Livin’ on Tulsa Time, Part 1

I had no business leavin’ and nobody would be grievin’
If I went on back to Tulsa time

— Daniel Flowers

Tuesday, June 4: I drove in to Tulsa from Kansas on US-412, a four-lane highway that becomes Sand Springs Expressway west of the city.

When Tulsa skyline came into view, I started looking for an exit to avoid the freeway interchange that lay ahead.  I saw an exit for Riverside Drive and took it.

Tulsa, Oklahoma – Population (Metro Area) 978,000 – Elevation 722′

Tulsa was the Big City when I was growing up in Bristow, which is about 40 miles away.

After my best friend Joyce moved to Tulsa in the ninth grade, I spent a lot of weekends and summers with her, and it was where I moved after graduating from high school. College was not in my mindset then — going to work and getting an apartment in Tulsa was my small-town goal.

So Tulsa holds a lot of memories. One of my objectives on this trip was to reconsider living there.

Riverside Drive follows the Arkansas River through downtown near my old neighborhood and flows past Marlon and Jeri’s neighborhood in South Tulsa.

I arrived at their gate just in time for happy hour.