Blue Goose ~ Day 262

February 13, 2015 ~ Russellville, AR to Okmulgee, OK

Feeling nauseous, I dug out a Compazine which always takes two hours to work, but I slowly began to feel better by mid morning. And since I couldn't exactly just go back to bed, I went to a National Wildlife Refuge instead, specifically Holla Bend in western Arkansas.

Sunrise at Holla Bend NWR - AR

When the Army Corps of Engineers (the ultimate water boys) straightened a bend in the Arkansas River, the U-shaped Holla Bend was cut off. I drove around for a couple of hours, gratified that at least they put "Wildlife Observation" on their refuge sign of permitted activities before "Hunting" or "Fishing" although Holla Bend is a "ducks and geese" refuge. I saw another huge flock of Snow Geese in a field and and equally large groups of blackbirds, mostly Red-wings, which would settle in trees or fields or on the road, and then suddenly take wing and fly about, moving en masse in lovely swooping configurations before settling again, generally hyperactive and vocal this time of year...very evocative of imminent spring.

By noon, I was in the Cherokee Nation, the country of the "civilized" Indians, these being the Cherokees, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw and Seminoles who were removed from their more eastern traditional homes ultimately settling in eastern Oklahoma. They were considered civilized because they adopted and adapted to white European ways better than the "wild" tribes. So much history here, and it usually brings me up short when it involves Native Americans and their displacements.

The Trails of Tears.....

WWW.NATIONALHUMANITIES.ORG

The final removal came under the Indian Removal Act. Missionary societies who had invested their time and money teaching Indians to live with their white neighbors and accept Christianity lobbied Congress to oppose the act. It finally passed, but only by a one-vote margin, in September of 1830. The Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creeks, and Seminoles signed treaties agreeing to leave their homes in the southeast and move west. Their travels were marked by outbreaks of cholera, inadequate supplies, bitter cold, and death from starvation and exhaustion. The Cherokees' march was a forced one under the direction of the United States army, and it came to be known as the "Trail of Tears" or, in their own term, "The Place Where They Cried." 

Sequoyah NWR is at the confluence of the Arkansas and Canadian rivers in eastern Oklahoma. It is the result of another ACOE (Army Corps of Engineers) project to "tame" the Arkansas river after a devastating flood in 1943 and is named after a Cherokee silversmith, Sequoyah, who in 1821 completed a syllabary for the Cherokees so they could read and write in their own language.

Again, I just drove slowly for a couple of hours through this refuge, stopping often. It was one of those early spring days with the sky a soft, soft blue...

Sequoyah NWR - OK

I was headed to Deep Fork NWR, but was too tired to visit by mid afternoon so continued a few more miles to Okmulgee where I got a motel with a wonderful west-facing room, overlooking fields (my favorite motel situation). I intended to work. The sun was shining brilliantly on the heavy textured white cotton bedspreads, so I laid down to nap for a bit and fell asleep for 14 hours. Delicious!