don't think your experiences represent all of Oklahoma, and like you said, Most Oklahomans were not involved. Sorry you had such a bad experience, one after another.

Where do you live now?

[Synopsis]

Maxine, it sounds like you were in Oklahoma at the time of the oil boom. People were flooding in from all over the country to find oil field jobs that started at $20 an hour +. That place you stayed sounds like it was a staging area for a lot of out of staters coming to Oklahoma to find work. Regardless, I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience.

[Maxine3]

I hate to tell you where I live now ;^(
Actually, it's my home state of Michigan.
I was born in Detroit. I haven't been able to even drive by the house I was born in, for the last twenty five years. I don't have much (read:any) hope for the once great city to make a comeback.
I know you are probably thinking---and she has the nerve to complain about Oklahoma !
I wasn't comdemming Oklahoma, just our experiences there. Wrong place, wrong time.
Michigan is in dire straits right now.
People are leaving in droves. Forclosures are the highest in the nation, and the (dual citizenship Canadian, female) Govenor just raised the income taxes, and also added taxes on more services.
I hope the state can comeback as it is, indeed a water wonderland.

[Synopsis]

My wife and daughter were in Detroit a few months ago. They said it was beautiful there and had a wonderful time. I hope that it comes back as well. I think if I had the experience you did in Oklahoma, I'd have said something too!

[stiffnecked]

Oklahoma suxs.

1. High taxes. State income tax, sales tax, property tax, tag tax, every kind tax you can imagine. The rates may not be high individually but collectively they add up.

2. Hypocritical people. Usually found in your local Baptist church which your can find on every other corner. They are saints on Sunday, sinners the other six days.

3. Pollution, in every way shape and form. Why throw stuff in the garbage can when you can just throw it in the back of your pick-up truck. Then let the wind scatter it where it wants.

4. Politics, everything is political here. It's not what you know and how good you do it but it all boils down to who you know.....

5. Public facilities including roads, highways and bridges. Instead of fixing the roads let's hire someone to study the problem and then we will hire someone else to study the study and tell us what it says. Then we will admit we spent all of the money on studies and now don't have any money left to fix the problem.

6. The weather suxs.

[peggydavis]

Hi Maxine

You brought back some memories from the oil boom days, 1981. There was no point in going camping since all our state parks were full of people who came to Oklahoma to find work from all over the country. People were sleeping in cars, and it was nearly impossible to find an apartment to rent. I remember meeting a shoe salesman who was from Michigan. I asked him, "You came here to work in a shoe store?" He replied that the auto industry in Michigan was so bad that he had to. By the way, OK was not a right to work state in those days.

Your experiences almost sound like those of the Okies in California in The Grapes of Wrath. We were discussing that on this forum a while back. I am glad it was different in that you remember the people from Oklahoma being nice to you.

Just to tell you the rest of the story, the oil bust began in 1982 with the collapse of Penn Square Bank. That dried up the easy credit for all the wildcat oil companies, and jobs began to be extremely hard to come by. Things went downhill from there, and many many people left Oklahoma for other states. Soon it was easy to camp again, and apartments were readily available if you had any money. The real estate crash was awful. You could drive down residential streets and almost every house was for sale, with no buyers in sight. Hardly a bank is in business here today that survived those days.

We did not really have much hope that our state could make a comeback, either. We learned the hard way that too much dependence on one industry was a recipe for disaster. Some of us hung in there, raised our children, and made a living any way we could. It took a long time (maybe 15 years?), but we have made a comeback. This time the oil boomlet is icing on the cake. The recovery took place while oil and gas prices were still in the trash can. We had to change a lot of ways of thinking and doing things to diversify industry and think outside the box to create a place where people can live and work with a decent way of life.

The point I'm trying to make in my book is that while Detroit and Michigan are looking pretty bleak right now, you can look forward to a better tomorrow. I am glad I stayed in Oklahoma now because all of our kids are doing well and living in the city of their birth. Not everyone gets to live that way. I hope things work out for you in Detroit.

[Maxine3]

Hi Peggy-
Yes, it's true, Michigan is/was a one industry town---cars, cars, cars.
It was great while it lasted.
Coleman Young (long time Mayor of Detroit) was the beginning of the end of they city, itself.
Everybody knows what happened to the auto industry, and that had a domino effect in the state.
The auto companies are in union (UAW) negociations sp. as we speak. Two of them went on strike in recent weeks. The strikes lasted only a few hours. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. They are really lucky to have jobs at all.
Sorry, I was sure OK was a right-to-work state at that time. My husband worked with heavy equipment, at the airport-Tulsa for about $7. an hour, non-union.

Synopsis: I'm glad your family got back safely from their visit to Detroit. The only reasonably safe places are the tourist areas in downtown. Going a block from there, in any direction is hazardous to your health. I wouldn't venture down there on a bet.

[LadyRobyn]

Took me awhile to think of 5 'worst things' about Oklahoma, but here goes:

1. From the moment I first set foot on this Red Clay land it got in my blood and it won't let me go.

2. There is FAR too much natural beauty everywhere I look, it keeps me from getting my housework done.

3. The people in our grocery stores are awful! They ALWAYS walk me to the car and load up my groceries for me... I could really use the exercise by doing it myself.

4. I'm forever having to raise my hand and wave back at complete strangers while driving around. (That has to be somewhat dangerous)

5. The wildlife is totally out of control! I've got squirrels in my trees, birds in my bushes, and the hawks and vultures keep cluttering up my pristine sky.

*whew* That was hard!


Maxine, If that had been my 'first impression' of a place I would have run screaming the other direction too!!

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by Maxine3

I hate to tell you where I live now ;^(
Actually, it's my home state of Michigan.
I was born in Detroit. I haven't been able to even drive by the house I was born in, for the last twenty five years. I don't have much (read:any) hope for the once great city to make a comeback.
I know you are probably thinking---and she has the nerve to complain about Oklahoma !
I wasn't comdemming Oklahoma, just our experiences there. Wrong place, wrong time.
Michigan is in dire straits right now.
People are leaving in droves. Forclosures are the highest in the nation, and the (dual citizenship Canadian, female) Govenor just raised the income taxes, and also added taxes on more services.
I hope the state can comeback as it is, indeed a water wonderland.

Although I've lived most of my life in Ca., My home state is also Michigan. When I lived there in was known as "The Winter Wonderland". The house I was born in has been replaced with a Dentist office.
No offense but I never did care for Detroit or the lower half. I drove on 75 through Detroit last year on my way up to Mackinaw City and the "Clover Leaf" was cluttered with mufflers, exhaust pipes and trash. The mid, upper half and the U P is where you see most of the beauty it's known for, woodland, rivers, lakes, streams,hills, backwaters and outdoor recreation.
I know, this is Oklahoma, but to be honest, I havent been here long enough to find anything to complain about

Here' an arial shot of the Mackinaw Bridge at sunset.

The resolution is terrible, can anyone fix that?