There are lots of old Army Air force bases in Texas. Lots of armadillo in Texas too. Texas Armadillos prefer old Texas air bases because everything is ship shape for armored rodents like armordillos. 😅. In Texas we sometimes call them night time highway speed bumps and hitting one can louse of your vehicular. 😊
Burns Flatt space port is the former Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base closed in 1969. The housing is enlisted housing from that era. It has excellemt hanger construction, and a 13,000 ft. runway.
Yes I know about the base, I was stationed there for four years before it closed. Some of those houses were never occupied by military. Best runway at the time in the AF. Where I met my wife of 58 years .
About 90 other Airmen and I were sent to Clinton Sherman AFB to prepare to reopen it in 74. It was SAC with B-52s armed with Nuclear weapons, the same as before. The AF strategy in the 50s was to spread the B 52s around the country instead of having a couple of considerable bases if the USSR attacked using missiles. The US always had loaded B-52s near the Arctic Circle as a deterrent for the USSR. There would be a group at the Circle, a group flying back to their homeport, and a group flying North. .
I remember Operation Chrome Dome from my SAC days. Flying loaded nukes constantly but when we kept having crashes and losing bombs, 8th Airforce was disbanded, and when 2nd AF took over we stopped flying nukes . That happened in 1969 and 70. @@mdnealy4097 Whatever happened to Clinton AFB when you were there? Just curious.
My Daddy was stationed at Clinton Sherman Air Force base in Burns Flat. Those duplexes are old military housing. You took me on a trip down memory lane. Thanks.
I was born in Cordell in 1960, moved away at the age of 7, then returned to attend school at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. My grandparents owned and operated a dairy farm about 9 miles east of Cordell, just north of a tiny place called Cloud Chief. Their farm was actually bisected by the Washita river (which is pronounced WASH-i-tah, incidentally, not wash-EE-tuh). Thank you for the lovely trip down memory lane.
Your last city, Elk City is the birth place of Jim Webb. For those of us old enough to remember/enjoy these popular songs by Glen Campbell..."By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Galveston," "Wichita Lineman," 21 year old Webb wrote those songs. He also wrote "McArthur Park" a song about someone leaving their "cake out in the rain too long." Anyway, a shout out to Elk City, a town as tough as a $5 steak!😁
Thanks . Shame about but common all over America. Decline Manufacturing Sold OUT Reagan & Clinton GAVE everything to CHINA remember most favoured nation in 1995 . Bad bad bad .
Played it at graduation in high school three out of four years in the band, graduated on the fourth round, but had to play it up till that night,, in class, dont know why they chose that song, but they liked it a LOT!
I lived in Cordell as a child in the mid fifties. It was cold in the winter with dust storms due to drought, which obliterated the sun. A pleasant place to live but I was happy when we moved to southeast Oklahoma. I remember the Mennonite farmers coming to town to shop. In those days they painted the chrome over on their vehicles.
We live in Clinton and know all these places very well. You are probably the first travel vlogger who has ever called Clinton "lovely"... So thanks. Although we were sweating it when after downtown you immediately went to the worst parts of town and drove around. (Cotton Gin area and the area we call "The Flats). The numbers are wacky here because we have a lot of rich farmers as well as poor people who have very little.
I’m from Oklahoma and now live in Los Angeles. I found your videos of rural Oklahoma extremely interesting and enjoyable to watch. Really helps to remind us that the world does not revolve around us in big cities. There is a lot of life all over. Thanks for sharing these. It was a great excursion down memory lane.
Love the videos. Regarding your comment about the housing styles in Burns Flat all being the same; Those were typical of Air Force enlisted housing of the era. If memory serves correctly I recall the base may have been called Clinton-Sherman AFB. This base was also designated as an alternate/emergency landing runway for the Space Shuttle program. I noticed in one of your other vids on rural Oklahoma that the peak population of many of the rural towns was around 1980. This coincides with the end of an oil boom (late 70's) in the state. The jobs went away, so did the younger people and anyone else not associated with a farm or agriculture. Only so many can inherit the farms, the rest must move to find work. Please keep the vids coming.
Alot of people laugh when you tell them Burns Flat used to be an alternative space shuttle place but it's true. That housing was all sold off to people for a fairly low price if I remember correctly
Maybe an interesting side note to Burns Flat. Then President Jimmy Carter landed in burns flat and had one of his town hall meetings back in the late 1970’s. I don’t remember exactly what year.
