Category: Route 66

Day 22 Route 66

Yesterday we drove from the Lucky Star Casino in El Reno, Oklahoma, to the Lucky Star Casino in Clinton, Oklahoma. The first one had full hookups but no shuttle. At the second one the shuttle driver said they had no hookups until we said we wouldn’t stay then he found a 30 amp electrical one for us. Neither charged a fee and neither made us sign up for a player’s card so they don’t even know who we are. This free camping is helping our budget a lot.

When we left camp we went first to WalMart where we mailed our absentee ballots, filled some prescriptions, restocked our groceries, and bought a hanging shoe bag.  

The shoe bag is designed to hang on the back of a door. We cut the bottom off it and hung it on the back of the dinette just inside the door. Now we have a place to keep our shoes handy where they won’t rattle around.

Then we went to a recycling center that didn’t want our pop cans. They were closed for lunch and were frustrated that we couldn’t find the container labeled cans. We were frustrated, too; we are still carrying that bag of cans.

Finally, we headed on down Route 66.  As we neared a place where there were two possible routes, there was a big sign from the Calumet Chamber of Commerce urging us to take their route. The smaller sign said “Paved Route 66”. We chose paved.

The route we chose was “interesting” enough. It was two narrow lanes of the original pink concrete and it followed the contours of the land; they didn’t grade the roads back then like they so now. So it was full of what the turn-by-turn author called “dipsy doodles”. It felt a lot like some kiddy carnival ride. To make matters worse, the angled curbs they used channeled all the water to the bottom of each hill where it froze and broke up the concrete so each of those places had been patched with asphalt which also didn’t hold up well. Like I said, it was an “interesting” ride.

We stopped for lunch at a truck stop at a Cherokee Restaurant. I had a barbecued buffalo sandwich.  I like buffalo; it’s lean but tasty. Dave’s French dip was made with slices of real beef roast. So we both went away happy.

Next we did take an alternate route because we wanted to cross the bridge of 38 spans. Most of it went over flood plain but it did eventually cross a river.

Our next Route 66 stop was Lucille’s in Hydro, Oklahoma. Unfortunately Lucille is no longer with us so there is just the building and a monument telling her story.

In the next town, Weatherford, Oklahoma, there is a Lucille’s Roadhouse in a similar building with an art deco addition. It felt to me like they were trying to take advantage of the original Lucille’s popularity but maybe it belonged to her family. I don’t know.

Also, in Weatherford we found a propane dealer. He was pleased to fill our tank for us so we wouldn’t have to worry about our furnace going out in the night. He had two dogs. The tiny chihuahua marked our tire as if that made him the owner of our motorhome. Oh, if only it were that easy!

It was still early when we reached Clinton, Oklahoma, but not early enough to visit the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum located here. We didn’t have any potential campgrounds on our list here, either. So when we saw the sign for the Lucky Star Casino we felt lucky indeed. Another night’s free camping and another night when we didn’t have to cook. This casino’s restaurant turned out to be just a fast food style deli but their sandwiches were good. And we have a good internet signal. What else could we want?

TTYL,

Linda

Day 21 Route 66

Yesterday was supposed to be a travel day but winds gusting to 39 miles an hour made us decide to stay parked. I spent most of the day researching our route and realized I hadn’t told you what that involves.  So here goes.

I did tell you we bought two books in Chicago about touring Route 66. One of them is a turn by turn description of the road itself and the other is a list of things to see and do along the way. So being the spreadsheet freak that I am, I started a new spreadsheet and listed the things to do and see and their locations. The turn by turn book added a few more places. Websites about Route 66 added some more.

Then I turned on my mapping software. I use Street Atlas USA to mark our route so I can see what towns we will be passing through.

Also on Street Atlas,  I have a bunch of files downloaded from discoveryowners.com. Those include locations of things like WalMart SuperStores, Flying J truck stops, Corps of Engineers campgrounds, etc. So I look at my route and see which of those places lay along it and add them to my spreadsheet.

Then I go to my membership campground directories and add places we can camp at discounted rates. We belong to Passport America which gives us a 50% discount on their parks. We also belong to Escapees, Good Sam, and Winnebago/Itasca Travelers each of which is usually good for a discount of about 15%.

Then I go to my Nick Russell e-books. Nick is a former newspaperman who has been fulltiming for eight years and during that time he has gathered lots of information on free and cheap places to camp. I pick a state we will be visiting and go through his campground, fairground, and casino books marking each location in the state on my Street Atlas Map. Then I add the ones that lay along our route to the spreadsheet.

