Route 66, the Wichitas and the Talimena Drive in 5 Days

Begin at the Creek Council Oak, a small park on the corner of 18th and Cheyenne, among houses south of downtown. The Lochapoka Muscogee made their council ground under this tree after their removal from Alabama, and it is a ceremonial place still, so visit it quietly. Two miles north, Greenwood Rising opens at 10 at Greenwood and Archer, in the district white mobs destroyed in 1921. Buy the timed ticket ahead and give it an hour and a half; there is a way past the massacre gallery for anyone who needs it. Then pick up old Route 66 on Southwest Boulevard across the Arkansas River and follow OK-66 west through Sapulpa, Bristow, Depew, Stroud, Davenport and Chandler, then Wellston, Luther and Arcadia, into Oklahoma City. Leave Tulsa by noon to reach the Oklahoma City National Memorial before its museum sells the last Sunday tickets at 4. It stands where the Murrah Federal Building stood until April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb killed 168 people. The outdoor memorial never closes, and it is worth walking again after dark.

Give the morning to the First Americans Museum, on the Oklahoma River a few minutes from downtown, which opens at 10. It was made with each of the 39 nations in the state, after years of consultation, and its two included tours, at 11:30 and 2:30, are the best way in; the path up the mound outside is free while the museum is open. Leave by 1:30 and take I-40 west for about three-quarters of an hour to El Reno. North of the interstate is Historic Fort Reno, the Army post beside the agency for the Cheyenne and Arapaho at Darlington. In September 1878 Northern Cheyenne families broke away from the agency to go home to the north, and the fort's cavalry went after them. Its hours could not be confirmed, so check locally before you go. Another hour west on I-40 brings you to Clinton, where the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, the state historical society's look at the highway, stands on Gary Boulevard by exit 65 and closes at 5. From Clinton it is about half an hour on I-40 to Elk City for the night.

Start early. Washita Battlefield National Historic Site is three-quarters of an hour north and west of Elk City by OK-6 and US-283, just outside Cheyenne, and its visitor center opens at 8. At first light on November 27, 1868, Custer's 7th Cavalry rode into Black Kettle's Cheyenne camp here and killed Black Kettle, his wife and dozens of others, many of them women and children. Walk the trail from the overlook down to the village site. Drive south on US-283 to Sayre, where old 66 runs through the square below the domed 1911 Beckham County Courthouse, and on by OK-6 through Granite to Quartz Mountain State Park, granite knobs standing out of Lake Altus-Lugert; buy the parking pass before you go. Then go through Altus and east on US-62 to Cache, where OK-115 runs north into the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Drive to the top of Mount Scott, watch for bison on the road, and leave the refuge by OK-49 for Lawton. The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center, the Nation's own museum on Ferris Avenue, is open until 5 on weekdays, so if the day runs late, cut Quartz Mountain short.

Drive east on OK-7 to Duncan, about forty minutes, and be at the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center when it opens at 10. US-81 runs north from here near the line of the cattle trail, which crossed what was then the Chickasaw Nation, and the center's short film of a drive is the place to start. Then follow OK-7 east for about an hour and a quarter to Sulphur and give the afternoon to the Chickasaw Cultural Center, the Nation's own campus. Its exhibit center tells the Chickasaw story from first contact through removal to the present, and the traditional village outside, open until 4:30, has stomp dance every day. A footbridge from the campus crosses into Chickasaw National Recreation Area; by car, the Travertine Nature Center is a few minutes away, with creek trails and spring water to walk beside. From Sulphur, OK-7, OK-1 and OK-22 run south and east to Tishomingo, where the Chickasaw National Capitol of 1898 stands in the town; its museum hours are not posted, so check before you go. OK-78 runs on south to Durant, about forty-five minutes.

The Choctaw Cultural Center at Calera, a quarter of an hour from Durant, opens at 10; buy tickets online. Built by the Nation to tell its history from the Chahta side, it needs two to three hours, with the galleries inside, the village outside and lunch at the Champuli Cafe. Leave by 12:30. The road runs north on US-69/75 to Atoka, east on OK-3 to Antlers and north on OK-2 and US-271 past Clayton, about two and a quarter hours to Tuskahoma. The Tvshkahomma Capitol Museum, the Nation's capitol from 1884 to statehood, is open until 4 on weekdays. US-271 climbs the Kiamichi valley to Talihina, and at Talimena State Park OK-1 begins the climb onto Winding Stair Mountain. This is the Talimena Scenic Drive, which follows the ridgetops east past the Kerr Arboretum and US-259 and crosses into Arkansas on Rich Mountain as AR-88. About 50 miles after OK-1 begins, the lodge at Queen Wilhelmina State Park, near the top of Rich Mountain, is the night's stop; the drive ends below it at Mena.