Stop 2: KWWR

Welcome to the heart of Oklahoma's "Red Carpet Country", a reference to the color ( red ) of the iron oxide rich soil in the northwest section of the state. You have just landed in Woodward, OK. It's been pointed out to me that people from this town call it " Wooderd " and calling it Woodward makes you kind of an idiot.

I'm guessing that Woodward has somewhere between 15 and 20,000 residents, which would make it a medium size city in Oklahoma. You know it's at least a medium sized city because it has a Super Wal-Mart not a standard one.

What drives the economy of Woodward? I have no idea. I assume that at one point it was oil and gas production, but that industry has all but disappeared in Oklahoma. Farming is probably the big thing, either that or fast food joints.

When flying to the West Woodward Airport ( KWWR ) just keep in mind that it's always windy. Towns all over Oklahoma will be reporting calm winds and KWWR will have a 20 knot crosswind. It makes for good landing practice.

Woodward is located next to some interesting geological sites. The Little Sahara State Park is just down the road. The Little Sahara State Park, as the name suggests, is a large area of sand. Also down the road is an area known as the Glass Mountains ( sometimes called the Gloss Mountains ). Picture below.

Amoung the notable history around Woodward is Ft Supply, OK ( about 10 miles northwest ), which started out as Camp Supply in the 1800's and was built to supply General Armstrong Custer's regiment during the frontier indian wars.

The Glass Mountains


For more info on Woodward, OK go to http://www.woodwardok.com/

Our next stop will be my hometown of Enid, OK. Until then, cheers.

Lets visit the stops along my route: KGUY

For the next several posts I'm going to describe the towns and cities that I stop during my normal route.

I'm back on my normal route this week, which starts and ends in beautiful Guymon, OK. If being able to see for miles around, without those pesky trees getting in the way, than Guymon is for you. It's a town of about ten thousand and , you guessed it, farming is the game around here. Pig farms are huge here and so is the associated pig farm smell. I think at one point oil and gas exploration was the going concern, but not so much nowadays.

Overall, it's a pretty pleasant place, the people are very nice and they seem to have a certain kind of pride that, I guess, comes from living here on a vast prairie. A vast prairie that can have, at times, very harsh weather. All of the massive thunderstorms that roll through Oklahoma are born out here in the panhandle. Winter can be pretty harsh here as well, not many trees to stop those north winds after a cold front passage.

The sky out here reminds me of Colorado, very clear and great visibility. In fact, it's not out of the question the see standing lenticular clouds ( a mountain wave cloud formation ) out here due to being within a couple of hundred miles of the Rocky Mountains.

When leaving here each evening I can clearly see towns in both Texas and Kansas, now that's some flat terrain. Okay our next stop will be Woodward, OK. I would be taking more pictures, but since the seanson and the time change, nearly my entire flight is in darkness, but I will try get some more shots like the one below.

The vast flatness of the Oklahoma panhandle
See you next post.

For more information about Guymon, OK please visit http://www.guymonok.org/