My mother comes from western Oklahoma. Harmon County. Born 1929 dust bowl years left 1939. To ARIZONA. My dad born Eufaula Oklahoma. Left 1937 to AZ. Thank you Joe for this video.
Those duplexes reminded me of base housing for military families? Maybe that being a "space" town it was once set up as a military base. The town probably has an interesting history.
I think the armadillo is a good omen for your travels! Cordell has a gorgeous courthouse and homes. I also love the murals in this video! Fox sighting acquired! Re Elk City Never seen a Dollar General incorporated downtown. I love the brick roads. Enjoyed the house tour! The butterfly was another good omen for your travels 🦋 Thank you for a great video !
My mother grew up in Washita County; Cordell, Lake Valley, Burns Flat, Cloud Chief. She took us kids there a lot in the 60's. Your video brings back a lot of memories. Thank you for sharing.
I live In Colbert, Oklahoma, back in the 80’s my husband worked in Cordel and Burns Flat on an oil field.. used to pull a travel trailer and live there and come home every two weeks. Nice to go down memory lane.
Its ok Nicole, I watch a lot of true crime shows too !! in fact, I often see some of these towns- on those shows !! Thanks for the cats ! BTW- LOVE the brick roads ! how sensible, last ages. Love all the tree lined streets.
How delightful for the first thing you see in Cordell to be a possom-on-the-half-shell! They are such useful little things. They keep my yard cleared of grubs. Seeing the neighborhoods is always fun. From the stately to the dumps, it's always entertaining! I like Nicole's views of things too. I can hear me saying what she says! Your food looked delicious!
I'm back. I just wanted to mention that this tour was a lot of fun and you are so informative. I appreciate your doing research before you hit the town. Those motel signs were wonderful...especially the one that was in the front yard of a now converted home. I'm glad they left the sign up. And those were foxes. Coyotes look much more like medium sized dogs. Foxes have that slender body and bushy tail. I'm in the next state west, New Mexico and I do a lot of camping and seeing critters of all kinds, but I've never seen an armadillo. Great start to the show. All the best to you and your family. Keep it up.
Moved to Cordell last year from a suburb of Portland, Oregon. I love it here. Things make sense. We have a lot of wildlife locally. I am pleased to see that you caught some of it on camera. One thing that I would like to note is that I don't consider this town to be barely hanging on. You seem to say that about a lot of rural areas. In my view, many of our large US cities is what are hanging by a thread over the pit.
Red as a rose. I am part of the blue state conservative exodus. I suspect there will be more of us. Don't worry; I don't think liberals wind up in Western Oklahoma intentionally.
I can't believe I haven't made it to Cordell! It looks so nice! I appreciate you noting the New Deal architecture and mural of the post office. (Could have been a "Swift Fox" common to Oklahoma) The base housing in Keesler AFB Biloxi, MS looked just like those houses in Burns Flat! Super cool filling station in Corn! Thanks for showing Elk City and Clinton! Nice towns, Have a great week Joe and Nic!
Displaced Okie here. Made my day to see this in my RU-vid feed. Made me a tad bit homesick, though. I'm originally from Muskogee, now in Michigan. My husband (Michigan born and bred) and I have decided to move to(in my case, back to) Oklahoma by this time next year.
The WPA Works Projects Administration was key behind the situation where artists and craftsmen made what would have been average appearing spaces "unique" to an area. Plus art and decorative details are always appreciated in an interior of a structure. 😊
For me as a European its both fascinating and a bit mysterious that literally nobody is roaming the streets. No elderly, no kids, not one. And where are all the „basketball baskets“? Where, do you think, should the next olympic gold medal come from?? ;) Btw, subscribed. Good luck for you and „the wife“ and please keep up the series for a good while still. One more year, from what I understood? Greetings from Germany and cheers, 🇩🇪🍻.
It's probably a Sunday, everyone is at church, most businesses are closed. As to the basketball query, Detroit or similar. Plus this is downtown, most people will have a hoop on the front of their garage if someone in the family is interested. Most schools, if they have a team, will have a court for the students.
Thank you for your wonderful video of Washita County, Oklahoma! My mother was born in Washita County, in 1915. Her family migrated to California in 1934. I visited Washita County in 1984. Thank you for your videos!
