Oklahoma

[Franzl]

2 weeks ago, I went on somewhat of a quick road trip from Illinois down to Dallas, going through Oklahoma on the way there, and up through Arkansas on the way back.

Drove down US-69/75 from Tulsa out, through towns like Atoka and several others.

And now, I don't want to start an Oklahoma bashing thread, although I do find their politics amusing....but I was wondering whether I'm the only person to think Oklahoma is incredibly run down? Buildings were empty, grass seemed to be 5 feet high in some yards, piles of junk cars lying near the road. Not just the towns themselves, but even relatively minor things do make a big optical difference, like Turnpike rest areas...while other states I've spent lots of time in, like Missouri, have really nice areas with trees planted, and lots of space to enjoy yourself, Oklahoma's rest areas consist of a picnic table or two, at a small distance to the highway, with nothing done to make your stay there pleasurable.

The difference seemed to be really noticeable upon crossing into Texas, how differently both states handle their appearences.

Are my observations correct?

[tik 🪀✨]

Oklahoma is America's trailer park, yes. But you didn't see all of it! There's a lovely bird feeder behind the tire stacks.

[dead0man]

Parts of Tulsa are nice.  The entire state has an inferiority complex with Texas.

[jesmo]

Uh, no. Oklahoma is NOT America's trailer park. Sure the western part of the state is ran down and boring,  but it has a lot of useful work there, that provides for America. Tulsa and Oklahoma City are wonderful, beautiful, magnificent cities.. and never forget that Eastern Oklahoma Ozarks is breath taking.

No Oklahoma bashing!

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Uh, no. Oklahoma is NOT America's trailer park. Sure the western part of the state is ran down and boring,  but it has a lot of useful work there, that provides for America. Tulsa and Oklahoma City are wonderful, beautiful, magnificent cities.. and never forget that Eastern Oklahoma Ozarks is breath taking.

No Oklahoma bashing!

Better listen to him.  He is gay and very sensitive. 

[jesmo]

Uh, no. Oklahoma is NOT America's trailer park. Sure the western part of the state is ran down and boring,  but it has a lot of useful work there, that provides for America. Tulsa and Oklahoma City are wonderful, beautiful, magnificent cities.. and never forget that Eastern Oklahoma Ozarks is breath taking.

No Oklahoma bashing!

Better listen to him.  He is gay and very sensitive. 

Yes, you are correct.

However, when will you change your name? You are clearly a far-left extremist. Like many folks on this forum.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Parts of Tulsa are nice.  The entire state has an inferiority complex with Texas.

Oklahoma is definitely not inferior to Texas.  Neither state is better or worse than the other.  Oklahoma does have a better football team than Texas.   I live in Texas now, but I will always be an Okie and I always love the Sooners.  For to me, it would be sacreligious to be a fan of the Texas Shorthorns.  The Aggies are okay, and the Red Raiders are okay, but that juvy team down there in Austin, no.  Both states are really growing nicely.  Texas is probably growing a little bit faster than Oklahoma, but thats not to say Oklahoma isn't growing.

[minionofmidas]

Parts of Tulsa are nice.  The entire state has an inferiority complex with Texas.

Oklahoma is definitely not inferior to Texas.  Neither state is better or worse than the other.  Oklahoma does have a better football team than Texas.   I live in Texas now, but I will always be an Okie and I always love the Sooners. 

Obscure fact: I own an Oklahoma Sooners t-shirt. I've never been to Oklahoma. I had never heard of the team before getting the t-shirt. It was given to me as a gift, in India.
Somebody had donated it to on orphanage, and being an adult XL shirt... and wide at that... it was several sizes too wide not only for the kids but also for the adults who worked there. However, it is a very nice t-shirt. I like the colour scheme. I wear it not infrequently.

[memphis]

Texas, outside of a few metro areas that are a tiny fraction of the land area, looks the same way. The rural plains have lost a third of their population since 1920. The whole midsection of the country is a rural ghetto.

[tik 🪀✨]

Uh, no. Oklahoma is NOT America's trailer park. Sure the western part of the state is ran down and boring,  but it has a lot of useful work there, that provides for America. Tulsa and Oklahoma City are wonderful, beautiful, magnificent cities.. and never forget that Eastern Oklahoma Ozarks is breath taking.