By now, my spreadsheet is getting pretty long but it is incomplete. Most of the places on it don’t yet have addresses. So I Google each one to get the address, time of opening if it’s a museum, cost if it has one, and a short description of the place. If the place is a campground, I also look it up on rvparkreviews.com to see what others have thought of the park.

If I still have time, I Google state tourist bureaus for any other information they might offer. And if I have even more time, I Google towns along the route. That’s how I found the Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa.

Then I give each town a sequence number so I can sort them in the order we will reach them. And I give each category of stops a number so the museums will sort to the top of each town, the drive-by sites will sort next, the shopping/eating places will sort next, and the campgrounds will sort last. That way a quick look at the list while we are driving will tell me what’s coming up.

Then I decide how much of that we are likely to do today and select that portion for printing.

Finally we are ready to hit the road knowing we are not likely to miss something we’ll regret because we have lots of data to help us decide what to do when and where.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 21 Route 66

We’ve decided we’re not going to make it over the mountains before winter hits at the rate we are traveling. Our current answer to that is to stop making so many stops. We will assume we will pass this way again and only do the stops directly connected to traveling Route 66. No more history museums that are interesting but not relevant to THIS trip. So, today we drove into Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but did not go to the Cowboy Hall of Fame, etc.

We did stop to take pictures of the Owl Court Motel and the milk bottle building since they are Route 66 icons. We didn’t get a picture of the Route 66 Bowl because it was not safe to stop on that busy road.

 

We did stop at WalMart to pick up things the last one was was out of.

And we stopped for lunch at Lee’s Sandwiches at 3300 Clausen Boulevard, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  

Euro-Asian was accurate. You could buy cheese and pate’ and pastries or Spring Rolls and sushi or sandwiches made on freshly baked baguettes or croissants. You could buy a whole coconut that had it’s shell removed. You could buy a smoothie in avocado or mango or one of many other exotic flavors. Or cups of oriental vegetables. Or bags of Frito-Lay brand chips. I can’t imagine anyone going in here and not finding something they’d like to eat. No, I’m not going to tell you what we had. Go choose your own.

In Yukon, Oklahoma, we stopped to take pictures of Yukon’s Best Flour, another Route 66 icon. Here’s the best one we got.

In El Reno, Oklahoma, we went north on Highway 81 when 66 turned west so we could go to the Lucky Star Casino for a couple of nights. We are liking this free camping with water and electric hookups. We plan to stay here while Dave works on a computer project for the Escapees Class of ’08 and I do more research of what’s on down the road being careful to not keep adding things that are not Route 66 related.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 20 Route 66

We went over to the Firelake Casino this morning to have breakfast and to check out of their campground after six nights of free camping. We are finally leaving–I think.

Fist stop was at the casino’s gas station where we bought 17 gallons of diesel for $56.26. Using our casino player’s card we paid $3.299 per gallon. They had a window washing tool with a trucker length handle so Dave was able to wash our windshield without having to stretch; that was nice.

Then we went East instead of West to go to a highway rest area Steve had told us about to use the dump there. The one at the casino was up on a curb making gravity not our friend. We had used that one the day we arrived here but Dave was reluctant to try it again. He was right to be reluctant. At the rest area he confirmed that things had not completely emptied previously which now resulted in a minor mess. It’s not pleasant to have to clean up those messes.

Then we went to WalMart to restock our groceries. They didn’t have everything we wanted but at least our cupboards are less bare than they were.

Finally we headed north towards Chandler, Oklahoma, where we left route 66 nearly a week ago. The road we took went through Meeker, which is where Steve and Carol just sold their house. It already felt like home to us going by places they had pointed out only a couple of days ago.

The wind gusts today are stronger than I like so I’m glad we don’t plan to go far today. We rounded one curve just as we came to the top of a hill where there was a break in the trees and nearly got blown off the road. Dave reassured me it would be better when we turned west since then it would be a head wind. How reassuring.

The dirt around here is rust red. I’m so glad the water in the RV park didn’t taste as rusty as the ground looks. My Dad’s water tastes like that which is why we didn’t fill our tank at his house. We wouldn’t have been able to stay here so long if we couldn’t fill our fresh water tank here. We are still doing that twice a week. Dave has a plan for installing a sight level that will give us a real reading on our fresh water level but he’s not yet ready to cut into our plumbing line to try it.  In the meantime, we fill more often than we probably need to rather than take the chance of running out while taking a shower. I’ve been there; done that; Dave doesn’t want to do it.

Finally we, once again, headed west on Route 66 stopping to take pictures of the Seaba Station and Arcadia’s round barn.  This barn is not hexagonal or anything–it’s truly round.  The theory is the farmer who built it believed tornadoes would slide by while leaving it standing.  It must have worked.

