Started off in Tulsa Oklahoma the next morning, - where Carrie spotted a sure sign of good luck on our journey - a Bison! Swung over and snapped a picture. If there are bison you are heading the right way - that's what I always say anyway.
We started out on a nice stretch of the old route through the west side of Tulsa toward Oklahoma city. There was an old one lane brick bridge that we spotted and had the fortunate opportunity to drive over. Carrie didn't seem too thrilled, mumbling something about there was probably a good reason that they didn't use it any more. Again I asserted that it was a rental car and we bounced along over it. Was a real blast into the past, who would have thought that they would have used brick to pave the bridges?? Guess they were on to something though as they were still there from the old 1922 alignment of route 66.
On that note, there was a pattern emerging as we got deeper and deeper into the heart of the country. There were many variances over the years to what Route 66 actually was. Here we had the opportunity, as we did at the chain of rocks bridge, to cross over a portion of the early alignments. These to me are the classics, and are mostly gone, or sometimes now, as they were early on, are dirt roads. As I figured these chances were fleeting and would probably be the first to disappear, as so much of it has already under other highways and bi-ways. Being on traditional route 66 dosent always mean that you are on the original route. Many times they differed by many miles. - More on all that later, back to the road. On our journey down the original alignment - found an
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| Old Route Through OK |
old boarded up drive in theater. Felt a bit of sentimentality for the old thing, as it wasn't even on the main stretch of town anymore, as I am sure at one time it did booming business, now it shone as a grim reminder of the peril that so many businesses, and even towns on the old route face. The switching of a simple street sign to re-route the highway through town, really does have the ability to put a business under.
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| Abandoned Drive in Theater |
From there it was on to the "Rock Cafe" - a route 66 establishment in Stroud Oklahoma, that has fed Route 66 travelers since the mid 1930's. A few fire's and changes of ownership later, the cafe, constructed of local rock that was blasted out of the way during construction of Route 66. We didn't have time to stop in for a meal, but wanted to at least swing by and grab a picture of the landmark that was featured in the Disney movie"Cars." The current owner claims that she was the inspiration of the Porsche character in the movie, which may or may not be true, but what is true is that the place burnt a few years back and the outer walls were all that remained before the remodel. They had just re-opened recently and were placed on the national historic register of historic places. A great honor, and we will be sure to swing in on our next trip down the old route. It is hard to imagine Route 66 in the 1930's - with old classic cars and roadways hardly wide enough to fit 2 cars at the same time. Try to
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| Wait, turn Here?? |
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| Original Ozark Trail Marker - 1919 one of only 7 left. |
go back to the days before motorized travel. Back to covered wagon days. Yes people still traveled west, after Lewis and Clark, travels west increased year by year. Soon Trails were formed, and soon automobiles would populate those same trails. With the increase in traffic, it was evident that markers were necessary. Our next stop was an original Ozark Trail Obelisk Marker - from 1919. There are only 7 that remain, and I decided the one actually on original route 66 was the one to visit. Little did I know that our journey would take us 4 miles down a dirt road into the middle of cow pastures. Alas, mouthes filled with dust kicked up from the road, there it was. I have to admit, the result was a little different than I had imagined. I knew we were looking for a 30' cement tower, somehow my minds eye had failed to add all the grafitti littered all over the marker. Certainly there was no street sign bent over and leaning against it. It was a bittersweet moment. On the one hand I was astounded that the thing was still around at all - and standing at the corner you could almost hear the old Model T's rumbling by, but the fresh coat of obscenities spraypainted on it somehow detracted from the moment slightly. Regardless we stopped and marveled for a few moments, and soon enough were back on our way, on the paved roads again.
I could tell Carrie was as disappointed with the current state of the historical marker, maybe even more so than I was. There are some new replicas that are out there - cleaner and nicer, no gang tags and paved roads leading up to them - but I wanted to see the original, and so it goes sometimes I suppose.