Awesome road trip with you guys. Joe- luv your interaction with armadillo, horse, cows, butterfly, dog & cats. And as always the stats/architecture that you share with us about each town.Thanks from the bottom of my heart for doing these vids. If I ever won the lottery that Route 66 would be top of my bucket list. So nice when Nic joined the vid at Elk City-you're a delight & u liking true crime movies/books means you have an investigative mind-no shame there. Awesome Vid ! Luv watching them.
An awesome video, as always, so many interesting towns (and lots of different wildlife, and one cat !!). I loved the old Motor Hotel in Clinton, a wonderful era. Thank you both so much.😊
If I had Sir Paul McCartney's money, I'd love to tour what's left of Route 66, winding from Chicago all the way to L.A. (as he did several years ago). There's a "historical marker" in Arcadia, OK, where he stopped to ask a resident if he was still on the correct path. If I recall correctly, he spent quality time with the neighbors before laboring on, so they commemorated the visit with a sign. I'm digging the photo opportunities all over the place!
Your videos are excellent. Great info and data, intriguing locations and delivered with an architectural interest making it really informative. Thank you!!
Hi Joe, hi Nic, I'm still enjoying your videos, it is amazing how many places you visit and the different prices of homes. Stay safe and keep trucking. From the State of Michigan...God Bless.
Cool ride along. That rain came along. Good to see Nicky, She says "We have to find a cat" and then you did, They must be doing a lot of farming in those areas. Thanks again for the hard work. Enjoyed it.
An armadillo wow! Cool! We don’t have them here…much more exciting than a cat 🐈⬛ but don’t take that the wrong way, we still appreciate the cats 🐱😊 Good Job 👏🏻 ❤your work
Yes that was a fox. Fun facts: Armadillos are almost blind. You don’t have to build a very big fence to keep them out. Put up a 12” board and they just keep nosing it all the way to the end. They are very destructive to the ground. They can jump straight up about 3 ft if spooked and can run away faster than you would ever dream those little feet could go.
25:57 its looks like a yard locomotive ,small and strong machines for pull wagons in these industry places :) Anyway,all of these cities really pretty ,thanks for it Joe :)
To me it looks like early EMD GP series of locos. This one being striped almost to the bone. But if you look carefully there is some sort of tarp being stretched over where the prime mover is. GP stands for General Purpose Locomotives by EMD. It could also be some of the GE U boats
@@baassbooster EMD stands for Electro Motive Division of General Electric. Damn that is from some rusty brain cells. I grew up a few miles from the plant.
Probably a GP7 or GP9 if I had to guess. It also looks like it hasn't seen service for a while and is being used for scrap. Edit I found the locomotive. It used to be FarmRail 8253, a GP10 that switched in Clinton. Also it was use in 2020.
OZ// How amazing- the Armadillo !! thanks for catching that !! You just uploaded 2mins ago, it says- I,m getting good at knowing when you have one coming !! Thanks Joey. Hi to Nicole.
That brick house in Cordell for sale is $299,900 comes with .29 acres that is a great buy beautiful home very historically preserved.Once again great video thanks so much god bless safe travels
Joe & Nic, the spaceport used to be Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base. I was a toddler when my dad was stationed there and stayed until kindergarten. My grandparents - also in the Air Force - were also stationed there. During our 4 years there, our family went through some very good and very bad times. In 4 short years! The duplexes you drove past were base housing for the enlisted folks, that was base housing architecture during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It looked like you drove right past the duplex where my grandparents lived and I believe you would have had to pass my parent's to get to the spaceport! Thanks for bringing back some very old memories. I check in on your videos from time to time - especially those from Oklahoma and Kansas. The two of you look very down to earth and unpretentious. That makes watching your videos very enjoyable! Keep up the great work.
Spent many days rehabbing those old military duplex quarters just like the ones shown in the video. As far as the chairs on the porch you have to have somewhere comfy to sleep when your locked out for the evening lol.
What's better than a cat sighting? Seeing armadillos and foxes! (Speaking of armadillos, any fans of Tarkus here? 🙂) As someone suggested about the homes in Burns Flat, I think they are military housing, with maybe a touch of ranch style, considering the prairie locale. Clinton and Elk City both have Rt 66 museums worth visiting, but I have to give Elk City the edge as it's part of a complex with tons of really cool stuff on display. Until next time, happy trails!
