Day 11, Friday, May 9, 2008 New Mexico

Last Post, Wildflowers

This is my last post from this trip. This will just be a series of some of the wildflowers we saw along the way, with a bit of other flora thrown in for a little spice. Enjoy....

Day 12, Saturday, May 10, 2008 Oklahoma

We entered Oklahoma on more of the original Route 66 concrete.


We had to slow at a creek bottom for this guy to get across the road. He just strutted around in the field for awhile, so we were able to get a couple of pictures.


Our next town was Texola, OK. This is one of those old signs that probably won't be around for much longer.


This is an old service station on Route 66. Texola must have once been fairly large, but now it looks like the country has taken over. You almost can't tell you're in a town some of the time. It's very much like a ghost town. I had to wonder how many vintage buildings have been lost here.


There are still a few residents of Texola (blessedly--more on that in a minute). This is the Water Hole #2, one of the two hangouts for the locals.


This is the building we really came to see in Texola. This is the Texola Territorial Jail.


It was built around 1810.


It's actually located a block north of Route 66.


The roof is made from concrete, to discourage escape attempts, I'm sure.


This sign said it was very COLD here in the winter. I guess so, since this was the only heat.


Somehow, I missed getting a straight shot of the interior of the little jail. This is the ceiling, which is also concrete. It'll at least give you an idea of the size. It' was close quarters, to say the least. The locals are trying to turn this place into a museum, of sorts. Stop by if you're in the area, and consider donating.

We stayed at the Texola Jail a good bit longer than we intended. That's because the car wouldn't start when we went back out. It took some doing in this little town to find someone at home to ask for help. When Dean finally found somebody, she didn't have jumper cables. But by the time he got back to the car, there was a pick-up truck pulling up to give us a jump start. The lady Dean had found had called a gentleman she knew was home that had what we needed. I love small towns in this country. Many thanks to the generous and kind folks in Texola, OK.


Route 66 east from Texola is a four lane road. It's still pretty well traveled, too. At one point, there was another paved segment of road to the south of us. We're pretty sure that it was the original route 66. It looked like it was concrete.


You can see it here, with the cows walking on it.


Not what it was designed for, but at least it's still getting some traffic. We didn't see any fences, so I'm not sure what was keeping the cattle off the new road. There must have been an electric fence in the grass somewhere.


The next town on 66 is Erick, OK. This is the West Winds Motel. It once had a neon sign on a pole that could be seen from down the road, but we didn't see any evidence of it while we were there.


This 1946 Ford Panel Van out front helps draw attention to the place, though.


The West Winds has lovely brick and stucco work. They still have their garages intact. It was great.


We didn't stop to explore Erick, but we did get a shot of this old station on the way through. If you go through here, be sure to look for Sandhill's Curiosity Shop. It's a huge collection of Route 66 memorabilia owned by a couple who call themselves The Mediocre Music Makers. We saw it from a distance, but didn't have time to stop. Next time.....


We left Erick on the same four lane Route 66. We crossed under I-40. The tractor-trailer is on the interstate.


A little further east we found what we were looking for--this old section of the original Route 66. It isn't used for traffic any longer, as you can tell from the grass growing down the center. It's not blocked off, though, so you can still drive on it. Which we did.


The trees are closing in on the sides of the road in some places, but that just makes it a cool, shady drive.


We didn't measure it, but we were on this stretch of the old road for quite a few miles.


You could still see the posts that were used to hold the guardrail cable in a some places.


We aren't sure if this is a piece of sidewalk, or a part of the median. Another mystery to be solved when we have more time, I guess...


This concrete strip to the right of the picture definitely looks like median. And at the far right, just beneath the tree branch, that's more pavement. We don't know if it was part of a second lane through here, or if it was part of a parking lot, or what. This piece of the Mother Road is well worth exploring. (Just don't take a tall vehicle--some of those trees get pretty low.) This segment ends at Hext, OK.


The next place we took pictures was Sayre, OK. This is the lovely bridge entering town.


It has a nice decorative guardrail.


This is the place we really wanted to see in Sayre. It's a pedestrian tunnel under Route 66. Apparently, traffic on Route 66 was heavy enough that people were having a hard time crossing the road. It's interesting that this tunnel is placed at the corner where the First Baptist Church is located. There's nothing else around now except houses. Was there really that much pedestrian traffic on this corner?


The tunnel was build in 1939 by the WPA.

Here is the series of shots from the church side:






This is looking back up the steps on the church side.


The tunnel itself--it looks it gets spot-painted frequently, probably to cover graffiti.


Rounding the corner on the far end.


And the exit.


Lots of visitors mistake the entrances for storm shelters. I imagine the tunnel would serve that purpose very well, but that wasn't the original intent.