It was definitely time for a pick me up. One that I had been looking forward to since, well, since the first day I set foot in Northern Florida. It was 2005, Tallahassee, working on the FSU College of Medicine. For lunch, the guys and I went across the street to Firehouse subs for Lunch. Ordered the Hook and Ladder sub ( great hot sub, and they are expanding, if you get the chance - do it). With the sandwich - I wanted chips and a drink. So upon hearing "would ya'll like anything else, I responded, innocently enough, I thought "yeah - chips and a pop." I watched her ring in the chips, and add $.99 to the total, but no pop. "Did you get the pop?" Her response was an empty, confused stare...
"The pop,,, Pepsi, Coke, whatever you have....."
I could see it had finally clicked "OOH!!!,,,, you must be from north of the Mason - Dixon line!" she blurted.
Stunned at the fact that she was educated enough to know enough to reference the mason dixon line, but not what a Pop was, I realized I had entered a forign land. My foundation was shaken, nothing would ever be the same. "We call it soda round these parts" she added, rather snottily.
That day I decided to take a stand, on behalf of all Midwesterners, who coincidentally make up most of Florida's west coast population,,,, that a cold, carbonated beverage, would be called a pop, regardless of where I resided, just as it had been the first 25 years of my life.
Where the hell is he going on this tangent?? to POP's!!! A superstore, offering over 500 varieties of POP, from
Orange Crush to
Route Beer 66, they had it all! Each variety was in classic glass bottles Carrie was in heaven, she is the one person on the planet who seems to love pop as much as I do. She marveled at the sheer site, its presence announced over the horizon with a 66' tall pop bottle, the worlds largest!
There is a diner inside - but the line was out the door - and content with our purchase of pop (a mix a 6 plus 3 others) we were back on the road.
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| Round Barn in Arcadia OK - built way back in 1898. |
In our haste to get to the pop stand - we blasted by two of the more famous roadside attractions - or at least photographed attractions, Round Barn and the Whale slide. If you have seen any of the Hampton Inn "save a landmark" commercials. Though famous - I really had no want to see "Catoosa" the blue whale slide as it was built in the 70's, really on the back end of route 66. Round barn however - I thought was worth a stop. Standing since 1898, was build purely from wood that was bent in a huge vat of water with a jig in the shape of the roof. The wood was soaked and bent to form the rafters. From the son of a carpenter, I can say that this just looks like a daunting task to layout and build. For me that makes it that much more interesting to look at. The pamphlet stated that for most of its existence the bottom floor was used for housing livestock, while the upstairs was a popular gathering place for local events. Pretty impressive for 1898 - equally as impressive that it is still standing.
Down the road we had to decide if we wanted to take route 66 through Oklahoma City, or to bypass on the highway. We chose the route. For the most part it had been taken over by heavily populated commercial and retail property, which didnt feel a whole lot like the old road. The shear number of stop lights alone was staggering - as it took us about an hour to get through into downtown from the east burbs. Our lunch stop was an establishment we had seen time and time again through Oklahoma - called Taco Bueno. It is a fast food looking establishment, akin to a Taco Bell, but
much nicer. Does taco bell give you soup and chips with your meal?? How about the best tortilla soup I have had, and with a few tacos, I was stuffed and perplexed. Let me tell you - we are getting messed over having Taco Bell and Panchero's as our Mexican fast food options. This place is the real deal. And for about the same price as taco bell. Taco Bueno has a fan - and he would never eat at Taco Bell again if he had the option of Taco Bueno.
Speaking of Oklahoma City - we decided to stop by the location of the federal building bombing in 1995. If you remember - it was that psycho who decided to get back at the government for how they killed those wack jobs in Waco Texas by blowing up a building in a different state. Didnt make sense to me then, and upon seeing the memorial, it made even less sense to me. We hadnt planned on stopping, but stumbled across it while in downtown, and decided to explore. It was an amazingly somber place, where the horror of the events really hit you. The footprint of the building took up about the whole block, and the memorial is spread over the whole grounds.
