Poteau

Back to Pot-eau

Another trip back to the sticks for me. Now, I get to play garage-door opener repairman. I’m wiser now though, I’m taking the back-roads.

Since I’ll no doubt accumulate more snaps along the way, I thought I’d leave some shots of the big-city metropolis Poteau, Oklahoma, that I took on the last trip. No appreciable immigration problems here, this burgeoning little spot is perhaps one of the nerve-centers of Eastern Oklahoma.

The presence of the Walmart Supercenter there pretty much guarantees it. Not to mention Carl Albert University, and the Pansy Kid Middle School. I’ve often wondered about that one. Named after one of those famous pioneer ladies, I wonder what it must be like to say— “Oh, I went to Pansy Kid school.” But then, I’m easily amused.

They just completed construction of a huge freeway interchange just on the outskirts. It’s a four-lane cloverleaf that any big city would be proud of. Of course, the roads that feed into this couple of miles of concrete glory are all two-lane potholed back-roads. You’re driving along, and all of a sudden— Freeway! But, it only lasts for about three miles in the shadow of the “World’s Highest Hill.”

The downtown is what obsesses me though.

Everyone should know Poteau (correctly pronounced “Poe-toe”). It’s a place where the downtown screams— “nevermore.”

I’ll be back there, and here, soon.