This week’s broadcast of Eye on Travel comes from one of America’s most underrated cities — Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s a place with deep history the city is coming to grips with, and a thriving music and food scene, all intersecting with a legendary road west. And yes, you can drive Route 66 (and I did, in a vintage red convertible Mustang). I’ll have a news update about mask mandates, Canada, the current cruise line lawsuits, and frequent flyer programs. Steve Belkin, Author of Mileage Maniac, shares his secrets of how he garnered over 40 million airline miles. Want to earn $10,000? Tulsa will pay you that money…if you move there. We’ll talk real stories of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, we’ll reexamine the impact and enduring legacy of The Outsiders, the Francis Ford Coppola-directed movie shot in Tulsa. And Deana McCloud, Executive Director of the Woody Guthrie Center, reveals some of the little-known (and quite surprising) verses of “This Land is Your Land.” There’s all this and more on this week’s Eye on Travel from Tulsa.
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Ben Stewart, George Kaiser Family Foundation, chats about the Foundation’s project Tulsa Remote, an innovative program that seeks to recruit diverse individuals from all over the country to Tulsa. Since the program started in 2018, it has received over 60,000 applications and just had its 1,000th member move. In addition to the $10,000 that the program pays an individual to move, once you get to Tulsa, individuals will find more than 120 parks and 100 miles of trail to explore. Stewart, a Tulsa native who came back home after living abroad because he wanted to have an impact on his hometown, is confident that this is just the beginning for the program as it is on track to have 1,000 members by the end of the year.
Steve Belkin, Master navigator of airline rewards & Author of Mileage Maniac, joins the program from Cozumel to share his secrets of how he garnered over 40 million airline miles, including having people fly under his name in the late 1980s and 1990s. Belkin says he has kicked his mileage obsession this year as it is no fun chasing after something that does not have a fixed target and tells people to “earn and burn” their miles as airlines will continue to devalue them. He also warns that it may not even be worth it to join an airline mileage program if you are flying mainly in coach or in basic economy as you will likely end up paying more. He then shares some of his favorite travel stories and what he did with all of those miles.
Scott Stulen, CEO and President of the Philbrook Museum of Art, converses about what makes the Philbrook Museum of Art and the city of Tulsa so special. Stulen believes that everything is a “wow” because everything is so unexpected. He also shares the history of the Philbrook Museum and some of its offerings including an eclectic art collection, 23 acres of gardens and a stained glass cabin. His personal favorite part of the museum is how its lushness almost makes you feel like you have left Oklahoma and are in Europe.
Michelle Place, Executive Director, Tulsa Historical Society & Museum, tells the story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District. The Greenwood District was founded in the early 1900s and was the wealthiest African American community in the country and a haven for those looking to escape the South. Place also discusses how she learned about the Tulsa Race Massacre after living in Tulsa for years and how the museum is working to preserve its memory and legacy. Place notes that it is important to focus on not only the Massacre but also how the community was able to rebuild and move forward from the tragedy.
Danny Boy O’Connor, The Outsiders House Museum, first watched the 1983 film, The Outsiders when he was 13 and instantly related to the characters on screen. When he came to Tulsa years later while touring with his band and found out that Tulsa was the setting of the movie, he instantly started looking for locations to visit. He eventually bought the Outsiders House sight unseen and with the help of his neighbors, he began to restore it and turn it into a museum. Now, the museum is home to the largest collection of Outsiders memorabilia in the world. O’Connor also shares what Tulsa instantly felt like to him and how he has seen it change for the better in the last 12 years.
Deana McCloud, Executive Director of the Woody Guthrie Center, speaks about the legacy of Woody Guthrie and how this center has brought his archives back to his home state. Woody wrote over 3,000 songs in his lifetime and only about 10% of them have been put to music. She also reveals some of the little- known verses of Woody’s, “This Land is Your Land.” McCloud adds one of the many surprising things she learned about Woody was his visual artistic talent and that he was actually a visual artist before becoming a musician.
Michael Baker, Fire Chief at the Tulsa Fire Department, talks about how he has seen Tulsa evolve and change in his 26 years of working in the department. He also talks about how his team is cross-trained to deal with not only different types of fires but also medical calls, which make up 75% of the work calls. The department also provides support for fires across the state. And he shares how he takes care of his team as it battles extreme exertion.
Mary Beth Babcock, Owner of Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on Route 66, chats about her many journeys on Route 66 and how she sees something different each time she drives down it. She also speaks to the revitalization efforts of Route 66 and the Mother Road with neon signs, lights, and passport books that entice people to go into places they may not otherwise. She also talks about how she transformed an old 1950s gas station into Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios complete with the Space Cowboy. She further discusses the different kinds of transportation seen on Route 66 including classic cars, motorcycles, buses, new cars, and even people on foot.