No Oklahoma bashing!

As I said, there's a lovely bird feeder behind the tire stacks. We just need to burn them first and maybe you can get a glimpse of them through the smoke and ash.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Say what you want about Oklahoma.  All I know is that it is a wonderful state, and I will always be an Okie at heart whether I live there or not.

[opebo]

Just poverty, as one will find everywhere in america outside of certain small areas.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The plains are becoming a place full of hispanic immigrants living in destitute conditions performing manual labor for very low wages.

All of the smaller towns are depopulating and the bigger cities are growing slowly but also aging rapidly and are becoming havens of retired people with few to take care of them.

Decades of minimal investment and major losses thanks to free trade policies have led to this.

Only in the past few years have things begun to look up as farm incomes are rising faster than the national average and alternative energies are growing.

[Storebought]

The plains are becoming a place full of hispanic immigrants living in destitute conditions performing manual labor for very low wages.

All of the smaller towns are depopulating and the bigger cities are growing slowly but also aging rapidly and are becoming havens of retired people with few to take care of them.

Decades of minimal investment and major losses thanks to free trade policies have led to this.

Only in the past few years have things begun to look up as farm incomes are rising faster than the national average and alternative energies are growing.

Where did all that come from? Free trade is the reason why the Great Plains haven't entirely emptied out -- all of that surplus grain is shipped to the Far East, after all.

No, what caused Oklahoma's poverty is a confluence of two very long term trends:

1. Farm consolidation and the mechanization of farm labor
2. Old oil and gas fields being closed

Of course, the commodities price recession of the past thirty years did not help matters.

[Flying Dog]

Pretty state. However it has a huge boil on it's nose known as Westboro Church.

[Flying Dog]

Pretty state. However it has a huge boil on it's nose known as Westboro Church.

Actually it's in Kansas....sorry.

[Storebought]

Pretty state. However it has a huge boil on it's nose known as Westboro Church.

Umm, Westboro chuch is based in Topeka, Kansas

[Flying Dog]

Pretty state. However it has a huge boil on it's nose known as Westboro Church.

Umm, Westboro chuch is based in Topeka, Kansas

read before you post...thnx.

[Storebought]

Pretty state. However it has a huge boil on it's nose known as Westboro Church.

Umm, Westboro chuch is based in Topeka, Kansas

read before you post...thnx.

I would have deleted my post on seeing your correction, but since you are an asshole, I will leave it up.

[dead0man]

The whole midsection of the country is a rural ghetto.

That maybe true in a lot of places, but certainly not everywhere.  The places are a lot smaller sure, but some of them are doing alright.  Especially now that idiots in DC thought using our food supply to slightly offset our use of oil was a good idea.  Corn and wheat prices are going crazy.  It's good for me and my state, but it's stupid govt policy.

[Joe Biden 2020]

The whole midsection of the country is a rural ghetto.

That maybe true in a lot of places, but certainly not everywhere.  The places are a lot smaller sure, but some of them are doing alright.  Especially now that idiots in DC thought using our food supply to slightly offset our use of oil was a good idea.  Corn and wheat prices are going crazy.  It's good for me and my state, but it's stupid govt policy.

That is true, there are a lot of good places in the plains.  In Oklahoma, all of your bigger cities, like Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman, Lawton, Stillwater, Enid, Muskogee, Moore, McAlester, Broken Arrow, Edmond, etc, are doing alright.  All of the college towns are doing quite well, like my college town of Alva which only has 5,000 people.  Its losing people slowly, but they have a good state representative (Republican Jeff Hickman D-58) who is doing everything he can to bring more jobs to Alva and the northwest part of the state.  The oil and gas dominates up there and in Woodward.  It is a college town of a small NAIA school (Northwestern Oklahoma State University) and also has a Supercenter Wal-Mart, the smallest in the state.  That town is not going away any time soon.  There are some towns that are pretty much dried up (Carmen, Lookout, Byron, Ingersoll to name a few), but every state has those.

Personally, I like the scenery up there.  I like that you are able to see about 10 miles down the road on a good day.

We have a saying in Northwest Oklahoma that you can see your dog run away for three days.

[Franzl]

Just poverty, as one will find everywhere in america outside of certain small areas.

actually, you'll find quite a bit more of that in Thailand, for example.