@yawndave my late wife and I loved ELP, saw them in concert many times back in the 70s,3 nights in row in Glasgow, early 72, my son Greg named after Mr Lake, RIP Greg and Keith…
@@aldo5428 Hey, glad to see another classic prog fan here! I only saw ELP once, in San Francisco in '73. The end of Brain Salad Surgery with the quadrophonic sound swirling around and around was mind-blowing!
Excellent video it reminded of a road trip I did a few years ago from Denver down to Louisiana. I actually stayed overnight in Elk City the hotel proprieter astounded when I told him I'd walked a few hundred yards to a restaurant. The absence of people on the streets is an interesting contrast to Europe. Here in my part of the UK we had an invasion of mormon "missionaries" the police were called out many times to prevent harrassment of pedestrians and householders by them.
Love your videos. I bet when you drive through these small towns, the people notice you're a "stranger", & the word goes out - stranger in town. I imagine they all know each other!! Good job - like your new name!! 👍
Thanks for this video. I grew up in Cordell and spend time in all these towns. It was a different place during the oil boom. Wonderful place to grow up.
Everybody should live how they want. I left the big cities and live in a rural ghost town in Texas like this. Frugal simple living and a modest retirement. I enjoy the slow pace, quiet, and tranquility. We enjoy gardening and raising chickens for fresh eggs. I built a recording studio behind the house and have weekly songwriting sessions with other songwriters that live in other nearby small towns like this. With high speed internet, most everything can be accomplished remotely, It not too far to drive to a bigger city occasionally. Love cooking our own meals at a fraction of restaurant prices. We can still hook up the camper and travel around the USA then come back home to our secluded homestead. I personally think the urbanization of the USA is now becoming more of a problem for the city dwellers than us. Marfa, TX is a good example.
I love your videos of small town America! While watching, I'll look up the towns and look for the notable residents that where born or lived there! Especially former athletes!!!
We used to go to our relatives in Altus and Martha in the late 50's...I remember always stopping in Clinton to get Chocolate Malts....I think it was a Tastee Freeze.
Hey Joe, Greetings! Little shift in pronunciation: Not wa-SHE-tah but WASH-ee-tah. Never miss a video. Thanks! That you give statistics is very appreciated.
My husband was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma,but moved to the east coast at 6 months old. I’d love tip-off someday visit the state and Muskogee in particular.
Lived in Burns Flat from 1980 till 1985. working in the oilfield for a the Western Company in Clinton. When you encountered the fox, it would have been coming out of my old backyard. Back then, every house was full and Halliburton had a service yard that had at least 200 vehicles and a bunch of employees. It was on the left when you made your turn to the spaceport. Had to move back to Texas when the oilpatch collapsed in '85. Love your videos and keep up the good work.
Joe & Nic, glad the Movie Theater Run'n. A Lot Of Earthquakes Due to The Frack'n Done in the State. I Don't Think Will Ever Land From Space There In My Life Time. Safe travels. always, Tommy🤠
I love the dark clouds coming into Clinton. I knew I remembered that town! In 1995 I went through Oklahoma and encountered so many thunderstorms! I think this may have been a town where I stopped
The duplex housing in Burns Flats is the former base housing for Sherman-Clinton AFB. You will see this at a lot of closed military installations, where the base housing is converted into civilian homes.
I grew up in Okeene, Ok., a little North of where you are. You should tour that town. Lots of history, and there's another community/small town west of Okeene, called "Homestead, Ok." That's where we lived, and I had some really great memories there. Okeene's mascot is the "Whippet", which looks like a small grayhound .
You visited my town in WV and i don’t know how I came across your videos but I been following your journey since Wellsburg. I been here my entire life and really want to move away from here. It’s nice getting to see what’s out there besides the Appalachian mountains.
At 15:33 I would hazard a guess that you're looking at what was the military housing built for people who worked on the Air Force base when it was active.
Great video. Makes me want to visit Oklahoma. I enjoy your noting of the various styles of architecture. It is quite amazing how these styles are found throughout the United States, even in small towns that one would think would not even merit these buildings. I also greatly appreciate the stats on each town / city. Nicole, there are many fans of true crime, and I am one of them!
