6/21/2025
Yesterday I drove up to the United States Army Field Artillery Museum at Fort Sill in Lawton, OK. This is where they do the majority of the training for the US Army artillery. They have an awesome museum on base that I highly recommend. I didn’t even make it into the museum before being amazed. Outside of the museum they have a huge park with different kinds of missiles and artillery pieces from WW1 to today.
Inside the museum they had three wings, pre-WW1, WW1 and WW2, and the modern era. There were cannons from pre-revolution ships, coastal mortars, and field guns. The next area had mobile artillery, early howitzers, and WW2 computers. The modern part contained early missiles, radar, large caliber guns, a Cobra gunship, one of the prototype XM-777 howitzers, the precursor to the modern howitzer the US uses, a Paladin mobile cannon, a M270 multiple launch rocket system, and a couple pieces that actually fought in WW2.
Outside I first went to the radar and missile park. Here they had all of the different Nike variants and radars on display. The next area had Redstone, Pershing, and a couple other missiles. The next area was a huge field full of artillery pieces from WW1 to the modern day from all over the world. Some of the highlights were a complete M65 “Atomic Annie” nuclear gun. I’ve seen a couple of these, but this was the best preserved one. They had some 8″ guns, some missile’s, a German 44, a mobile piece that still has RPG damage from WW2, and tons of others.
After the museum I drove to Amarillo, TX to park for the night. I stopped at The Big Texan Steak Ranch and Brewery. The place was packed when I got there, but I found a spot at the bar and ordered a flight of all ten of their beers. I picked my favorite to get a pint of then crashed for the night.
This morning I was getting ready to go have a steak and take off. As I was getting ready there was a crash and the van shook. When I got outside there was a truck next to me and my mirror was shattered. I get the driver of the truck out and start going off on him. He explains that it wasn’t him and it was probably the guy that pulled in before him. I look at the tracks, the pickup, and the trailer verifying that it was the pickup. I apologize and go in to talk to the manager. They don’t have an intercom to get a hold of the guy so I call the cops.
I get my lawn chair out and set up shop in front of the pickup and wait for either the cops or the guy to show up. The cops get there first and I explain what happened. The cop gets on the phone and finds the number of the pickup owner. She calls him to come out so we can exchange info. Since it was on private property she can’t write a report, but they have a form for the insurance company. The guy was cool about it and we exchanged info.
After that three hour encounter I finally got to go inside and and have a steak. It was good and for $21 for a 9oz ribeye, not badly priced either. After I ate, I left and drove up to Trinidad, CO to spend the night.
