Where else would be a more logical place to begin a tour based on Cowboys, Indians and Outlaws than the middle of the stockyards around which Oklahoma City was built. Nearly everyone rode from their homes and gathered for breakfast at the Cattlemen's Cafe, located in a section of town where most people hesitate to venture without a gun. It's located between the High Noon Bar and a place that makes custom saddles in a building that shows every day of its age since it was first opened in 1926. The heavy glass front doors are pulled open by tugging on the horns of a cast aluminum bull’s head.

For many years one could find a poker game upstairs at the Cattlemen's and during prohibition, it was possible to get a cup of 100 proof "coffee" up there. If the owner of the Cattlemen's wasn't sitting in a rocker welcoming guests through the front door, he could be found dealing five card stud in a room on the second floor. For several years there had been some question about how good hands always seemed to come his way when he was dealing. Although most of the games were rather tame, on this particular night the pile of money on the table was growing in a shocking way. First one person dropped out and then another until it was just the owner of the Cattlemen's and another guy facing one another over the pile of loot. When the final raise came around to the owner, who was looking at the full house of aces over tens that he had delt himself, the only thing he had left to cover the pot with was the title to the cafe so it went on top of the pile. Cards were spread on the table and the owner looked across the table to see four little sixes looking back at him. He had lost the cafe and everything in it, including the rocking chair which still sits by the front door.

Fred Kamp, donut ride leader and OKC historian, led the riders through the older residential section of town where oil barons, crooked land developers and certain nefarious politicians had built their mansions to the next stop at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. The hall of fame is an imposing place which houses not only vast amounts of the early heritage of the state but also one of the most extensive art collections around. One can see many items by Winchester, Remington and other famous western artists. Anyone traveling through Oklahoma City should take the two or three hours to see this impressive display.

Following lunch at the Cowboy Hall of Fame, the tour set out for Guthrie, the territorial capitol until it was stolen away by Oklahoma City when Oklahoma became a state in 1907. After touring the brick streets lines with turn of the century buildings and visiting the nation's smallest national park, they made their way to the motel where we would spend the first night on the road.

I might mention the smallest park at this point. It contains one huge oak tree which doesn't leave enough space to pitch a tent. The way it came about was in 1974 when many of the buildings in Guthrie were being designated as National Historical Landmarks, someone mentioned the location of the land office built for the great land run.

The government owned half a block of land just off main street where they built an 18 by 32 foot clapboard building as a land office where people could record their claims after the race. It soon proved too small so a 20-foot long extension was built on the back of it. It was estimated that at times, there were up to 300 people waiting in line to record their claims.

Along about that time they decided to build a new post office so they deeded over most of the half block where the land office was located to the post office. The deed reserved a 100-foot square area where the land office was located and the papers filed.

The land office closed after most of the people had filed their claims and was used for storage for a while. Then it was sold and moved across the street where it became a hardware store. Some years later it became a plumbing shop and then burned. A new building replaced it and is still a plumbing shop. The area behind the post office was paved and used as a parking lot for postal vehicles.

When they dug out the old deed of the land to the post office, they found that whoever wrote the document made a small error in describing the property. Instead of writing a 100-foot square area of land, they wrote 100 square feet of land. Since the wording hadn't been questioned in over 50 years, the post office refused to hand over anything more than the 100 square feet of space that the deed called for. There was a huge oak tree growing on the back corner of the lot so a curb was run around it, setting off a space a bit over nine by eleven feet. A monument was ordered for the site but it had to be erected on the sidewalk because there wasn't room for it on the land.

Since all government owned places on the National Historic Register are placed under the National Park Service, then that location is technically a National Park.