Nancy B King

Today was the day for my road trip south from Winfield. I’d already been north when I arrived at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport and east on Monday and Tuesday to Howard, Moline, Grenola, and Dexter.

With a Daylight Donut pinecone and a large diet Coke in hand, I was ready to hit the road. I suddenly discovered the road south (almost missed the turn) now by-passes Arkansas City, the next town south. However, the road still took me down the main street of Newkirk, Oklahoma, where a three story stone building has the name Barnes on it—-my grandfather had something to do with it.

Ponca City, my second destination, is the home of the Pioneer Woman bronze and used to be the home of Conoco Oil. The bronze is one of my favorite pieces of sculpture. For me it truly embodies the pioneer spirit of many generations of Barnes/Thompson women.

Conoco Oil has always had a special spot in my heart because a favorite good friend of my mother’s was a VP. Also, he provided me with my very first credit card, a Conoco Oil gasoline card, when I was newly divorced, didn’t have any credit rating, nor a job, only a teaching contract and was driving to Alaska with my six year-old daughter. Now, Conoco is a major player in Alaska.

My third stop was Pawhuska. The road east from Ponca City to Pawhuska is a long 40 miles—-nothing along the way—not even any highway signs nor town and mileage signs. The road just keeps going and going through great ranch land.

The people who leased our ranch grassland for many years lived in Pawhuska. During that time, they always invited us down to the Ben Johnson Memorial Steer Roping on Father’s Day weekend. Also, Betty was the force behind the Osage County Historical Museum. She went to the museum to work nearly every day until she died at the age of 94 in 2006. The museum  commemorates Osage County but also the first Boy Scouts of America troop. The first Boy Scout troop in America was organized in Pawhuska.

After leaving the museum, I drove the back roads to Woolaroc. My short cut proved to be a long cut. The road zigged then zagged; I took the zig but not the zag and ended up driving the long way around.

To begin with Woolaroc was Frank Phillips’ (started Phillips 66 oil company of today’s ConocoPhillips) 3,700 acre ranch, retreat, and wildlife preserve. The museum is one, if not my favorite Indian art and artifact museum. Its high quality collection is displayed with quiet, simple dignity. In our family, I realize that I’m the last generation that has any real connection to this period of history; granted my connection has been only family stories of Kansas and Oklahoma, but those pioneering stories are so very far removed from Daughter’s growing up in Alaska that I suspect they are nearly meaningless. This visit I spent quite a bit of time at Woolaroc just soaking up the peace and quiet. It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day with very few people around.

Next on my list was Bartlesville. We always went to Ponca City and not Bartlesville. Because of ConcoPhillips presence in Alaska I decided I wanted to check out Bartlesville. I was interested in seeing the Phillips 66 museum. However, I was tired, couldn’t easily find it, and gave up and headed back to Winfield.

I took highway 75 north to 166, turned west and by-passed Sedan, had thoughts and memories of Cedar Vale as I drove by, turned north on Kansas 15, drove past Henry’s Candies at Dexter, and turned west on 160 with a “natural detour” for a stop at the Little Hooker Bait Shop and Café. Yes, I had another barbeque sandwich and another fabulous piece of fresh peach pie.

Back in Winfield I had a great visit with a friend, Shirley. She is a real estate agent in Winfield. It was most interesting to discuss Winfield’s real estate market with her.

And so another special day of revisiting memories came to an end.