Wheeler Dealers Camping Club celebrates successful October meeting

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Sand Springs residents Bill and Pam Doyle join Ponca City members Terry and Vicki Blevins in a toast at the Whirlwind Winery in Watonga during the October Wheeler Dealers campout. Submitted.

Story by Kathy Tippin.

A beautiful weekend at Canton Lake was the perfect setting for the October Wheeler Dealers Camping Club monthly campout hosted by Ponca City members Charley and Vie Bottger, assisted by Lowry and Rebecca Blakeburn and Jon and Kathy Tippin. The group camped in the Canadian Recreation Area on the west side of the lake near the dam. Special guests were Bill and Susan Bennett, friends of the Bottgers from the time they lived in Ponca City and who now live west of Canton.

Members who arrived by Thursday morning visited the Astrobleme Museum in Ames, OK just east of Fairview and the Whirlwind Winery in Watonga that afternoon. The Astrobleme is said to offer a significant contribution to the oil and gas industry. Created by a meteor that struck the region about 450 million years ago, the impact crater or astrobleme is about eight miles wide. The Ames astrobleme is buried by about 9,000 feet of sediment, making it barely visible on the surface. The impact crater remained unrecognized until 1991, when a prolific oilfield was discovered by Continental Resources Oil Company.

In 2007 members of the small community of Ames celebrated it with the opening of this unique open-ended A-frame museum. Open 24 hours a day, visitors can learn about the crater’s formation and geological significance through all weather display panels with graphs and charts and a video explaining it. Since that initial discovery, many other wells have been dug in the astrobleme area.

Adjacent to the museum is the American Legion Veterans Memorial. Wheeler Dealers members who are veterans discussed their experiences with the various pieces of military hardware on display. Also on display are quartz plaques honoring the community’s veterans and a sculpture of various types of rifles.

From Ames, members drove south to the Whirlwind Winery in Watonga. Located on the town’s Main Street, the winery offers cheese plates to sample along with the wines. Wheeler Dealers sampled each of the various wines offered along with cheese and crackers before making their selections of bottles to purchase. As they sampled the wines Whirlwind Winery owner Brad Stinson gave an explanation of each wine.

From the winery, members drove back to Canton for some quick shopping and joining other members who had arrived that afternoon for dinner at Smokin Bro’s Barbecue, a small barbecue and steak place downtown. Members feasted on a variety of barbecue plates, catfish, pork chops, and more. Afterwards they returned to the campground for a cool evening to visit around a campfire topped off with ice cream.

Friday at noon the hosts provided appetizers along with a slushy tasting. Four different slushes made from mixes discovered at the This and That store in Canton were sampled along with meats and cheeses. That evening the group enjoyed a Rib Eye Steak dinner served with salad and baked potato at Baird’s Lakeside Café near the Big Bend Recreation Area.  

Many Wheeler Dealers campouts include a craft and this one was candle making. Saturday morning members decorated glassware with various fall decorations then filled them with the candle wax colored and scented from various fall colors and scents. These were then used to decorate the tables for that evening’s pot luck dinner and Sunday morning’s pot luck breakfast. Then members took their creations to decorate their campers and homes.

Saturday afternoon several members were treated to a ride on Canton Lake with Captain Charley Bottger in his pontoon boat. The cool sunny day and calm water made for a relaxing ride on the lake. Others took time to watch the Oklahoma State football game that afternoon. That evening members feasted on roast, potatoes and carrots provided by the Bottgers and various salads, vegetables and desserts provided by other members. Afterwards some members cheered on the Sooners on television while others gathered around the campfire.

Sunday morning was the traditional pot luck breakfast followed by the business meeting to discuss the November campout and December Christmas Party.

Other activities scheduled for the year include:

November – Big Hill Lake, Cherryvale, KS hosted by Cecil and Linda Sparks, Clarence and Karla Hill, and Lee and Ellen Cobb.

December – Christmas Party at the McCord Senior Center hosted by Gary and Nancy Shepard.

 Wheeler Dealers monthly campouts are held weekends from March to November with only lunch or breakfast gathering in February and August and a special Christmas Party in December. Members can make their own reservations at many of the Corps lakes through recreation.gov, the Corps of Engineers reservation service.  

Current members are from Bartlesville, Owasso, Sand Springs, Tulsa, Nowata, Norman and Ponca City.  However, anyone is invited to join.

Persons interested in joining or knowing more about upcoming campouts should contact Lowry, president, at 580-304-5445 in Ponca City or Clarence, vice-president, at 405-612-7781 in Bartlesville.