Day 109 of 117 on our “Go West, Young Man” Two Lane Adventure – Saturday 10/13/18

Even though it was overcast and drizzling, Jackie & I toured Shawnee, Oklahoma today. We learned that Shawnee has a Sister City. In 1987, fortune smiled upon Shawnee when Tokyo Denki Kagaku Kogyo (TDK) came to Shawnee. TDK manufactures many products – audio tapes, video tapes, floppy disks and other recording media, in Shawnee they manufacture ferrite magnets used primarily in small electronic motors, for the automobile industry, ferrite cores used in color televisions and filter devices for cellular telephones. This event helped to establish a Sister Cities relationship with Nikaho, Japan. Nikaho is the location of one of the early TDK factories. In 1990, dignitaries from Nikaho, Japan made their first visit to Shawnee. That same year, Shawnee officials reciprocated and visited Nikaho, Japan for the formal signing of the sister cities agreement. Today, both Shawnee and Nikaho send large numbers of students, as well as adults, every year to visit each other. Every summer a group of about 10 students and five adults travel to Nikaho to renew our ties, exchange gifts, and spend time together learning about their culture. Every fall the Nikaho delegation consisting of 12 students and five adults visit Shawnee.

There were many unique churches in Shawnee. I just picked these two. 

St Benedict's Catholic Church has one of the highest steeples I have ever seen.

The First Baptist Church was organized in September 1892 in Shawnee, Oklahoma Territory. Following residence in short-term locations, the church built on the corner of 9th and Union streets in 1897. This same building is now located on the campus of Oklahoma Baptist University where it was moved and renamed Stubblefield Chapel in 1963. 

More than two dozen beautiful horses stand proudly throughout Shawnee. All of them were hand-painted by local artists and each have a unique story. The horses were installed in celebration of Oklahoma's centennial year in 2007, and the count of horses in the herd has increased ever since. Each horse also has a sponsor. I drove and Jackie operated the map as we hunted for the painted horses. The first one we found was ‘Horse on Fire.’ The artists are Amanda, Kathie, Bethany and Delaney Spitz .

‘Tooled Leather’, was the second horse we found. We loved the leather coat the horse is wearing. The artists are Doug Hurt and the Spitz Family and it is sponsored by Tener's Western Wear, the store it is located in front of.

We located ‘Big Blue’ in front of Communication Federal Credit Union. The artists are Amanda, Kathie, Bethany and Delaney Spitz.

When I heard the name ‘American Classics’, this design is not what I had in mind … but I like it! The artist is Linda Dixon and it is sponsored by Sonic. Burgers is what I was thinking when they said American Classics.

The St. Gregory's University Community were the artists of ‘Evening Star.’ St. Gregory's University is the sponsor of this horse too.

Mills Machine Company is the sponsor and Sheryl Cozad is the artist for ‘100 Year Horse.’

‘Mola’ was Jackie’s favorite horse, we found him in front of Whataburger. She has never had a Whataburger! The artist is Julie Blackstone and the horse’s sponsor is MBO and MBO/Internet.

Barbara Hertz was the artist for ‘The Run.’ It is out to pasture in front of First United Bank, who is the horses sponsor too.

‘Path to Recovery’ is sponsored by Unity Health Center and it is located in front of their location. The artist was Valerie Conway, since he is purple, naturally he was my favorite!

‘War Horse’ was created by Jerry Haney and sponsored by Ford Insurance Agency and Nan & Scot Shadid.

The final horse we could find was ‘Indian Blanket.’ She was created by Linda Dixon and sponsored by Arvest Bank, where she is located.

This evening we had the Costume Contest at the State Good Sam Rally. Charlie and I revived the “Tacky Tourist” costumes we used several years ago.

We also took our group picture in front of the googley-eyed monster.