Day 6 – 1570 miles … Cherokees and a long drive

We love the idea that Wal-Mart has done, that allows us to stop for the night at any Wal-Mart store in the country. I’m not sure who told me, nor where I read it … but you see many RVers stopped for the night in their parking lots. We have used these in previous trips as well … when we are making miles and it is after 8P we stop at them rather then campgrounds. We usually spend the night, get up early and drive on … very nice, cheap, convenient and safer than the side of the road.

From the Wal-Mart we drove about 6 miles to the Cherokee National Heritage Museum, this was our entire reason to detour to Tahlequah. We have for the last 4 days been roughly following the “Trail of Tears” … if you know little about this, I encourage you to read about it … this trail ends in Tahlequah. The Cherokee museum is fairly expansive … it has a recreation (and working) Cherokee village from the 1600’s, and a exhibit building. The building has a permanent section that tells the story of the forced relocation (Trail of Tears) and the other half set aside for other (revolving) exhibits – the one there now had a focus on the Cherokee language.

I found the museum very moving, not sure why … but left very sad … hard for me to believe what we as humans are able to do to each other … this was beyond what the kids would grasp, but they found it interesting to see the pictures and listen to the spoken Cherokee language.

The highlight, for sure was the tour of the village. A Cherokee, in traditional dress led the tour, took about an hour and covered a typical village that would have been home to 100+ people. Within the village were another 10+ “actors”, all Cherokee, “living” the life … the only spoiler was when we saw one with a iPhone :)

We all learned many things, 3 stuck out for me; 1. The woman of the tribe are the ones that own all the property, the man hunt and protect. 2. Each family has 2 homes a summer home (large, square and flat roof) and a winter home (small, igloo shaped). The winter home was for sleeping only and was easy to keep warm. 3. Cherokee had blow guns! Made out of river cane, with darts that could shoot 50yrds. They used these to hunt for birds, rabbit, squirrels and other small game.

I’d recommend the experience … had a great deal to offer, at many levels. We packed up around 2P and headed out for a long day of driving.

“Making miles” is not hard on the RV, even with the kids … the key is to be packed and have enough activities for them to do along the way. Our RV has 4 places for things to occur; the sofa, the table, the upstairs and the back. So, the kids take turns reading, playing video games, watching TV, painting, doing puzzles, playing games. Several of the cabinets in the RV are dedicated to crafts and games … I think based on proportions, we have dedicated about 30% of available space to “things to do while driving”. We also carry more games on the outside storage areas, which allow us to “trade-out” things every couple of days to keep everything fresh.

We also try to stop along the way for 30 to 45 minute distractions, sometimes for ice cream, sometimes at a visitor center and sometimes for shopping. As we neared Tulsa, I saw a massive “Bass Pro Shop” – Outdoor World and pulled over for a “distraction”. 

Now, I must confess, I have been having trouble dealing with my inadequacy. Since the second day, I have felt, somehow, not a full man. At every truck stop and at every campground, this feeling kept reinforcing itself. I was sure that Outdoor World would help me cure this. You see, the problem, in a nutshell, I had no knife … all the campers had knives, all the truckers had knives … I had, well, a cell phone. While this is probably a better tool for the city, out here, a man is not defined by his cell phone, but by the blade he has strapped to his side.

As the girls went to look at hats and shoes, Jack and I headed to the hunting section … I was determined to get a knife and all the needed items of an outdoorsman. I pushed my cart, as I knew, lots of gear would be needed. Waterproof matches, need those. Hatchet, need that. Camo hat, can make do without. Tactical flashlight, need that, maybe 2. 5 inch bowie knife with compass on the handle (ala Rambo) … ooh … My phone has GPS, so I chose the model without the compass. Outdoor chairs, a luxury, but I put 5 in the cart (for the girls of course). Iron skillet, hmmm, will check with Michelle. Leatherman multitool … a little girly, but I put one in. I was starting to feel like a man, Jack and I even grunted a little … Then the girls found us.

Michelle, went through my cart … I got to keep the leatherman and the chairs, tactical flashlights were replaced by kid flashlights and a lantern (I got to choose that) … while, I’ll say we compromised, that feeling had come back a little … my consolation, the leatherman has a 2.5” locking blade … it would have to do … I will have to compensate … will download survival software to my phone.

Several more miles later, we pulled into the Wal-Mart in Pratt, Kansas around 1130P for the night.