The mornings were still cool as we started our day in Springfield Missouri.  Today we are heading South and West...and South?  Let's see what we find today.

We left the hotel with views of the Ozark Mountains on the Southern Horizon.  Some of our earlier trips have taken us through them and they're beautiful!  This part of Route 66 takes you into a small corner of Kansas.

The whole portion of the route is only 13 miles long.  You pass through Galena before crossing the Spring River and town of Riverton.  That took us to another famous stop.

The Rainbow Curve Bridge

After a short visit to the area and checking out some backroads, we got sidetracked. (Yellow is the path we should be on, Blue is the path we took)

We found our trip taking us across the Southern most part of Kansas.  This part of the drive was like watching paint dry.  Not much going on at all.

After roughly 5.5hrs of driving we found our next destination.  I'd done some research about different rocks and minerals along our trip and thought this would be an awesome stop.  And it was!!!

Jet Oklahoma

Jet is home to a very unique natural formation.  The Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge is an extreme environment in an unsuspecting location.

Hidden amongst the miles of farm fields and cattle ranches you find yourself on a 25sq mi Salt Flat.  It's like another world.  As far as the eye can see it's white.  It almost has a snowy sand feel to it and sticks to my tires.

Look at that view!

Did you notice that sign?  Dig Area 1 Mile?  Not only do they have camping, nature hikes, and wildlife viewing, they also have Selenite Crystals to dig for Free!  

These aren't just any Selenite Crystals.  This is the only location in the world that the Crystals have a Sand Inclusion shaped like an hourglass.  Time to dig and see if we can find some.

This was only a few that we found.
This was only a few that we found.

SCORE!!!

We stuck around here for a few hours digging.  These Crystals are sooo cool.  It takes 100yrs for them to grow the width of your fingernail.

A few tips if you go. 

  1. Take a small shovel, gloves, and plenty of water. Not only to drink but to wash off your finds.
  2.  Find a large hole someone else has dug.  No one puts in those man hours if they aren't finding anything.
  3. Poke your shovel in the ground.  If it goes in and doesn't feel resistance, move.  Look for a place where your shovel will only go in 1-2 inches and work around that spot.
  4. Most crystals we found were in the top 3-6 inches of dirt.  You can dig down a foot and hit water to clean your shovel off.

This is such a diverse environment.  Here is some more info about the area and wildlife.  We saw some of the Sandpipers and Snowy Plover.  😊

+2

It had been a long day and the sun took it out of us.  Feeling sunburned and dehydrated we looked for a place to stay.  

Not far away we found a nice spot for the night in Enid.  This was called Glo by Best Western.  I was surprised to see this type of contemporary design out here.  It's one of their newer locations and was a fantastic stay.

That's a wrap for Day 3.  Keep your eyes open for what tomorrow brings and thanks for following along!