A couple of shots of Dean coming back out of the tunnel:


We left Sayre headed for Elk City on I-40, but we got off to find yet another bridge.


This is a classic through truss bridge on the way to Elk City, OK.


It crosses Timber Creek.


The bridge was built in 1928. It still looks great.


This is the National Route 66 Museum.


It's combined with the Old Town Complex in Elk City, OK.


This is Myrtle, a giant Kachina Doll built in 1962. The 15' tall doll was originally at the Queenan's Indian Trading Post.


This is the 179' high Parker Drilling Rig #114. It's the world's tallest non-working rig. Are you impressed?

It seems that every evening we were in a race against sunset to get to a particular spot. This day wasn't any different. We were headed for Clinton.


We wanted to get pictures of this restored Valentine Diner. Isn't it beautiful? It was manufactured in Witchita, KS, by the Valentine Manufacturing Company in 1956.


This little lovely was originally in place in Shamrock, TX, and was named the Porter House Cafe.


This was a bad time of day to be trying to shoot pictures through glass, but I had to try to get a few shots of the inside. It's perfectly restored. You can see the vintage counters, machines, and china.

The restored diner is part of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, which was the first of the state sponsored Route 66 Museums. Inside the main building was an old panel wagon.


The reflections are still bad, but I couldn't pass up the shot.


This is a fully restored 1954 Chevrolet Professional Wagon. Lovely.

We were also trying to make it to Weatherford in time to get pictures of the Windmill Farm.


We made it. There was no way to get a picture of all the wind turbines at the same time. All I could do was shoot pictures of groups.


There's nothing in the picture to give you perspective. Each of these turbines is 262' tall at the center of the hub. Each turbine has three blades, each 126' long. Each turbine requires a foundation of concrete 35' deep and 14' in diameter. You can see the red light on the back of the hub on the left. The lights are necessary to warn airplanes that there's an obstruction.


There are 71 turbines on this wind farm. They cost about $1 million apiece to install. That sounds like a lot, but not when you compare it to the cost of building a dam. These turbines are owned by Florida Power and Light, which owns 6,500 mills nationwide. (Good for them.)


The minimum wind speed required to produce electricity is 8 mph. (That's generally NO problem out here.) Optimum speed is 25 to 35 mph. That's about what it was blowing this day. Automatic shut-down occurs at 56 mph, although the turbines are designed to withstand 300 mph winds.

I think these things are great. As much as the wind blows out west, we should be able to produce enough electricity to power the country with no trouble.

It was getting dark, but there was one more place we wanted to get to before pictures were impossible, so we got back on the 66 through Weatherford.


This is the new Lucille's Roadhouse and Diner at the east end of town, owned by Rick Koch. It's designed as a larger version of the now-famous original Lucille's Provine Station between Weatherford and Hydro.


This is the original Lucille's. It's a classic porch-style (or over-under style) gas station. It was listed on the National Historic Register in 1999.


In this type building, the family lived in rooms above and behind the business area. This is a diagram of Lucille's drawn by Cheryl Hamons Nowka, the daughter of the owners.


It was originally built in 1927 and was called the Provine Station. Lucille Hamons and her husband, Carl, bought the property in 1941 and renamed it Hamons Court, because it includes a building with 5 'cabins' in it.


In 1966 the Hamons Court sign blew down, and the property was appropriately renamed Lucille's. Lucille operated the property until she passed in August of 2000. She was know as the 'Mother of the Mother Road' because of the wonderful stories she told of the people who had stopped at her station. Here's a trivia tidbit--the Hamons Court sign now resides in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.


The property was purchased in 2004 by Rick Koch, and he has been working on restoration since then. The station looks pretty good, but the cabins are in sad shape. It will be interesting to see whether or not they are restored.


We got to Oklahoma City to spend the night, and we took just a few night shots. This is Ann's Chicken Fry House. It's housed in a 1948 Cities Services Station.


There are all kinds of vintage goodies at Ann's.


I like the pink Caddy, personally. But, then, I'm from Memphis (more or less).


I'm sure this neon sign was spectacular at one point. I think it's supposed to be in motion, with the blue circles traveling around so it looks like the ball is hitting the pins. You can see them, unlit, just to the upper left of the ball. The pins, I think, should be lighted in a circular pattern, as if they're flying. This really needs to be restored.


The sign on the building looks much newer, but it, at least, is in good shape.


I don't know whether this is the original sign, but it sure looks good.


And, last but not least, this is the Carlyle Motel sign. It was built in 1944, and was originally called the Carlyle Courts.

Well, that's about it. We spent the night in OKC, and the next day was a major push to get home. I'll have one more post with the wild flowers that we shot across the country. They're lovely, so come back for one more visit, won't you? See you there.