The last two years have been hard on everyone, including Traci and me. Thankfully we have been having fun traveling Oklahoma and looking for–cabooses!

Traveling Across Oklahoma

It is no surprise that the pandemic has been tough on all of us, for a number of reasons. While it was not the worst thing that happened to us, the shutdown two years ago delayed Traci and I from going to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary. What we discovered instead was traveling across the great state of Oklahoma, seeing the things everyone always puts on their “someday” list–and never gets around to seeing.

For example, some of the places and things we have seen over the last two years includes the Will Roger’s Museum in Claremore; the Big Blue Whale in northeast Oklahoma; Alabaster Caverns in the northwest part of the state; and the World’s Largest Peanut in Durant!

Yes, these trips got us out of the house, but they also opened up our eyes to a number of aspects about Oklahoma that we either did not realize or never considered. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that life in this state is changing, and a great deal of what we knew growing up is just no longer there.

What Started As A Game…

However, one of things that we started to see was cabooses… lots of them! Soon it just became a game to see how many we could find, and how we knew that one was likely in any given town.

Then it became more than a game. We started getting interested in the history of each caboose, and how it came to be where it was located. You see, cabooses are a part of the history of our state, and to understand history you have to understand its context. Same with cabooses.

Research takes time, though. Time is a precious thing for us all, and we are no different. So it is a slow process, investigating cabooses–but a lot of fun doing it. We even started a website for cabooses in Oklahoma, oklahomacabooses.com.

More than Cabooses

Another thing we discovered, too, is that there is more to see than just cabooses. Every town we visit has a story, and that story is written on its downtown.

Some downtowns are thriving or seeing a resurgence, unfortunately, most are not. Some towns are just obviously dying, with people and industry moving away. And that’s sad. Sad for everyone.

But the ones that are battling back are real joys to see. Not every downtown is fully occupied, but many have businesses that have redone the buildings, and made the effort to build up better. Those are places worth seeing and experiencing.

And that is what Traci and I are doing. This time of year the calendar gets pretty full, but we have some plans to scoot out on some day trips and see some cabooses–and the towns they are in. Seeing towns come back is something that brings joy to us and is work paying a little extra for the gas. We recommend you all do the same!

Marc