Oklahoma, Texas and into New Mexico - Rt 66

The days seem to go by in a blur...not sure if it's fatigue or old age. LOL! I'm going to do a quick recap as best as I can recall from photos. We left Tulsa on Tuesday morning, bound for Oklahoma City for the night. We didn't find much to see between the two cities but we were also having some issues with our GPS mapping software and did some additional flip-flopping around.

We finally arrived in Oklahoma City and passed the Memorial site, looking for a parking spot.



We spotted the local Firefighter Union building and pulled into their parking lot. We stopped inside and let them know we were parked there and as expected, they were fine with that.





The memorial outside is beautiful, a quiet setting to reflect on the terror of that day. We went into the museum ($10 admission each) and spent quite some time, visiting, reflecting and shedding a few tears. It's a tremendously emotional experience but we highly recommend it to anyone in the area.







Heading out Thursday morning, we once again fought with the mapping software, trying to stay on track as we left Oklahoma City for parts westerly. Eventually we found our way and headed to Shamrock TX for the night. What a day that was!

The road, once we found it, ended up so incredibly bumpy - concrete with asphalt dumped in patches. We couldn't go the speed limit, it was so rough. Of course the 30+ mph sustained winds didn't help.



We did get a few scenic shots including some fun metal cactus and an "almost" muffler man.







Around Clinton, I think, we went over the Pony Bridge and I managed to snap a decent pic.



Although the weather looking threatening, we stopped for a nice visit at the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, OK. The Route 66 part was small but the village recreations were great...but again, the weather forced us to get back on the bikes and hopefully beat the upcoming storms.









We finally pulled into the Western Motel in Shamrock, still dry!







We were across the street from U Drop Inn, inspiration for one of the buildings in the movie Cars.



It did rain overnight but was just cloudy when we got up. No breakfast so we stopped at McDonalds's just up the road. Most of the day stayed cloudy as we moved towards Amarillo. We stopped for lunch at the Big Texan, home of the 72 oz steak. We had a nice meal and watched a young couple try to beat the clock on the meal. No go but a good attempt!



The afternoon was good, nice roads and little interstate. We grabbed photos as we could and soldiered on to Adrian TX, home of the Mid-Point of Route 66. We had hoped to stop in the cafe for pie and coffee but it was 4:30 and they had just closed.

That worked out okay, we ended up stopping at Russell's Truck & Travel Center in Glenreo, NM. What a find! Don't pass it up...best FREE car museum we've been in, in fact it was better than many we've paid for! Good gift shop, great peach & cherry cobbler in the Route 66 diner, too.







Then it was on to our final destination for the night, the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM. Terrific owners (and also riders), comfy bed, great atmosphere in a fun little town.







Tomorrow we head to Albuquerque where we will spend two nights in a Best Western. I'm ready for a day off the bikes, maybe even do a little reading or write my next children's short story.

[Please visit all the state albums in SmugMug for a LOT more photos!]

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....