Route 66 Day 6 October 27, 2019
The air was cooler today but it was a beautiful day! As we headed out of town for our next lot of adventures I notice yet another sign advertising cannabis. They are quite a regular sight. 
Jenny was driving, so I clicked away with my camera and captured these shots of the scenery we passed.
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| A giant petrol bowser! |
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| White fences for the horse ranches. |
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| Route 66 Sign on top of the building |
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A field of crosses - but no explanation
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After everyone had enjoyed their fill of hot coffee and a snack (I couldn't resist some French toast),
we hit the road again to travel to the home of Jerry McClanahan - artist and co-creator of EZ66 Guide Book for which he won the 2010 Will Rogers Award - in the town of Chandler, Oklahoma. He is such a friendly man, and we had the pleasure of meeting his wife too. He told his story about how as a child he would travel with his parents along Route 66 practically every year because he had family that lived on the other side of the country. His Dad was one of those people who just wanted to get there, and hated to stop for any reason other than fuelling up. Jerry just wanted to explore, and despite needing to go to the toilet, feeling thirsty and a number of other reasons to ask his Dad to stop, he was mostly unsuccessful. So, during his adult life he decided to fulfill his childhood dreams and has become an an authority on the road.
It's hard not to spend money on a souvenir when you want to encourage these people to keep doing what they're doing to keep the road going.
It's hard not to spend money on a souvenir when you want to encourage these people to keep doing what they're doing to keep the road going.
After spending a good amount of time listening to Jerry's stories and perusing his works of art, we all jumped into our cars again and made our way downtown to the Boom-a-rang Cafe. It was a classic American diner.
Above the door as you leave the cafe is this sign. I had to ask for help to figure out what it says.
Can you work it out? The answer is at the bottom of the blog.
After a hearty meal, (read huge) we went on up the road to the Route 66 Interpretive Centre. As we walked back to our cars I just had to take shots of the beautiful types of pumpkins arranged outside the businesses for Fall Harvest/Halloween.
At the Route 66 Interpretive Centre I learnt about Cyrus Stevens Avery (1871 - 1963) from Tulsa Oklahoma who became known as the "Father of Route 66" because of the role he played while a member of the Federal Board. He was appointed to create the Federal Highway System. He was an interesting man. Before working for the Federal Government he'd been a farmer, a teacher, a real-estate broker, an oil investor and a politician. He was a leader of the Goods Road Movement of the early 1900's which championed better roads across America. Later as Oklahoma Highway Commissioner, he laid out and numbered US Highway 66, then pushed for the establishment of the US Highway 66 Association to pave and promote the highway, helping it to become the icon of American culture we are now experiencing In 1927, he was the first person to refer to Route 66 as the Main Street of America. Conveniently, the new highway ran right past his own filling station and restaurant.
Back in the car and onwards ... ever onwards ... to the Seba Station which was built about 1921 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now a newly renovated gas station building, housing a fabulous motorcycle museum housing over 75 motorcycles. It also has a gift shop.... of course. I'm getting into the groove of the trip now, and even though cars and motorcycles are not really a huge interest of mine, I appreciate the mechanical genius of these essential modes of transport. I was intrigued to see how the form of the motorcycle has changed so radically over the years. There were some good signs too.
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I was amazed to see that a couple of the motorcycles hadn't even been taken out of their shipping containers!! And, it was great to see a real Penny Farthing bicycle!
I met a man who was searching for a 1936 Harley Davidson so he could buy it. He must have been doing pretty well for himself. He told me that he had a fairground attraction that he moved around from county to county, but he was just about finished for the year because winter was not far away.
The air was getting colder and colder. It was a good incentive to get back into the warmth of our cars and keep pushing westward. The next stop was an amazing building called The Round Barn in the town of Arcadia. There was all sorts of old machinery outside of it. They were mainly road graders of various kinds, and I thought about how useful it would have been to have one of these when I lived at Ngalapita. That was a shocker of a road in terms of its corrugations. I managed to get it graded once during the time I was there, but within 6 weeks it was as bad as ever.
Across the road another marijuana sign!!
The Round Barn is one of the nation's unique landmarks. It was built in 1898 to serve as a home for livestock, and it was also a place where dances were held for the local town's folk. As traffic slowly declined down Old Route 66, the town of Arcadia declined, and the barn suffered neglect. In 1988 the barn's immense 60 foot diameter roof finally collapsed. Fortunately Luther Robinson, a retired building contractor, rounded up a group of volunteers to restore the unique architecture. It is a gorgeous building with the most amazing atmosphere as you enter it.
And for a bit of fun, you are invited to look in the monkey house. Do you know what you see? Yourself!! Staring back at you, thanks to a mirror at the back!!
Across the way from the Barn was a place selling these little sheds. I think the shape of them is so practical and attractive. |
| I liked the mosaic on this mirror in the lobby of the hotel. |
We hit the road for the final leg of today's driving. The air temperature was continuing to drop. We drove on the Interstate Highway and bi-passed Oklahoma City. Even though we missed the peak hour traffic, it was still pretty heavy. We passed active oil rigs and finally made it to our destination - the Comfort Inn and Suites in Weatherford Oklahoma. And, my goodness it was cold when we stepped out of the car!!
We didn't have much time before we had to head to a conference room to meet one of the characters of Route 66 - Ken 'the landrunner' Turmel - Route 66 Motorcycle Tour Guide, Adventurer, Historian, Writer, and Artist. He has an amazing story to tell. He is known by many along Route 66 as the guy who spent two years travelling the road to collect post office stamps for his Route 66 map. All up he accumulated over 28, 600 miles of cross-country travel in order to acquire all of the special commemorative 'pictorial postmarks' on Route 66 that were officially issued by the US Postal Service during that time period.
We listened to a little presentation that he gave about the 'journey' from go to woah! He tells it with such passion and care for the people he met on the road. I was enamoured! Considering how much difficulty I had finding a post office in the earlier part of my trip, I considered his accomplishment an amazing feat. Even more so when you consider that some post offices are only open on certain days at certain times. When it was time for questions I asked whether he had ever done a TED talk about his story! He didn't know what they were. Then I asked if he had ever written down his stories. He said he had started but other things had gotten in the way. So I said that I would love to be his ghost writer. We'll have to see how that offer develops.
Later Dale had me sit next to Ken while we had a Mexican dinner. Jenny and I shared a plate of Cowboy Fajitas at Ken's recommendation. They were very yummy and one plate was more than enough to feed the both of us. We talked about Ken's earlier life and how he had played in a Christian band and had recorded and produced music for some quite notable people. It was lovely to meet Melissa, Ken's wife. They are such loving people, and I am delighted to say that I am a proud owner of one of Ken's prints.
After a fun evening, we headed back to our bedroom and enjoyed a luxurious sleep.
I hope all is going well in your world. There'll be another installment soon.
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