Another State Another Sticker

Little Rock, Arkansas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – 356 miles

We left Little Rock in the late afternoon and headed towards Oklahoma City.  The trip wasn’t too eventful but we learned some interesting things along the way:

1.     We traveled through several “Indian Nations” as we drove I-40. During lunch, we learned about the “Trail of Tears” from my brother Mike at lunch.  The “Trail of Tears” was the path Native Americans followed after they were kicked out of their homelands in the southeast.  It was in the 1830s when the government told the Native Americans they could no longer stay in the lands they knew. This was known as the Removal Act.  Tribes of Choctaw, Cherokee, Seminole, and more were sent out to the newly established “Indian Territory” which is now part of Oklahoma.

2.     In 1889 the US Government decided to split up much of the Indian Territory and surrounding areas of Oklahoma to offer land for white settlers for cheap. This was known as the Land Rush of Oklahoma.  Over 60,000 white settlers ventured to claim unclaimed property as their own. At noon on April 22, 1889 a cannon was shot and the settlers raced to claim their property.  There were some settlers who went out into the unsettled territory before the legal time. These settlers came to be identified as “Sooners”.  

We pulled into our resting spot outside of Oklahoma City late, grabbed a very late dinner of left over pizza and hit the sack exhausted. Another day, another state, another sticker!

Blake adds Oklahoma to our sticker board showing which states we have traveled to in the RV