Showmen's Rest, Hugo, OK - 10 JUL 2010

I set off on a 4 hour drive across lower Oklahoma in search of a Circus Cemetery in Hugo. This land has ranches not farms, as denoted with decorative iron work. 

The country side is littered with oil pumpjacks as seen in the background here:

When I was in Missouri, I was noting the variety of wildlife based on roadkill...skunks & raccoons. On this drive I counted 3 raccoons, 2 skunks, 1 turtle and 7 armadillos. When I was driving around Texas in1995 (covering 4,000 miles) I only saw one dead armadillo, so my conclusion is they either move faster in Texas or people drive faster in Oklahoma.

The good news is the live animal count was 3 turtles, a vulture, a fox, 2 young raccoons (at Ft Sill) and a large family of skunks. I found Gene Autry Oklahoma but was too early to check out their museum.

Without planning, I came across Fort Washita which was established in 1842 to protect the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians.

Pictured here is the South Barracks built in 1849. The Ranger told me, the rocky path on the left, was the first road ever built in Oklahoma and it went all the way to the Red River.

This is the newer West Barracks built in 1856 but burned in 1917.

This mailbox tells a whole story:

Don't ask, don't tell...oops, too late.

Finally, I found Mount Olivet Cemetery, designated Showmen's Rest. Even though it is not a very large cemetery, it took me 20 minutes to find the circus area as I first turned left and it was on the right. Also know as Bull Rider's Reprieve, I first found these interesting headstones:  

The Showmen's Rest area is surrounded by these elephant markers.

She's holding snakes:

There had been some rain and just before returning to Lawton, I saw this rainbow.

I experienced the most bizarre optical illusion…the road stretched out for miles, and the sun was bright making the atmosphere ripple off the hot pavement. I was the only car in sight from any direction and in the distance I saw something strange crossing the road. It looked like a giant black snake, but it was undulating up and down just like a worm, not slithering like a snake. And it was large! I slowed slightly, being mesmerized by the vision, wondering what animal I was observing. As I slowing passed, I had to smile and laugh…not one animal at all but a whole family of small skunks moving closely together bouncing up and down as they walk, giving an undulating affect.