Our Week in OKC
On April 29, 2023, right around midnight, the Lewis Cass FFA took 8 students to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for the National Land Judging competition. Along the 16 hour bus ride there, the group stopped at many places. Besides the numerous gas station visits, we also stopped at Bass Pro Shops and Lambert’s Cafe. Mr. Appleton drove throughout the night. After eating at Lambert’s, we had another 5 hour drive to the house we rented in Oklahoma City. Once we arrived at the house Sunday night, we didn’t do a whole lot. While Mr. Appleton got caught up on some sleep, myself and a few others stayed up till about 3 to play monopoly, euchre, watch a movie, and hangout. Monday morning, we went to Walmart to get all the groceries we needed for the week, and stopped by Braum’s to eat on the way back. Braum’s is very similar to Dairy Queen out west, but also has their own grocery and dairy. Also Monday, we got to go to the Oklahoma Stockyards, Langston’s Western Wear, and Cattlemen’s Steakhouse. At the stockyards, we got a little tour by one of the people who run the yard. We got to walk inside the auction house and even got to go into the ring. We then walked to Cattlemen’s a few blocks away. Many famous people have eaten at Cattlemen’s Steakhouse such as Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Garth Brooks, John Wayne, and Dr. Phil. We all got to eat either T-Bone or Ribeye steak paid for by the FFA. After our supper, we walked across the street to Langston’s Western Wear. Langston’s has a lot of clothing that you would picture westerners and cowboys wearing. Hundreds of boots and cowboy hats were in the store. Also, there were many, many belts, buckles, shirts, shoes, jeans, etc. Tuesday, we went to El Reno, Oklahoma to look at some practice pits. We also ate at Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers or Chik-fil-A in Yukon, Oklahoma. Wednesday, we stayed at the house all day to help the team of Carter Armstrong, Lexi Freeman, Kinsey Mennen, and Maggie Taylor practice their rules. My team – Keenan Appleton, Kyle Henry, LJ Hillis, and I – competed at Nationals last year, so our expertise helped the other team do well. After practicing throughout the day, our teams went to eat at Whataburger. On Thursday, we had to leave around 6:30 am for the actual contest. The teams finally made it back home that evening after being at the contest. Thursday night, all of us – besides Mr. Appleton of course – stayed up till 4 am when we got on the bus to head back to Indiana. Also while in Oklahoma, we ate at other places like Wendy’s, Cane’s Chicken, Taco Bell, and Marco’s Pizza. At the house, we watched quite a few movies and played a lot of euchre. One of my favorite parts of the trip was on the way back. On our way back, we stopped at the University of Illinois where we got to see a 20-foot statue of Dick Butkus, the greatest linebacker of all time. We also got to walk around their training facility a little bit where they had one of his jerseys and helmets on display.
Overall, this trip was one of the highlights of my senior year. I’m glad I got to go on this trip three times throughout my high school career, and I’m glad I had a great group of people to enjoy it with every year.
My name is Cole McCloskey. I am a senior at Lewis Cass. I run cross country and track, and I'm involved in different clubs at Cass.