Entrance is granted through one of two "gates," both erected in black granite. One displaying 9:01 meant to represent the innocence and calm that the city knew prior to the explosion that morning, the other displaying 9:03 for the chaos and horror that would change the city forever. In between the two entrances is a shallow
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| Each chair represents a life lost in the explosion |
zero edge reflecting pool - it invokes a soothing feeling, in an effort to lessen the wounds induced at the site, and to provide a peaceful, calm setting for visitors reflective thoughts. On a hill adjacent to the reflecting pool is a hill with a number of chairs, each representing a life lost on the day of the bombing.
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| The remains of the destroyed foundation |
They are arranged in 9 rows - each representing a floor on the building. The chair representing each person is placed on "the floor" they were believed to be on at the time of detonation. The memorial is the best I have been to and really was done beautifully. A section of the foundation torn apart by the bombing is displayed as a grim and telling reminder of just how powerful the blast was.
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| Statue put up by the church across the street from the site. |
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| Chisholm Trail Marker |
Upon saying our farewells to Oklahoma City it was into the great plains, as our journey continued. There was one thing I knew - we needed to get to Texas by sundown. On the West Side of town we caught the Chisholm Trail. Jesse Chisholm built various outposts on the trail, later named after him, to get Texas cattle north, to the railroad depots in Kansas. The cattle were worth 10 times more in the northeast and the westward expansion of the railroad was just the vessel necessary. More than 5 million cattle were herded and run along the trail, and had direct influence on the meat markets in huge transport hubs like Chicago. If anyone ever read Upton Sinclairs "The Jungle" it chronicals the Chicago meat packing industry and the corruption and utterly morbid working conditions in the meat packing plants around the turn of the century. It was stark enough to cause the formation of the agency we now know as the Food and Drug Administration. That said, although just a trail, it had major historical significance and ramifications. For history buff, a cool stop at one of the watering holes on the trail, now a park complete with baseball fields and a "bankshot" court. Bankshot, we learned, is "mini golf version of basketball." It was invented as an "inclusionary sport" that wheelchair athletes and non can compete on an even playing field. The game is akin to horse, but with oddly shaped backboards and banks that must be included in the made shot.
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| The Bison Checking me out! |
Sticking with the wildlife theme - it was time to for my long awaited introduction to a Buffalo. Thats right, for those fellow New Buffalo Bison who have read this far, it has been 20 years in the making, but I have been determined to see a live Buffalo for the majority of my life. Until that fateful day in September 2010, I had been unsuccessful in my quest. That all came to an end today - as we happened across a stop that claimed to have "Live Oklahoma Buffalo." "We have to stop there" I decreed to Carrie who agreed. As we pulled up I was excited. I had waited so long- what would I say - would he be half as impressed
with my journey to see him as I would be merely seeing him?
Just as you have suspected, he wasn't impressed, and neither were his wife of kid, who were also "on display" with him. Although there is a picture of him checking me out! Nonetheless, he was a live Buffalo, and a Bison to boot!! It was amazing, and they are beautiful creatures. Majestic and powerful, these guys seemed content welcoming folks to the region. The Buffalo were sacred creatures in the Native American culture, and were hunted to near extinction for their hides. They have made a slight comeback recently - primarily on private ranches. Although over half a million are estimated in North America, only about 15,000 are considered "wild." Needless to say this was a great day in my life. My first, and hopfully not last, Bison Experience. Thank you Cherokee Trading post for such an awesome display.
In a great mood - we hopped back on the route and found ourselves on some old 1920's pavement. It is concrete, as opposed to most modern pavement - which is blacktop. apparently they were on to something as it seemed to be in pretty solid shape still, 80 years later.
