Sands of time: Old friends drawing new tourists to Waynoka

WAYNOKA—Mike Balch grew up in Waynoka and so did Ana Ramirez. The two of them have been the best of friends since they were kids. Both left their hometown for greener pastures and built their lives elsewhere, but the shifting sand dunes kept whispering to them …

Over three years ago, multiple investors began eyeing properties to develop around or near the 1,600-acre Little Sahara State Park, including frequent sand rat Ben Davis of Lubbock, Texas. His vision? To create a premier recreational sand resort butted up to the north side of state park for offroad enthusiasts.

Davis purchased 363 acres—which technically included two sand dunes just north of the state park boundary—in 2022 and earnestly developed 100 acres of it to launch America’s Oasis. He also hired Ramirez, who by then had relocated back to Waynoka, as the president of operations.

At that same time, Balch was dreaming of building a new hotel in Waynoka since he already owned a construction company in Tulsa and wanted to reinvest in his hometown. He has been a duner most of his life (as a kid, he said it was on three- and four-wheelers back then), and he welded his first dune buggy at the age of 12.

“Then my household went upside down,” he commented about his pending divorce, and adding salt to the wound so to speak was America’s Oasis came onto the scene. “I was disappointed I didn’t get it.”

But that all changed in the wee hours of one fateful morning when a post on Facebook popped up on the screen.

“I saw this hotel for sale,” Balch said about Little Sahara Inn & Cabins nestled in the heart of Waynoka. “Next thing I know, I’m in negotiations with the owners.”

“It was dilapidated … deteriorating … and looked exactly the same as it did when Ana and I were kids,” he added, and that was over 50 years ago. But that only fueled his desire to develop it into a spectacular luxury resort.

Balch Holdings acquired the Little Sahara Inn & Cabins property in August 2023—and overhauled the entire place in three weeks—just in time for the annual UTV Invasion event, when the rural Northwest Oklahoma town of 700 swells to 12,000 people.

“There were 54 rooms but 25 were not even rentable,” Balch said upon closing the deal, including three rooms that hadn’t even been functional for three decades. Sand burrs were stuck in the rooms’ carpeting, which he ripped out because sand constantly blowing in was tough to vacuum and replaced with wood flooring.

He brought over 30 contractors from his Tulsa team to renovate, including electrical, plumbing, siding, flooring, and painting, along with his son and daughter-in-law who helped install a point-of-sale system, eliminate the room phone system (because everyone has cell phones now), and replace all the beds and dated linens.

Throughout the hotel he upgraded décor with beachy colors and themes: Caribbean inspired artwork, shiplap walls, herringbone ceilings, granite showers.

Within 10 days every room was ready to rent for the impending whirlwind of offroad enthusiasts.

“We did more in 20 days than had been done in the past 40 years,” Balch proudly noted. They filled up a total of 45 compressed dumpsters with all the neglected and broke items; furniture, linens, and other useable items were donated to the local women’s shelter.

His crew also diligently labored to improve the parking lots with backhoes. Often times offroad enthusiasts have expensive toys on a long trailer pulled by dually so they need a place to park near where they camp and know it will be secure.

“Security is important,” Ramirez said. As such, Balch cleared the overgrown lot beside the hotel they called the jungle, landscaped the property, and designed it for ease of parking and directly riding onto the adjoining sand trail.

“This way they don’t ruin their paddle tires,” he said. He also installed LED lights along with multiple security cameras to ensure the entire property is well-lit and being monitored 24/7.

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just make it cooler, faster, and put LED lights on it,” Balch kidded.

Alva native Gene Withrow, who has been managing the property since 2017, said Balch “changed the image [of this place] instantly.”

Ramirez agreed, adding “This was an eyesore for Waynoka before he came in.”

Little Sahara Inn & Cabins consists of two sections, the north side (which contains the hotel office, Withrow’s apartment, and Balch’s apartment) and the south side.

The north side has 38 hotel rooms that have one to three beds and may or may not have kitchenettes, depending on the room. There also is a three-bedroom apartment and a three-bedroom cabin, which still needs remodeling. In the future, Balch said he plans to build up to 10 new cabins since he has ground space for them.

The south side has 14 rooms in various apartments and cabins along plus 28 RV spots with full hookup and “zooming” commercial Wi-Fi, which Balch said means patrons can sit in their trailers and work or watch TV without streaming glitches.

