Tulsa, Oklahoma and Art Deco came of age together. The young city was experiencing unprecedented growth and prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, just as the Art Deco movement came into vogue. Flush with oil money, prominent Tulsans started building skyscrapers that would spur one of the pre-eminent Art Deco collections in the U.S.

There are two major types of Art Deco, streamline and zigzag. Streamline uses simple curved geometry along with aerodynamic shapes, and zig-zag uses angular designs such as triangles and rectangles and highly stylized floral elements composed of simple geometry. As Tulsa boomed and the Art Deco aesthetic evolved through the thirties and into World War II, examples of streamline and zigzag buildings popped up all over town.

Art Deco is notable for creating designs using very basic geometry. The designs can be extremely simple, or when repeated and overlapped, quite intricate. Art Deco also happens to be my most favourite period in design history. I love it for the clean lines, simplicity of design and balance.

Art Deco began as a style that exemplified luxury and new notions of modernity and urban sophistication. Tulsa, where we visited yesterday, was rich and saw itself as a progressive modern city. An Art Deco heritage was born, and we took time out to visit the Art Deco museum which, although very small, was glorious.

Apologies for the quality of the photograph. Greyhounds are common Art Deco symbols. Although Art Deco often portrayed ideas of modern and urban life, the depiction of animals often evoked a sense of grace, swiftness and speed.

We are staying near Tulsa in Oklahoma which changed from a small frontier town in 1901 with a population of around 1,300, to a boomtown with the discovery of oil.

Four years later, the Glenn Pool oil field was discovered. The strike created such a large supply of crude oil that it forced Tulsans to develop storage tanks for the excess oil and gas and then pipelines. It also laid the foundation for Tulsa to become a leader in many businesses related to oil and gas and being the physical centre of the developing American petroleum industry.

A second surge of oil discoveries tool place between 1915 and 1930, firmly establishing Tulsa as “Oil Capital of the World.” Thousands of workers arrived from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York heading to the “black gold” oil strikes. By 1930 the population had soared to over 140,000 with Tulsa’s airport becoming the busiest in the world, surpassing London and Paris. Wealthy oilmen such as J. Paul Getty built stately mansions and beautiful, modern company headquarters.

Following the downturn of the oil industry in 1982-84, the title “Oil Capital of the World” was relinquished to Houston, Texas. City leaders worked to diversify the region away from a largely petroleum-based economy, bringing in blue-collar factory jobs, internet and telecommunications companies and enhancing an already important aviation industry. During this time, customer-service and reservation call centres became an important part of the local economy that was bolstered by an abundant supply of natural gas.

The Golden Driller – built for the International Petroleum Exposition of 1966. 

Down the road from where we were staying in Ashland, Nebraska, was a conservation park and wildlife safari that no keen photographer, of sound mind, would miss the opportunity to visit!

American Bison are the largest and heaviest land animals in North America. Known for living in the Great Plains, they were hunted almost to the point of extinction during the 19^thand 20^thcenturies but have since recovered in population and are no longer as endangered.

Bison can stand five to six-and-a-half feet tall at the shoulder and can weigh over 2,000 pounds. Despite their massive size, bison are quick and are able to run up to 40 miles an hour.

All the American white pelicans at the conservation park are rehabilitated, non-releasable birds due to wing injuries restricting their flight.

Pelicans are colonial breeders, meaning they only breed if living in large numbers. A pelican’s wingspan is some nine feet and their fleshy bill pouch can hold three gallons of water! 

Second largest of the deer family, exceeded only by moose, elk once roamed through Canada, the US (except Florida) and northern Mexico. They were first called “wapiti,” a Shawnee Indian term meaning “white rump.”

Male elk antlers can reach five feet across and five feet from front to back. Each year, elk shed their antlers to grow another pair.

Sandhill cranes are a large and primarily grey bird with a red-skin forehead and white cheeks. They average from eight to 10 pounds, stand three to five feet tall and have a wingspan ranging from five to seven feet. 

In 1993, four people became inspired to build a chapel for travelers of the road and spirit. All four individuals were Catholic, but only two were previously acquainted: a priest in his early years; a woman, wife and mother; and, two architectural partners!

