16. Rt.66 Clinton to Oklahoma City

 

 

 

 

 

Rt.66 Clinton to Oklahoma City

 

 

On our way out of town we stopped to take a picture of the McLain Rogers Park. It is one of the many art deco neon signs that were alongRt.66. A few miles down the road was the Cherokee Trading Post. There were a couple of buffalo that Jackie got a picture of.

 

 

In Hydro, OK we stopped at Lucilles. It was a service station and roadhouse. She died in 2000 and the place was closed but a new owner has restored it. Unfortunately it was closed when we were there.

I found an article/interview, here is the link: http://route66news.com/2013/07/30/a-look-back-at-lucille-hamons/ Here is an excerpt from another article I found.

 

“After Carl got a truck to earn more money, I was alone here to run this place. During this time, people from Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and eastern Oklahoma were traveling the road to the West Coast to find jobs.... Many times I would have people stop that were completely broke, and I would feed them and give them gas in exchange for some appliance or other articles of value they might have. Sometimes I would just buy their old broke-down cars, and then they would catch the bus and head on west looking for work.”

—Lucille Hamon

See: http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_10_4.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further east, near Hinton Junction we crossed the Pony Bridge. It was built in 1933 and spans the Canadian River. The individual trusses are called Ponies, there are 38 that make up the bridge. It is long. One article I found puts the length at 3944.33 feet. The bridge was featured in the 1939 film “the Grapes of Wrath”. In the movie the grandpa dies and is buried near the west end of the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon we were approaching Oklahoma City and our campground.

The next day we were sightseeing we started at the Oklahoma National Memorial. This is the site of the Alfred P Murrah building was destroyed by a homemade bomb on April 19, 1995. There is nothing like visiting a site like this to drive home the impact of what happened here. You wonder what would drive a person to bomb a building and kill all those people, 168, 19 of which were children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gates of Time: 9:01 the instant before the bomb went off, 9:03 a building and so many people’s lives shattered.

 

 

 

 

 

The Survivor Wall, the only remaining portions of the Murrah building are the north and east walls. There is a large plaque with the names of the people who lived.
 

 

 

 

 

The Field of Empty Chairs sits on the site of the Murrah Building.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



On the second floor was a day care center, 19 children were killed. I think most people will remember this photo. From Wikipedia:  

Charles Porter's photograph of firefighter Chris Fields holding the dying infant Baylee Almon won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1996. A similar photo was taken by Lester LaRue.

Children from all over the country responded with messages of encouragement , a wall of tiles was sent to Oklahoma City in 1995.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People remember.
 

 

 

We then went to the town of Arcadia, where we visited POPS. They have a 66 foot tall pop bottle that is illumined at night. There a gas station, restaurant and gift shop.

Notice the Corvettes? While we eating lunch, they began pulling in. Other caravans of Corvettes bypassed POPS and continued heading east on Rt. 66. I got talking with some of the people and was told they were part of the Lone Star Corvette Club from Texas they had 200 -300 cars going to Bowling Green Kentucky for the annual get together of Corvette owners. They were anxious to see the sink hole at the museum. Later that evening we met club members who were from a California club.

We drove a short distance west and stopped at the Old Round Barn. It was built in 1898 by William Odor. When he talked about building a round barn, many of his friends said it couldn’t be done. So, he built a saw mill, cut the boards from native bur oak trees. Soaking the green boards, he put them in special jigs to give them the proper curvature. Over the years there were many owners and with time the barn deteriorated. In 1998 the roof collapsed and fortunately a retired building contractor, Luke Robinson came along and restored it. The story is more complicated than this “short version”. Read more at:  http://www.arcadiaroundbarn.com/Round_Barn_Website/HISTORY.html and below.

That evening we had the pleasure of having dinner with an old friend. Haley used to live in our area and about three years ago moved to Oklahoma City due to her job. After dinner we walked around a small part of what is known as Brick City.

This next picture is reminiscent of San Antonio’s River Walk. Whaaat a duck!!!!

More pictures at: https://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/11432

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.Rt.66 Tucumcari NM to Clinton, OK

 

 

We left Tucumcari and soon were leaving New Mexico and into Texas.

 

 

 



 

 

Into the country side and every once in a while coming across an abandon building. In Adrian TX there is the MidPoint Café it is the midpoint between Chicago and Los Angles.  It was close enough for an early lunch. My route 66 guide book said to be sure to try their Ugly Crust Pie. It is a fifties style dinner and the hamburgers were excellent. Jackie had the pecan pie and had apple pie with ice cream. Unfortunately we didn’t think to take a picture of the pies but we took a lot other pictures. They had a gift shop (most places do). Jackie got magnets and I got a Midpoint Rt.66 coffee mug.

