Day 3: Ooooooooooklahoma!

Welcome to Oklahoma: Native America. Well, at least they give all the tribes their own license plates...

Indeed.

A change of pace: Corn at night!

Day 4: July 1, 2005

We camped at a state park, despite the War of the Worlds thunderstorm brewing overhead. Of course it poured, of course it was Nops' first time camping ever, and of course I somehow left the rain fly home. Of course we got soaked.

We stop in at a Wal-Mart to try and get a replacement rain fly. No luck.

A long, lonesome, rainy road.

We hop back on 66 and make our way towards Foyil.

Four miles off 66 is Foyil's famous Totem Pole Park.

Some local statuary.

BOO!

The 90 foot totem pole.

The next stop on route 66 is Claremore, home of...

The Will Rogers Museum! Oklahoma sweats Will Rogers *real* bad, just fyi.

A dedication to the man himself on his tomb (little creepy).

A window extolling all that Rogers was. A Stage, an Indian, a Cowboy, a Movies, a Thinker, a Husband, a Father, an Aviation, and a Writer.

Route 66 runs through Tulsa, and there we stopped in at a good old fashion Indian casino.

Nops was perturbed at having lost all his money.

The longest surviving stretch of 66 today is between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Oklahoma welcome centers and Route 66 stores hand out guides to the road in OK, so this portion of the trip became essentially a giant off-the-wall scavenger hunt for retro landmarks and aging pieces of kitsch. The above sign, for example, is for the Diamond Cafe in Sapulpa.

Not really part of the 66 hunt; rather, we thought the idea of a "Safari" in the middle of Oklahoma was pretty funny.

Some vintage buildings in Kellyville.

The old, undriveble alignment of 66 near Kellyville.

Stroud: the Rock Cafe.

Also in Stroud, a recently restored Coke ghost sign (I assume recently restored, as the pic in the guide was much more worn)..

The Skyliner Motel in Stroud.

Read it and weep.

As you are no doubt aware, Route 66 was one of the first federal highways in the US. What kind of shit existed before highways, you don't ask? Why, various disconnected road systems like the Ozark Trails, I answer anyway! In order to find a century old Ozark Trail marker, we took dirt roads like this for a few miles. Just need to illustrate the effort put into finding this thing.

And here it is! For more on the Ozark Trail highways, try this: http://www.drivetheost.com/ozarktrails.html

Thanks, pioneer settlers!

An old gas station with vintage cars in Davenport.

An old-school Phillips 66 station. (check this out: http://www.oklahomaroute66.com/preserv/chandler_sta.html)

More ghost signage.

A cool mural on PJ's BBQ.

The only surviving Route 66 Meramec Caverns sign, in Warwick. You see signs for this on the interstate now, but I guess back in the day it was Route 66's version of Pedro. Going west you have to have a guy looking backward for a few miles to find this thing.

The old Pioneer BBQ (which I guess used to have tourist cabins too).


Totem pole outside the Pioneer.

Distinctive trusses of this old bridge still stand...

...and the pylons for another old bridge had ads painted on it. I guess driving this old alignment might be tough.

Remember that Tom Cruise movie "Far and Away" where he's in the Oklahoma land run in 1889? Me neither. But this says Route 66 runs past the boundary. FANTASIA HAS NO BOUNDARY!

An old-school '20s gas station near Arcadia. We pull over for a closer look.

The entrance to the ruins.

I found some cool graffiti inside.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Not only did this guy in Arcadia build his house to look like an old school gas station, he's got a frigging Volkswagon busting out of the second floor!

And check out his front yard. I grant this guy the title of Most Hardcore Route 66 Fan.

The Round Barn. It's held up pretty well since 1898. And when you buy stuff from the gift shop, free wooden nickels!

Nops poses with Buffalo Bill outside the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

The big statue inside.

What museum is complete without a Buffalo wearing a deby? This one, that's what.

Nops faces some hard time.

Filthy little hobbitsess!

BANG BANG!

Bowl 66 baby.

Ok, not really part of the Route 66 scavenger hunt, but this is still a pretty cool old-school Arby's sign.

It belongs in a museum!!
No? How can you not get that, you piece of shit.

An bridge on the old alignment next to the current road, near Bethany.

Even grain elevators have neon signs on Route 66!

A mural in Yukon. They LOVE their murals in every town along 66. They're on the sides of damn grocery stores.

They love grain in Grainville! And El Reno, too.

Another mural, in Calumet in case you're illiterate.

AND NOW, A MONTAGE OF OKLAHOMA SKIES. FUCK YEEEEAAAH!







THIS ENDS OUR BROADCAST DAY.

Day 5: July 2, 2005

Our hotel room. Our sleeping bags, still wet from the night before, dry off nicely in the AC.

Our motel was chosen to place us strategically close to more route 66 shit, like this place.

Also, the Oklahoma 66 Museum!

A very classy joint. They even gave us tape players so we could be guided by a guy with a great road voice.

You're goddamn right he is.

DID YOU KNOW THAT? Capitol is a synonym for Tip-Top and an antonym for Bollox. KNOW YOU KNOW.

Aren't we already in...? Ok I'll shut up.

Between Clinton and Canute (we somehow missed the ghost town of Foss), 66 runs right alongside I-40.

An archaic store near Canute.

A quartet of historic markers in the middle of 66 in Canute.

Statues in the old cemetery across from those markers.

Various Rt. 66 sights in Canute.

Down the road, an old alignment that's in halfway decent shape.

The National 66 Museum in Texola. CAUTION: it's a fucking rip-off compared to the museum in Clinton. We had to compensate by taking loads of crazy pictures in the fake western town out back.

"This is the extent of what I just paid $7 for! YES!"

A section of Old 66, apparently.

I called TBS to see if this was funny. They said "no" and then gave Pauly Shore a show.

Yes... yes... yes... NO!

Add your own caption, I'm out.

The little town behind ripoffville.

A Dilophosaurus chills on the Phillip's thing.

Jumping jacks.

Before you cross train tracks, it's wise to listen and make sure no trains are coming.

I take a dirt nap in the passenger car.

Real Native culture.

A bunch of windmills across the street.

The real, authentic, not fake Fauxkay Corral.

Anadarko. I think Maggie Gyllenhaal played her.

What it says.

Hehehehehe... root.

We took a detour up to the grasslands and the site of a battle between Custer and Black Kettle. If Guts had been there, the outcome may have been different.

Of course we had to return to 66 before leaving Oklahoma, and we found some extensive pieces of old alignment.

Some of it was even connected to the road and drivable for a bit.

Our friend the Roaming Philosopher must have gotten here before us.

A real Will Rogers Highway marker. They named Route 66 that after he died. Which goes to prove my theory: Germans love David Hasselhoff.

We're actually leaving it, but you get the idea.

Next: Texas