A trio of Oklahoma Barns

Ren and Scott of @xcountytravelers recently took a drive in their vehicle to see some sights out in the countryside. Even with many restrictions due to COVID-19, they are allowed some outdoor-time in their state and maintained their prescribed physical distancing from other people. They only made a couple of short stops, both at places that were prepared to accommodate travelers in a safe manner!

The always-thoughtful Ren shared photographs of three lovely barns with me when they returned! I have taken her original shots and applied my usual processing to them to make them look like paintings and bring out some of the details of the charming structures.

The first barn is a big one that is located in a large field. Sadly, there are places where the siding is coming off, and the lower-right corner of the roof appears to be missing, as well, showing some of the rafters underneath. But, it is a lovely structure!

The second barn is also in a state of disrepair, but could still be functional if not for all the weeds that have grown around it. The wood on this barn is so beautifully weathered! I have heard of some folks re-purposing wood from old barns such as this for furniture building and home remodeling.

The above scene with the third barn is so charming! The barn itself is pretty and makes me want to explore the inside, and I'd like to see what is down the dirt roads in the photo! This looks like a wonderful, quiet spot in which to live!

One curious detail about the third barn is shown in the detailed view, above, This image is from Ren's original shot with no artistic processing so the detail will be sharp and clear. I think this opening might be for ventilation, and the overhang at the rake of the gable is to prevent rain coming in. This feature makes me wonder if this barn might have been used for curing a tobacco harvest. Or, perhaps, there is a hoist inside, for lifting heavy bales of hay for storage in the loft. That is yet another reason why I'd like to explore the inside of this barn!

^{screenshot from BING Maps}

For documentation and historical purposes, Ren was thoughtful to provide the rough location of all three of these barns. I have marked the area with a red rectangle on the above screenshot from BING Maps. One can see it is not far from the border of Arkansas and Oklahoma, two of the states in the US. This appears to be a relatively rural area with plenty of pretty barns and fields!

Another interesting sight that Ren and Scott saw were the ruins of a very old log cabin, shown above. It was a genuine structure, built in the old-style using actual logs that were carefully laid and chinked together. They were able to speak with the owner — with everyone staying in their vehicles because of COVID-19 — and learned that the log cabin was the original homestead of the current owner's great-grandfather.

A couple of waterfalls were also on the agenda for the day, but I won't share them here, to give Ren the opportunity to speak of them in her own words. I thank her and Scott for getting these photos for me and allowing me to share them with you! As usual, half the rewards on this post go to @xcountytravelers