I took pictures of the menu, the part that had the history of the dinner and some facts about the area. They are on Shutterfly. If you go there, you can enlarge them enough to read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had old pictures on the wall. I’m wondering what that guy was doing with his right hand. Next door, though out of business was the Fabulous 40 motel. Route 66 was the inspiration for some of the characters in the movie “Cars”. .Could this be Maynard in real life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Route 66 was here first so I’ll say that I-40 parallels much of it. As you drive along on Rt.66 you come upon exits from I-40. A little caution is need as the traffic from the highway has the right-a-way.

 

 

 

 

Wildorado, TX has cattle pens. Boy does it stink. There were hundreds of cows……..Yum. steaks & humbuggers! We were nearing Amarillo and spend the night there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are very large wind farms (ranches, in Texas talk). The claim is that the project will generate 400 Megawatts, enough for more than 40,000 homes. The trees show the effect of the constant wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove across some of the flattest land we had ever seen. We stopped to take these next two pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Groom, TX there is the Giant Cross and in Britten, the leaning water tower.  I have a separate album for the Giant Cross; the facility is really named “Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ”. The Stations of the Cross are illustrated with life sized bronze figures. If you have religious beliefs the please follow the link. I believe you will like it. Album at: https://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/10677

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Shamrock, TX there is the U-Drop Inn/Tower Conoco. Here is a picture of a sign that tells the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we left town we found more murals and cars from the 50s & 60s. This road is the source for ant street-rodder or restorer.

 

 

 

 

 

As we passed through the town of Erick TX, we saw the Roger (King of the Road) Miller Museum.

 

Then, it's on to Clinton, TX, where we stay three nights.

 Friday, Aug, 23 we took the car and back tracked to Elk City, where the National Route 66 & Transportation Museum is.  This is a museum complex consisting of:

The Transportation Museum & Gift Shop, You buy tickets here, see a few cars, trucks, etc. You can even pretend you are at a drive-in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Route 66 Museum, where you walk through displays of the 8 states Route 66 goes through, starting in Chicago. There is a long map that Jackie took several pictures of Heading west you pass through what people experienced along the road and a reminder of how the dust bowl led to the migration ok “Okies” to California. There is a “Grapes of Wrath” display reminding us of how it was during the Dust Bowl days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The complex consists of 16 buildings, 5 are open and the rest you see the exterior and can look in the windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Town Museum and the Farm & Ranch Museum

The Old Town Museum is the former home of Mr & Mrs O.H. Young. They co-owned the Herring & Young chain of Mercantile stores in western Oklahoma. The rooms hold vintage settings, artifacts and Native American displays. On the 2^nd floor are displays from the Beutler brothers Rodeo Stock Co.

 The statue of the horse & rider is a tribute to a horse named “Commotion”. He is an award winning bare back bucking horse. You can read about him at: http://newsok.com/award-winning-rodeo-bareback-horse-still-living-on-a-ranch-near-elk-city-is-subject-of-a-statue-in-elk-city/article/3876217

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the drive back to Clinton we saw some interesting things. In Elk City there is an old oil rig on display.

 

 

 

 

 

The town of Foss is in between Elk City and Clinton. It might be considered a hard luck town as it has been destroyed by fire three times. The story is engraved on this stone display. You will have to go to Shutterfly for the rest of the pictures.
 

 

We all have heard the saying “They don’t build like they used to”. This bridge is still being used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures at: https://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/10748

 

Route 66 Museum, Clinton TX

This is a small museum that tells the story of Route 66 from the beginning as the main route from Chicago to Los Angles and later Santa Monica until I-40 almost killed it (in places I40 did). There is a lot to read, some say you can do it in less than an hour but Jackie & I were there for over two hours and we did not do all the reading that was available. For us, this part of our trip was meant to see place that still exist along this part of Route 66 that we are traveling on. Museums like this one are, as AAA would say are “Gems”.

The museums web address is: http://www.route66.org/

Here is a trailer from “Cars”  https://www.youtube.com/v/ggtH05LFF3k?autoplay=1&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=ytplayer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some duplicates.  One on, embedded picture the pictures look good but the printing is obscure on the other it is the reverse. I did that so you could enlarge either the pictures of the print. It was a conflict between the lights  on the display and the flash on the camera.

 

 

 

There was an old diner that had been moved to the museum. Notice the terms of the sale.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures at: https://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/10966