My wife and I will be driving from SE Virginia to Fort Sill OK to attend US Army Basic Comabt Training (bootcamp) graduation for our duaghter. Since we don't get out much, we'd like to turn it into a mini-vacation. The plan is to leave early with enough time to visit or stay at points of interest along the way. We will be driving, but not rushing or punishing ourselves behind the wheel.

Any advice along these lines would be much appreciated, including any routes/towns/traps/dangerous areas to avoid and the like. Any detours required to avoid these, or to visit points of interest, are all part of the plan and desired.

Whatever else you do, when you are about 60 miles from Fort Sill, stop and take a selfie at The End of the World obelisk. And you have to do it on the way TO Fort Will, because you'll never find it coming back.

Congrats to your daughter, spouse, and you.

If memory serves from when I was last through that area, the only point of interest around Ft. Sill is about 500 miles away.

The post museum isn't bad; worth an hour or two.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
If memory serves from when I was last through that area, the only point of interest around Ft. Sill is about 500 miles away.

That was good. Not very helpful, but I have to give you that one.

Hiking in the wildlife refuge; drive up to the top of Mt. Scott.

Post museum; drive up Mt. Scott, see the elk and buffalo in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, visit the OCS museum (Class 502-68).

If you are aviation fan you can go just a little farther, about 1 hour driving time, to Altus AFB and watch the C17's running training flights and patterns all day.

Hey, I like planes and I'm easily entertained.

Congratulations to your daughter, and thank you to her, and for you raising her, as she serves our country.

Not at Sill in particular, but I was just in Oklahoma this past weekend visiting a friend. Beautiful country. One of the coolest things for me, having lived in PA all my life is signs for Route 66 as I was headed back to the airport yesterday afternoon.

I plotted the shortest route from Norfolk, VA to Fort Sill, OK and it goes through some fairly interesting places:
passes about 50 miles from the Luray Caverns, VA;
goes through Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, TN;
goes through Little Rock and Fort Smith, AR;
and near Oklahoma City, OK. It also goes through Charlottesville, VA, which has the homes of 2 US Presidents: Jefferson and Madison.

You should be able to find things to see and do in those places.

flashguy

It's going to be triple digits or close to it with humidity so be prepared. OKC has a lot to offer if you can spend some time there.

Not sure what your specific interests are, but here are a few places sort of on the way:

Oak Ridge, TN - http://amse.org/

Huntsville, AL - https://www.rocketcenter.com/

Memphis - https://www.graceland.com/

OK City - https://oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/

Not really on your route:

Dallas - https://www.jfk.org/

I grew up there as an army brat of a cannon cocker.

Oklahoma City - Murrah bombing museum (Tim McVey), Excellent cowboy museum

Fort Sill - Geronimo grave, the old Guard house that held Geronimo, ditto on the recommendation for the base museum, cannon walk (lots and lots of cannons from around the world), Mount Scott (I would drive up, but did climb it as a 14 year old, my old bones wouldn’t last a hike), and their is a southwest museum in Lawton which was cool 30 years ago.

Have fun.

Mt Scott, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, post museum are a few things right there.

they got some really cool caverns near Huntsville AL..my FIL lives there and it was worth the trip and the price of admission, bring a light jacket...it's cool inside

I was there in January for my son's BCT graduation. Mt. Scott is cool, as is the Geronimo cemetery.

Close to Ft. Sill is Medicine Park, OK. A picturesque little historic village and worth a visit.....as is the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge & Museum. Don't miss either if you have a free day or even an afternoon.

www.travelok.com/Medicine_Park



www.fws.gov/refuge/Wichita_Mountains/

Meers for a burger. I liked the Seismic burger. Their cobbler is really good too.