Guthrie, the Original Capital of Oklahoma

We have spent the last few days in a campground on the outskirts of the city of Guthrie (population now around 10,000). Guthrie was settled in 1887 and became Oklahoma's first state capital in 1907. A vote taken in 1910 saw the capital move to Oklahoma City in 1911. According to Wikipedia: 'Historical tourism has become a significant industry for the town. Guthrie is the largest urban Historic district in the United States, containing 2,169 buildings, 1,400 acres (6 km²) and 400 city blocks.' 

Check out the old buildings

Aussie friends Tom and Betty have also bought an RV over here in America (they have a 5th wheel and 4WD) and this is their 3rd year to spend 3 months travelling around the USA. They are keen golfers like Murray, so we arranged to meet here in Oklahoma so the three of them could play some golf. The RV park we selected is located right in between several golf courses. They had two days of golf with Murray before they headed south to Texas to escape an impending tornado threat. Our planned next stop is only 50 miles down the road in Oklahoma City as we have a booking for the Oklahoma Opry on Saturday night. As we would still be in the threat zone it wasn't much point us moving on. However, we did identify a safe place to escape to if the threat changed from a 'watch' to a 'seek shelter now' alert. Here are Murray Tom and Betty just before they pulled out in their rig. Our RV site was right beside theirs (our RV on left of photo) which was convenient for an evening drink together. 

We did get to have a tasty dinner together with them in town at the Stable Cafe. The cafe advertises USDA meat and guarantees it is fresh and never frozen. My steak was tender and delicious. And the merlot was the perfect accompaniment. 

Yep - good place for a meal

After Tom and Betty left, Murray and I had the use of the host's car (generous people dot this country) and drove into town for lunch. We had a few choices, but the Victorian Tea Room looked different, so we wandered in to check out the menu and stayed for lunch. The town Mayor had come in to chat to the owner as he holds his council meetings here. I daresay she mentioned she had some Australians in the place, so he came over for a chat. He was very proud of his 'city' although at only 10,000 citizens, we would call that a 'town' at home.

Mayor's old car out front - he was keen to get it home and

under cover 

before the predicted hail arrived!

Tea room was deserted when we arrived

We opted to share a 3-tiered Tea Room Special - sandwiches, fruit and cakes. The pot of tea on the candle was free.

On return to the campground, the TV channels were all agog with the impending 'winter storm' and advisories were posted for the likelihood of tornado, high winds, hail, ice pellets, sleet, snow - you name it, it was in the mix. Anyway, as time went on we could see the worst of it would hit NW of us, and while our temperatures plummeted below zero overnight (after highs of 24 C/75F down to a high today of 8 C/46F) we got off lightly. When we woke this morning the trees were iced up - see the photo below - that is not water droplets on the branches, but frozen water. It is now 1pm and the trees are still in that same state - it is cold out there! Thankfully it is nice and warm inside the RV.