And with the old pavement - the old classic gas station, perhaps the most famous on the route, Lucilles. Although no longer in operation, it is the last of the "apartment over the top" gas stations on the route. Also on the historical register, and now a relic they puts Hydro, OK on the map for route 66 travelers.
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| A Mini Dustbowl Storm in Oklahoma, history re-created!! |
It was getting to be rather windy in the late afternoon hours, and with the 1920's pavement under us, the history bug got me and I began telling Carrie about the "dustbowl" days in the 1930's in the exact area we were driving through. At one point she said " You mean something like that?" I looked over at a duststorm blowing towards us through a huge plowed field. "Ahh - yeah, exactly like that, just bigger and worse!" Not too shabby, we got an authentic replication of the 1930's dustbowl storms on our journey. Not much further to Texas, we reflected on all the awesome things that we had seen in Oklahoma. From the Old Bridge earlier that morning, to the Chisholm and Ozark Trail Markers, Pops, one of which I was then enjoying, and who can forget the Bison. I must admit, for as bland as I thought our travel would be through the state, I rather enjoyed it! Any place with a Taco Bueno is OK in my book!
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| Texola - Route 66 Ghost Town. |
It was after the dust-storm cleared that we pulled into Elk City Oklahoma. Home of the National Route 66 museum. It looked like a great place. At 4:30 the fine folks there decided that we didnt have enough time to enjoy the museum and denied us admission. I told them I didnt have much time anyway, handed over the admission, and was again refused. It appeared the old ladies were SERIOUS about getting to the happy hour special at Denny's. So I wont put up any pictures, or even go as far as recommending it. In fact if you go I'd appreciate you swinging in and telling them you'd like to tour the facility, but wont because they wouldn't let a happy couple in back in September. If you dont I will have to next time we do the drive, which I imagine most of the old ladies wont be around for, so it will most likely be in vein.
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| More Texola Pictures Above: Hotel, and a view of main st. |
Oklahoma had one more gem to show us before we departed. The Route 66 ghost town of Texola. As you may have deduced, it is a border town that was made, and later broken by the Route. It grew from a meager population of under 300 people in 1920, to around 600 by 1930. Since the demise of Route 66, Texola's population has steadily declined, and is now - according to the cencus 45 people. A Ghost Town, it was interesting to see the old businesses and imagine how the town used to be prior to the introduction of the interstate, which had no exit at the town. The Median of the road was overgrown, and not one of the businesses were open. In fact, we didn't see another car on the road the whole time. It was eerie but intriguing at the same time. One of the old places had a sign that read " No place like Texola. There's no other place like this place, anywhere near this place, so this must be the place." I got a kick out of that, sort of a poignant statement given the current state of things. That said it marked our entrance into the Great State of Texas! It was getting close to Dinner Time, and I had been looking forward to eating at the Coyote Bluff Cafe, where both man vs food and diners drive ins and dives had been to sample their famous "Hell Burger." It was a half-pound burger, with Jalapenos and habenero sauce, smothered in cheese. How could I resist.
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| Makes you wonder about #1.... |
The plan was to high tail it through the Pan Handle to Amarillo, get out to Cadillac Ranch, and then head back into town for the Burger. I was ready to get the relatively short, but eventful trip through Texas underway!
Straight away over the boarder, in Shamrock Texas, is a famous old structure, that has been featured in a few films, you may remember as Ramones body shop in Cars . The U Drop Inn, also known as The Tower Station. The architectural spire was inspired by a rail spike sticking out of the dirt on the plain. It was one of the only examples of art deco along the route. It served as a filling station and cafe during its tenure on the route. Its iconic spires have graced the pages of many magazines and periodicals on Route 66 over the years. It has been a staple on the route since 1936, but sadly is now out of operation. Like so many others, has
been placed on the national historic register, to be protected for future generations. The old gas pumps are still out on display, though the inside is barren and did not look like it was available for tours. There were remnants of what appeared to be a gift shop, but was not open regardless.
