Oklahoma City

We had an hour of sleep on Thursday Night, and left for Jacksonville at 4:00 am. We were planning on getting about 4-5, but this became impossible as Mark just moved, and a lot of the equipment is lost in boxes somewhere. Anyway, this caused our trip to be delayed, causing us to not get to sleep until about 1:30-2:00. Upon arriving at the airport at 5:50, we didn't have enough time to get on the 6:15 flight because of security lines. So, they switched us from American to Continental at 6:45, only putting us off about an hour -- not bad at all.

Upon arriving in Oklahoma City, we had to get a new microphone, because we couldn't find our mic system to go with our Digital Recorder. Donna Dykes, who picked us up and took us around everywhere, helped us out with this by finding a Radio Shack to visit. Afterwards, we headed to Classen High School, where we interviewed the Curator of the Alumni Musuem, who provided us with old newspapers and a very useful interview. Two Seniors then gave us a tour of the school, where we ran across two younger brothers of current "American Idol" contestants, Michael Preston and Andrew Foster.

After Classen, we headed to the National Cowboy and Western Museum, where we met with Chuck Rand, who provided us with a good bit of Lobby Cards and Posters that Dub was on. We had a tasty dinner with the Dykes family and headed to bed, as we had been going on an hour of sleep from 3:00 am to 7:30 pm that night, not to mention the full day before then on Thursday.

Saturday brought the interview with Don Reeves, the Curator of the Western Performers Gallery and head of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. We discussed the history of the west, the contributions of western actors, and the selection process as to how one may enter the museum. After the interview and touring the museum, we took a tour of Oklahoma City, which included a tour of the Oklahoma City Bombing Site, which was quite powerful. We ended the day at a Mexican restaurant in Bricktown, OKC's entertainment district, that ranks among the best Mexican I have ever had.

It was a very successful trip, as we made some good contacts and potentially may have another interview with one of Dub's last remaining classmates from High School, an era that is virtually to get first hand accounts on. Our next interviews will be (hopefully) in Washington State and Los Angeles, and if we can touch base with John Mellencamp, with him as well.