[_redbird_]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

We are loving our trip and it's early into it. Spending the night in poteau then driving g thee talimena scenic drive to mena later today. Got an altimeter and saw nearly 1600 ft above sea level yesterday nd know we go higher today. Really pretty remote part of the world. These are mountains and amazed at how green things are this area gets as much rain as houston annually. Like poteau as well as antlers so far.thanmscd awesome drive and you guys sold me on going.

The weather has blessed you! We are enjoying temps in the 80s.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

We are loving our trip and it's early into it. Spending the night in poteau then driving g thee talimena scenic drive to mena later today. Got an altimeter and saw nearly 1600 ft above sea level yesterday nd know we go higher today. Really pretty remote part of the world. These are mountains and amazed at how green things are this area gets as much rain as houston annually. Like poteau as well as antlers so far.thanmscd awesome drive and you guys sold me on going.

FYI, the Oklahoma part of the Talimena drive is much hillier than the Arkansas part. However the Queen Wihelmina Inn up on top is worth a night's stay or at least a meal. It is just inside the Arkansas line up on the drive.

I usually recommend people do the whole drive and not just one state side or the other because they are somewhat different. The drop down into Mena is much more interesting than the drop down into Talihina.

Mena has some decent restaurants and a neat downtown. Talihina has a cool old soda fountain place downtown but not much in the way of good restaurants.

They have recently opened a road from Talihina to Neshoba that is really pretty and then you take it back over to Octavia on the main highway. Then you can go to Smithville and see the beautiful upper Mountain Fork river. And then Broken Bow lake.

Glad you took the trip.

http://www.queenwilhelmina.com/

[Johnhw2]

That talimena parkway is incredible. The first half was clear enough we co I od see the grand vistas but we were in the clouds the last half. I plan y I do it again this fall. It isn't a bad drive from plano, a northern suburb of dallas. We didn't see a t expertise above 80 all day long includin G when we got back h8me. I was sli G y lying surprised we didn y see more wildlife. We saw three deer in two separate locations. All in all incredible to see these real mounrains. We drive 600 miles to NM mountains so nice to ha b e something this high up and green as can be more like 200 miles plus away.

Thanks CD friends were the tips and inspiration to make this trip.

[StillwaterTownie]

Oklahoma sure isn't underrated for being backward and behind the times. It's been behind the other states ever since it became a state in 1907 and banned alcohol. In 2015, in a poll, only 30% approved of legalizing marijuana. More people are going to be moving out, rather than moving in, if Oklahoma doesn't get its act in gear. The incumbent Republican legislators need thrown out in November, but some of them didn't get any challengers.

[MyNameIsBellaMia]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Oklahoma sure isn't underrated for being backward and behind the times. It's been behind the other states ever since it became a state in 1907 and banned alcohol. In 2015, in a poll, only 30% approved of legalizing marijuana. More people are going to be moving out, rather than moving in, if Oklahoma doesn't get its act in gear. The incumbent Republican legislators need thrown out in November, but some of them didn't get any challengers.

Since I've been here, I've never seen you say a single good thing about Oklahoma.


It's a mystery.


Oklahoma is a beautiful state. Eastern Oklahoma is magnificently green as it approaches the Ozarks.

[Rubi3]

Oklahoma is definitely under-rated. People from the East Coast hear the accent spoken be some and immediately think 'IGNORANT Okies.'

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsBellaMia

Since I've been here, I've never seen you say a single good thing about Oklahoma.


It's a mystery.


Oklahoma is a beautiful state. Eastern Oklahoma is magnificently green as it approaches the Ozarks.

Well, I'm just a chronic homebody. We homebodies don't want to move to a better state, such as Texas, Colorado, Florida and so on. Might as well throw in Missouri, too, since it has less prohibitive alcohol laws.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by Rubi3

Oklahoma is definitely under-rated. People from the East Coast hear the accent spoken be some and immediately think 'IGNORANT Okies.'

That's fine with me. Fewer people moving to Oklahoma because they think it's too much of an ignorant state to move to will help keep the cost of living down. That way there is less stress on the market for goods and services. The worse state that Oklahoma is thought to be to outsiders, the better it will be for Okies, who want to stay here until we finally die.

[Threestep2]

Time to get the still going and the potted pot garden planted. Then you can pull up the draw bridge We already made it to OK and do not plan on leaving.

Thank you so much for the trip information. Labor Day is coming up and a short OK trip is on our radar.

[_redbird_]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsBellaMia

Since I've been here, I've never seen you say a single good thing about Oklahoma.

We can agree to disagree on this one. Howest is not a chronic hater/whiner. We have a few of those here already and Howest is not one of them.

I hope people do continue to fly over our state. And for those not happy here, I hope they find someplace that makes them happy and I wish them all the success life has to offer .

I like both the flat southwestern part of the state and the hilly parts in south central.



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