Next up was Britten Texas, and its "famous" leaning water tower. It was proudly displayed out near the interstate and we took a drive by picture, as there really didnt seem to be a reason to make an actual stop.
Off on the horizon a huge cross began to appear, as you can see from the picture, we are on the actual old route, in the foreground is the interstate, and behind, what is billed as the worlds largest cross, in Groom Texas. There is a church under construction adjacent, that was tiny to the 19 story cross displayed out front. Not sure this is still considered the bible belt, but it sure did appear that Christianity was alive and well in the
good 'ole Texas panhandle. Aah so you noticed that I wasn't on the interstate, and that means that there must have been something to stop and see. Right you are!! It is an homage to Cadillac ranch, still a little way off down the road. This particular instance has a little more German feel to it. V-Dub ranch it is!!! Conway Texas is home to the Volkswagen Ranch, slightly odd, and surrounded by fire ants the size of my little toe, it was an interesting warmup, but the sun was getting lower in the sky, as you can see in the picture.
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| Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo TX |
We high tailed it through Amarillo - which we found Carrie has a genetic block from pronouncing properly, and made it to the west side of town just before sunset. You can see the cars off in the distance for a about a mile on the approach. A stunning sight on the horizon as you draw closer. the last 200 yards you have to walk out into the field from the main road.
Cadillac Ranch, the brainchild of Stanley March 3, stands as an artistic monument out in the middle of a crop field. Marsh was a millionaire who made his money selling helium and had made more than one attempt as "odd" art, including numerous mock street signs. The Cadillac's are buried nose down in the field, and are all from between 1949-1963. It has been an Amarillo landmark since 1974. That is spray paint you see on the cars. Apparently it is a tradition to spray paint the cars - good to know for the next time we are out there. I am not much of an art buff, but this is the sort of stuff that I can get on board with. We stuck around through sunset to try and get a few different looks at it. We didn't get a chance to spray paint any of the cars. Will definitely be on the shopping list for the next time we head out, and it should be for you as well.
Dinner time had come and gone - and as I mentioned earlier, it was off to the Coyote Bluff for a Hell Burger!
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| Hell Burger will have to wait till next time |
We headed back into town, punched the address into Garmin, and got our pallets ready. CLOSED for the week while on Vacation the sign read....Guess that's the downside of a eating at a family run business. My date with the hell burger will have to wait, and it will be a divine reunion.
The balance of Texas really didnt have much that we wanted to see, so we decided to do some night driving, and see if we could get ourselves to world famous Tucamcari, New Mexico. Know as one of the last remaining quintessential route 66 towns, it still had a number of old motels and is known for its amazing collection of original neon signs. A few hours of night driving would get us there and we decided that it might be a nice place to stay as well - to add to some of the old route feel. It would also put us just past halfway. As it was night we did not see an "official" halfway point marker, but in reading that 3 or 4 towns lay claim to the halfway point - we knew that we had crossed it somewhere around 10 that night.
We did happen across another ghost town at the Texas / New Mexico border. Glenrio Texas was the name of the town. Another that the old route had passed through, and had since been bypassed by the interstate. As it was night, I figured this might be a little more interesting that our previous ghost town experience. So we hopped off the expressway and decided to give it a look.
When they say ghost town, they mean it literally. There aren't even street lights in these places. Up the exit ramp we were greeted by an old abandoned gas station. As our headlights illuminated the property you could see the rusted and decrepid remains of an old tow truck and filling / repair station. Weeds had overgrown it and it was obvious that it had not been functioning for years. As I got out of the car to snap a picture an eerie feeling crept over me. There is absolutely no good that is going to come out of stopping at this place, a guy could disappear an no one would know the difference. I mean this place was straight out of a horror movie. There wasn't another car on the road, no moon in the sky. So of course I pointed the car away from the expressway and headed into town to explore further. Did you really expect anything different? Apparently Carrie did, as she was less than pleased at my decision.
