Day 4 – Scooters, Barbecue and Discovering Oklahoma City

Day 4 started a little slower than planned, with one or two headaches making an appearance after the previous night’s activities.

After breakfast, we grabbed a couple of scooters and headed into town, which turned out to be one of the more entertaining ways to get around Oklahoma City. We also jumped aboard the local tourist tram, which everyone here insists on calling a trolley.

The trolley dropped us at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, dedicated to the 168 victims of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The memorial itself is strikingly quiet, with reflecting pools, empty chairs and a sense of stillness that immediately changes the mood. It was a fascinating but very sobering experience.

The museum does an excellent job telling the story of the attack, the rescue efforts and the impact it had on the city. It was interesting, emotional and at times quite confronting, but definitely worth visiting.

After that, it was time to lift the mood with lunch. We grabbed an Uber out to King’s BBQ, a much more down-to-earth barbecue joint than some of the places we’d visited so far.

No fancy marketing, no massive tourist crowds, just good honest barbecue in the suburbs. The food was excellent, the portions were generous and the prices were unbelievably cheap by Australian standards. One of those places where you walk away wondering how they make any money.

Following lunch, we headed back to the hotel to collect the car before splitting up for some important afternoon activities.

The girls disappeared into Anthropologie for some shopping, while Mikey and I conducted a thorough inspection of the local Trader Joe’s. As seasoned international visitors, we carefully studied the shelves, compared products and probably spent far too much time looking at snacks we couldn’t take home.

From there we headed to Iron Star Urban Barbecue, largely because their happy hour started at 3pm. It would have been rude not to.

A couple of cocktails turned into several $5 cocktails, accompanied by some very respectable barbecue-inspired snacks. One of the cocktails was called the bee sting, whiskey with honey and lime. It sure stung like a bee. Alan had three! We also had a couple of rounds of Canasta to continue the competition. Before we knew it, two hours had disappeared and happy hour was over.

With the afternoon rolling into evening, we headed to Oklahoma City’s rapidly developing riverfront precinct called OKC Farmers Market District.

The area is undergoing major redevelopment and will play a significant role during the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, with Oklahoma City set to host the canoe slalom and softball competitions.

There’s clearly a huge amount of investment happening, and it feels like a part of the city that’s really on the rise.

Our next stop was The Powerhouse Bar, housed in an old industrial building and full of character. It had exactly the sort of slightly grungy, relaxed atmosphere that we love finding on these trips. Mikey and Alan settled a few important international matters over a game of billiards and Jinga while enjoying a couple more drinks.

We then wandered down the road to Palo Santo, another great little bar with a completely different vibe. More drinks, more laughs and more discussion about where the best barbecue of the trip had been so far.

By around 10pm we finally called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

One thing we all agreed on was how much we’d enjoyed Oklahoma City. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but it surprised us in the best possible way. It’s easy to get around, has some genuinely interesting history, great food, friendly people and enough unique character to stand out from everywhere else we’ve visited so far.

Tomorrow we leave Oklahoma behind and head north to Kansas City for the next chapter of the Barbecue Road Trip.

Let’s see what Missouri has in store for us. Maybe a few less cocktails, although history suggests that’s probably an unrealistic goal.

Se y’all tomorrow 👋