 

We had a very late lunch at Pops which sells five hundred flavors of soda pop in bottles. I had strawberry which made me feel about ten years old. I also had a grilled cheese sandwich but that didn’t make me feel as young since it had three types of cheese plus tomato slices on it making it a more adult grilled cheese than we had when I was a kid.

 

Now we are camped on the shore of Lake Arcadia at Central State Park. In spite of it’s name this is not a state park; I think it must be located in the center of the state. It is a Core of Engineers park which means my Access America card got us a really good price on a site with an electrical hookup right on the shore of the lake.

We plan to have a peaceful evening.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 19 Route 66

Yesterday we traveled about 15 miles from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Today we plan to travel about 50 miles to Chandler, Oklahoma. There are so many things to see along Route 66. I try not to schedule more than one museum per day since my body generally doesn’t tolerate more than that which also slows us down. Of course, the fact that we start moving so late in the day doesn’t help.

So this morning I got up earlier than usual and was ready to hit the road by 10:30 a.m. Since the museum I had planned to tour here this morning isn’t open today, we headed out.  

We didn’t get far before our first obstacle, though. A semi with a flatbed was parked sideways across three of the four lanes of the road. They were loading a cabin to be delivered to its new home. We were in the lane that got to go by while the oncoming cars waited so it wasn’t much of a delay.  

For some reason I don’t have stops listed on my spread sheet for the next several towns. Well, I did have some camping places listed but we just got started so we don’t need them. So we drove right through Kellyville, Bristow, and Depew. Along the way we saw several things that probably would have been on my list if I had known they existed. I wonder how people decide what places to put in their guidebooks?

As we approached Stroud we drove by the shoe tree. We didn’t know we were close enough to Stroud for it to be there yet but we knew it was next on our list. When we saw it, it took a moment for us to realize that’s what it was. Something compelled us to actually back down the shoulder of the road to take a picture of it. I’m not sure why. We haven’t backed up for many things we missed on the first pass. Anyway, here’s the shoe tree for whatever it is worth.

We had planned to stop for lunch at the Rock Cafe but someone cooked it a couple of months ago.

So we went on into Chandler, Oklahoma, looking for another place to eat. Along the way we found the Phillips 66 station in Chandler. We didn’t get it’s picture on our first pass either and when we returned after lunch someone was hanging a huge political sign from the Phillips 66 sign. Don’t they know they aren’t supposed to do that to historic places? So we just took a picture of the building rather than try to get the entire scene. This building dates back to when they were actually gas stations before they became service stations before they became convenience stores.

After lunch we went to see the museum we had scheduled for this afternoon: The Museum of Pioneer History. It was supposed to include a display on the early days of Route 66. It didn’t. It had some interesting stuff but being in a downtown storefront space it only took about a half hour to see everything we were interested in. I did like several of their exhibits, especially this woman’s letter to her daughter explaining how to do laundry.

So, now it was still early afternoon and we had done everything on today’s list. Since the first museum we had planned to see today was closed and the second only took a little time, we decided to risk moving on to the next one in this same town: The Route 66 Interpretive Center.

Good decision. Most of the displays in The Route 66 Interpretive Center are short videos at locations spread around a huge space in a former Armory. Each space has some unusual “seating”.  At one you sit in seats removed from a Model A Ford, in another it was seats from a Mustang, in another it was a bed representing laying in the back of your station wagon at a drive in movie, in another it was actual theater seats, etc. Some of the videos were “On The Road” type interviews. Some were collages of old post cards. Some were clips of old photos. All were interesting. And because they provided seating for all these I was able to stay the rest of the afternoon looking and learning. Plus, they had the early days display that was missing from the Pioneer Museum.

So, now we had done all of today’s items and the first of tomorrow’s items and it was still daylight! Apparently that’s what getting up in the morning does. I may try it again sometime.

Now it didn’t seem to make sense to backtrack to the RV park we had planned to stay in tonight since we didn’t need to be here in the morning for that last museum. So, we headed on down the road for our next detour.

Internet friends, Steve and Carol, are staying at Fire Lake Grand Casino in Shawnee, Oklahoma, less than 30 miles south of Route 66. We had made plans to visit them tomorrow but why not go on down today? So, we did. We arrived about 5 p.m. just as they were expecting other Internet friends, Larry and Sharon. Once we got sorted out who was who we had a great visit. When Larry & Sharon arrived, we all parked our RVs, connected our utility lines, then headed over to the casino to eat. Where we talked for hours. We already felt we knew these people from the Escapees Discussion Forum but we know them even better now. It’s good to make new friends.

TTYL,

Linda