As we crossed over the highway there didn't appear to be a town at all. It was dark, and minus the wind howling it was stark quite. As we meandered down the road we came to what was the town center. Its only intersection. Another gas station, a warehouse and a few homes. As we came to the end of town we turned around in the middle of the road and headed back through. A sharp howl pierced the night. This was my opportunity to scare the pants off of my unassuming passenger. As I stopped to get out and take a few pictures I had planned to run back behind the car and leave her for a few moments, sneaking up and banging on the trunk. The car crept to a stop, more howls, louder, closer, and more than one. As I went to open the door - through the overgrown grass, motion. I froze. It wasn't consistent with the waving of the grass and trees in the wind. It wasn't human, too low to the ground. The wind had picked up again and was banging the corrugated steel roof, slamming it down onto the adjacent ones, with tremendous bangs. Then the howl again, this time followed by barking. Dogs - wild dogs! And they were coming right for us! Up with the
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| Glenrio Texas - at night - better than any haunted house. |
window, and down the street we headed. I did manage to snap this picture (from inside the car), on our way back through town to the highway, which is straight out of a horror movie, I mean seriously, it was unbelievable.
We were on our way out of town and back to the highway - as quick as possible. It was all to clear to me now where the idea for Texas Chainsaw Massacre came from - or any of a host of others. I'll be damned if there wasn't some deranged lunatic murderer who lived in that place. I could have sworn I saw a light come on in the place as we pulled away. That was enough for me. My heart was pounding. "Can we get the hell out of here now?" was floated across the car as we headed back through town. "Aah yeah," was my response. There are two things I knew we didn't have to worry about; 1. spending more time in ghost towns at night, and 2, falling asleep any time in the near future. We were on our way to New Mexico - and to our old classic Route 66 Hotel in Tucumcari. Problem is - there are plenty of horror movies that are filmed in those little roadside hotels in the desert.
In any event, sadly, most if the neon signs were not on when we pulled into town near 11pm. So we decided to do our trekking around town after a nights sleep (I double locked the door and made sure the window in the bathroom was as locked as it could get). We drove through town a couple times to lose any would be murder tails we might have picked up back in Glenrio. That said it was a new day and we were both in one piece. We snapped a few pictures through town, and found the famous Blue Swallow, it really does have a nice sign. The whole town seemed to be a sort of Route 66 tourist trap. But it was definitely a stop I would 
recommend. The restoration of the places that are still open are amazing. And there is a good share of others that have fallen into dis-repair as well. A really good mix of modern day, throwback, and those of days gone by. Today the population is around 6000 people. For the amount of businesses on the main strip alone you might think there were three or four times that number. The pamphlet I picked up in the motel lobby describes the way the town got its rather odd name. "The two finest warriors of an Apache tribe that made their home at the mountain met in combat to determine who would succeed their dying Chief Wautonomah. The survivor would also win the hand of the chief's daughter, Kari. Tocom, the brave loved by Kari, was slain by Tonopah in the battle. Overcome with grief and rage, Kari seized her knife, killed Tonopah and took her own life. Heartbroken at this tragic turn of events, the old chief stabbed himself, crying out as he died, "Tocom-Kari, Tocom-Kari." This story is what became known as "The Legend of Tucumcari." 
Remember that "No Country for Old Men" reference earlier?? Well it turns out I wasn't that far off, it was filmed here. More recently - Due Date - Red Dawn, and Beer for My Horses (Toby Keith), were all shot in town. It is said that this (the Stern and Nahm) building was once a bar that was owned by Wyatt Earp. Is now apparently used for storage, which I found to be a shame. The town is divided into new and old town, by a river that passes through it. A beautiful place with a whole wagon load of history running through it. The Train Station is as you would expect from an old west city. Constructed of brick, with a single platform, it was opened in 1899, and has operated ever since. It sort of made me wish we had taken a train into town.
