Short day to Tulsa, OK - Rt 66

We took advantage of the extra day in Miami, OK to catch up on blogs, emails and Facebook. But we also took a quick ride (16 miles) back to Baxter Springs, KS, the town where I based both my short story, Lost and Found, and my novel, Home Again. It had been raining off and on but we grabbed a ride over during a break.

Unfortunately that break didn't last long enough for many local photos but we did take one outside the Cherokee Co. News-Advocate where we missed talking to the editor and one at the Johnston Public Library where I donated a copy of Home Again. We met Andrea Bresee, Assistant Director, plus the library cat!

We also nabbed a photo of the tribal fire station....

Then we got to meet Jack, the resident Cocka-Poo at the Microtel Inn & Suites, what a charmer!

We hit the road around 10:30 this morning, halfway geared up for rain. Eventually the rain got serious and we had to put on the rest of our gear. First photos of the day were of the "nine foot road", part of the original Route 66, now dirt and gravel and only 9' wide.

We stopped in Afton at the Afton Station/Route 66 Packards and took a LOT of photos. Here are a few...oh, and we had the owner, Laurel, sign our book (the one we got from Gary Turner back in Missouri).

Then we went back into the two garage areas where we were treated to vintage Packards, Citroen and Studebakers. They even had one of the early motorhomes made by Packard. [as always, click any image to enlarge and visit our SmugMug album for more photos]

We really enjoyed talking to the owners and a local visitor who proudly shared his "Cars" tattoos!

We took a short detour to see the totems and was rewarded with finding a diner style Route 66 mug in the gift shop which held its own treasures.

The last scenic pics are of the Blue Whale...we almost missed it so I sat on the side of the road while Stu u-turned to take the photos.

Once we left the Blue Whale, the rain started up in earnest. We had already donned our gear so we soldiered on until Claremont where we pulled into a Sonic for lunch (under cover parking). Of course as soon as we pulled in, the rain stopped.

From there it was a pretty straight shot to the west side of Tulsa and our Best Western for the night. By then the sun was shining brightly and the temps had moved from mid 70's to upper 80's (almost 90). Phew! Good time to stop....