Both sections of Little Sahara Inn & Cabins’ property are on the sand trail Balch created that leads to Little Sahara State Park’s north entrance as well as connects to a path onto America’s Oasis property.

America’s Oasis includes a 30,000-square-foot venue with 10 vendor bays and a huge outdoor event pavilion; the hope is one day for a restaurant and bar to move in along with multiple businesses to accommodate residents and visitors year-round.

The star of the oasis according to Davis is the 1,320-foot professional drag strip for races with an adjoining arena, beginner’s track, short course, and a VIP pit for prep before a race.

America’s Oasis features two campgrounds, Plum Crazy and Camp Roper, which combined offer 75 RV spots with full hookup and commercial Wi-Fi.

Camp Roper also has six pole barns and four cabins, both of which stay booked annually. All long-term residents of America’s Oasis have access to the camp center which includes showers, laundry facilities, and vending machines.

Half-acre residential lots are also for sale within the campgrounds along with commercial lots, all of which are connected by a sand trail Davis created. Several out-of-state sand rats have purchased lots for vacation homes and their expensive toys’ storage, Ramirez said.

A place to stay and play

Together Balch and Ramirez actively promote their hometown as a place to play and also stay—short-term with small rig parking at Little Sahara Inn & Cabins and long-term with big rig parking at America’s Oasis. Peak season on the dunes is from March to October.

They envision attracting visitors to Waynoka in the off-season by hosting events year-round. They both know Waynoka is like Sturgis, N.D., six or seven times a year for activities at Little Sahara State Park.

“We are trying to change the mindset that Waynoka is only seasonal,” Ramirez said. Balch agreed, saying they aim to shore up the town’s infrastructure so it will become a destination for more than just the dunes.

America’s Oasis is considering building an amphitheater for rock concert festivals like Rocklahoma or perhaps rodeo grounds since Woods County is famously rodeo territory. Both Balch and Ramirez have connections to bring in major events and celebrities.

Together they want Waynoka to snag the revenue that comes with the sand rats—200,000 visitors a year to the state park—and “Woodard, Alva, and Enid benefit,” Balch said, instead of Waynoka. He said that’s because, in the past, Waynoka hasn’t had enough places to sleep, eat, and play.

The local grocery store recently shut its doors, and the local restaurants have struggled to survive in the off-season.

Businesses quickly get overwhelmed during dune events, running out of ice, fuel, propane, and beer, thus forcing sand rats with half-a-million-dollar rigs to seek those items and spend their money in the surrounding towns.

Prior to the renovations at Little Sahara Inn & Cabins and creation of America’s Oasis, there were very few spots to stay overnight in the immediate area. But even now, occupancy is less than 5%, which really doesn’t cover the utilities and the insurance, Balch said.

He said 10% occupancy means he’d break even on what he’s invested so far; 20% is ideal. He added he’d like to pay his hotel manager what he’s worth compared to other managers in the region.

Convincing the community, especially those they call “old-timers”, of what Waynoka can be is a challenge that both Balch and Ramirez are up for.

In fact, Ramirez is running for town mayor with the intent to make changes from the inside out and spearhead a campaign to revive and thrive Waynoka. She not only grew up with the state park basically serving as her backyard, she previously worked for the state park.

And Balch is “feverishly working” to spur economic development from his end. He’s been reaching out to others on behalf of his hometown to encourage them to come set up shop or return their business to town.

“I’m in it for the long haul,” he commented, despite not being able to live in Waynoka full-time since his construction, restoration, and roofing business Dynamic Restoration is based in Tulsa. He said he sees the bigger picture versus instant gratification, which is why he has several projects in the works.

Among his ideas are designing a playground on the north side section for families to relax outdoors between dune trips, establishing an ice house to ensure enough ice during festivities in town, and expanding the north side section to include more cabins, a fitness center, laundry facilities, and a main lobby. And someday soon several of the rooms will have Jacuzzis. There’s a duner resource guide also on the horizon.

Besides, he said, where else can sand rats bunk this close to the dunes and have all the amenities?

“You can roll in here with your toys as an individual, family, or group and rent a room, suite, or apartment and have everything you want,” Balch said. “There’s nothing in Waynoka like what we’re trying to do. You can unload, go have fun, re-load, and take off.”