The Holy Family Shrine sits on a 23-acre site overlooking the Platte River Valley in Gretna, Nebraska serving as a beacon on top of the hill. Once on the site, you are drawn to a path cut into the earth exposing a natural limestone entry.

The chapel represents the shroud of Christ as it fell to the tomb after the resurrection. Constructed of Western Red Cedar, the upper web of the trusses interlace like waving wheat in a field. Similarly, the trusses that support the cedar roof deck 49 feet above the floor of the ridge and 32 feet at the eaves. The arching members of the trusses are cut out of 850 feet single boards

The chapel sits on limestone that appears to be eroded on an exposed piece of ledge stone. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

Integrated into the design are complimentary accessories reinforcing the mission of the Shrine. The etched glass figure of the Holy Family hovers like a spirit over the chapel. The 16 by eight foot single piece of glass may be the largest in the U.S.

The pews and Shrine’s furnishings were custom designed to articulate the details of the sanctuary. The light fixtures are an abstract presentation of the crucifixion. The tiered metal sconces represent the ribs of Christ.

The SR-71 “Blackbird” was a long-range, strategic reconnaissance aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force between 1964 and 1998. It was capable of flying at Mach 3 – three times the speed of sound, or around 2,300 miles per hour.

Designed for a two-man crew, they sat in tandem cockpits, with the pilot in the front and the reconnaissance systems officer operating the surveillance systems, equipment and directing navigation from a rear cockpit. The aircrafts were painted a dark blue, almost black, to increase the emission of internal heat and act as camouflage against the night sky. The dark colour led to the aircraft’s nickname of “Blackbird.”

While the SR-71 carried radar countermeasures to evade interception efforts, its greatest protection was a combination of high altitude and very high-speed. If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile!

When flying at 80,000 feet, crews needed to wear protective, pressurized suits to ensure they received the right amount of oxygen. When wearing a pressurized suit, eating and drinking takes on a whole new form: water bottles had long straws which crew members guided into an opening in the helmet by looking in a mirror; food was contained in sealed units similar to toothpaste tubes which delivered food to the crew member’s mouth through the helmet opening.

We were able to see an SR-71 up close and personal at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Nebraska, just down the road from where we are staying.

Warren Buffett is an American business magnate, investor and philanthropist who has served as the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world and, at the time of writing, is the third wealthiest person in America, with a net worth of $84 billion.

Buffett was born in Omaha and developed an interest in business and investing early on in his life, attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947. He transferred to the University of Nebraska and attended the Columbia Business School where he molded an investment philosophy around the concept of value investing. He also attended the New York Institute of Finance to focus his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships.

He created the Buffett Partnership which acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assumed its name to create a diversified holding company.

Buffett is a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft). Several years ago, Mike and I were walking through Seattle airport when we spied Buffett chatting to Bill and Melinda Gates with whom he is great friends. I am hoping that by some unlikely chance we will see Mr. Buffett while we are here in his home town, as I am a huge admirer of him and have wanted to meet him since I was about 20 having read his biography!

Buffett is frequently referred to in the media as the Wizard, Oracle or Sage of Omaha! He is noted for his frugality despite his immense wealth.

In 1971, a visiting paleontologist happened to find the skull of a complete baby rhino protruding from the side of a gully in Royal, Nebraska. The skull lay near the bottom of a newly exposed bed of sparking grey ash and turned out to be the first of more than 100 rhino skeletons excavated by the University of Nebraska State Museum crews at what became known as the Ashfall Fossil Beds where we visited today.

It is extremely rare for whole herds of animals to die and be buried so quickly that their carcasses remain largely intact, as happened at Ashfall. In the ash bed, some rhinos were literally buried in their tracks, with their last footprints clearly visible.

Paleontologists continue to study and excavate the site, and have determined that a large herd of Barrel-bodied Rhinos, together with Crowned crane and giant tortoises were at a watering hole when a sudden fall of volcanic ash sweeping across the plains like a grey blizzard, devastated the landscape. Confused and choking, the animals began to die. Scientists have shown that the ash that killed and eventually buried the animals, blew eastward from a huge volcanic eruption in what is now southwestern Idaho.

