The Kulman Adventures: A Gene Autry Museum in Gene Autry Oklahoma

We are the adventuous type, as you know, and when we saw this sign we just had to take a look. Lance has some country roots having a brother who had a country western band and he claims to have memorized 300 country songs when he was a teen. I remember Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and the Sons of the Pioneers -- Tumblin Tumble Weed and Cool, Clear Water.

So off we went....

And followed the Happy Trail...

To Gene Autry, Oklahoma -- Yes, that is a working post office.

And, the Gene Autry First Baptist Church...

There it is -- the Gene Autry Museum. Turns out it is an old school house. Every room is filled with memorabilia of not only Gene Autry but many other western entertainers as well. It was unbelievable.

I had no idea how many movies Gene Autry was in. He was in 93 movies and 91 television productions.

According to the Internet Movie Data Base -- Orvon Gene Autry is considered by many to be the greatest western star of all time. He earned the designation of "America's Favorite Cowboy". He was "discovered" by Will Rogers while working as a telegraph. One of his stars on the Wal of Fame is for Live Performance (including rodeo), not live theater. Also, "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine" sold over 500,000 copies in its first release. He is the first artist in history to have a gold record. Also, he is the first artist to ever sell 1,000,000 of a record. He was also the first artist ever to sell out Madison Square Garden. His son "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is the second highest selling Christmas song of all time. It has sold over 30 million copies. By 1948, Dell Publishing was printing over 1,000,000 Gene Autry Comic Books per year. It seems everything Gene touched seemed to turn to gold. After he retired from acting, he had many successful business ventures, including radio and television stations. He also owned the California Angels. Gene passed away in 1998.

Could not be a complete museum without Champion and one of Gene Autry's saddles. After seeing this Lance launched into a trivia discussion of the names of all the famous western stars' horses names.