If a time machine were to transport you back 12 million years, you would find Nebraska covered with sub-tropical grasses and patches of jungle. Prior to the catastrophic ash fall, discoveries at Ashfall give a detailed picture of an area inhabited by a rich variety of life reminiscent of modern East African savannas.

The skeleton of a a Barrel-bodied rhino.

The skeleton of a 3-toed Horse that was discovered last year.

The artist of this unique car sculpture, Jim Reinders, experimented with unusual and interesting artistic creations throughout his life!

During a seven-year stint working in England, Reinders had the opportunity of studying the design and purpose of Stonehenge in Salisbury. Reinders returned to the U.S. with a grand idea of creating his own take on the English monument in his hometown of Alliance, Nebraska but it was the passing of his father that drove an idea to a reality.

Carhenge was built as a memorial to Reinders’ father. While relatives gathered for the funeral in 1982, discussion turned to a memorial and the idea of an “American Stonehenge” was born! With no giant slabs of stone to be found in the Alliance, Reinders decided on a new medium for his sculpture – cars!

The family agreed to gather in five years and build the memorial. The clan, some 35 in number, gathered in June 1987 and went to work. Thirty-nine cars were placed to assume the same proportions of Stonehenge with the circle measuring approximately 96 feet (29 metres) in diameter. Some cars are held upright in pits five feet deep, boot end down, while other cars are placed to form the arches and welded in place. All are covered with grey spray paint.

Cars are similar in shape and size to the stones of Stonehenge!

The original 25 cars were erected during a Reinders family reunion.

Carhenge was dedicated on the Summer Soltice in 1987, reducing the time of the original Stonehenge construction by 9,999 years and 51 weeks!

His contemporaries called him Wild Bill, and the newspapers made him a legend in his own lifetime!

James Butler Hickok was born in 1837 in Troy Grove, Illinois and spent his formative years helping out on the family farm. Most of his adult years were spent in the West, where he was employed as a detective, a scout for the U.S. Army and a Marshal in Kansas.

Part of the Hickok legend was built on his ability to handle a pistol with either hand, becoming one of the first so-called “fast guns.” Although there are mixed opinions of his marksmanship, everyone agreed that when he shot at a man, Hickok was in a class by himself.

Hickok’s life of adventure ended on August 2, 1876, during a game of poker in the South Dakota town of Deadwood at the Number 10 Saloon. He was shot from behind by Jack McCall, who was later hanged for the crime.

Aces and eights is the poker hand held by Bill Hickok while playing five-card stud when he was murdered, thereafter known as a dead man’s hand. 

Wild Bill Hickok is buried at the Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Martha “Calamity Jane” Canary gained regional and national notoriety through the newspaper articles, novels and an autobiography. Through these exaggerated publications, Calamity Jane was portrayed as an expert scout, crack shot and western heroine. Alcoholism is a possible explanation of Calamity Jane’s fanciful yarns among them a love affair with Wild Bill Hickok. Her dying wish was that she was buried next to him.

The Wind Cave area in South Dakota has been protected since 1903, when it became a national park. It is famed among geologists and spelunkers (known as potholers in the UK) as the world’s fifth longest cave system, and known for its formations.

Regarded as sacred by American Indians, the cave was not found by settlers until 1881, when brothers Jesse and Tom Bingham heard a loud whistling noise. The sound led them to a small hole in the ground, the cave’s only natural opening. A wind was said to blow with such force out of the hole that it knocked Jesse’s hat off. That wind, which gave the cave its name, is created by differences between atmospheric pressure in the cave and the outside.

It was left to later adventurers like Alvin McDonald to follow the wind and discover the cave’s extensive network of passageways containing rare formations and other, delicate, irreplaceable features.

Young Alvin and others who explored the cave before 1900 were fascinated by what they found: chocolate-coloured crystals, formations resembling faces or animals. Reports of these discoveries drew a stream of curious visitors to the cave. Local entrepreneurs, blasted open passages and guided tourists through the cave for a fee. Today, the cave’s fragile and complex geological system is protected.

 The grate-like structure called “boxwork” which you see on the ceilings throughout the cave. It was stunningly beautiful and so delicate.

A geological formation known as “popcorn” is found in many parts of the cave.

A very delicate formation known as “frostwork.”