We woke up Saturday morning ready to see what the day had in
store for us. We would be going through Oklahoma and Texas with
a motel destination of Tucumcari,
New Mexico Saturday night. We had our breakfast buffet at the motel and
headed on out. There are many places to
visit in Tulsa,
but we did not take the time on this trip to stop.
So, leaving
Tulsa behind, our
first stop of the day was in
Chandler,
Oklahoma. You can see in the picture at the top of this
blog the 1937 Armory, which now houses Route 66 exhibits. We did not take the time to go in, but it was
a massive building, nicely landscaped.
There was also a cottage style Phillips 66 station in town that has been
restored. Phillips Petroleum is based
out of
Tulsa
and has as its icon a 66 shield.
We had gotten off Interstate 44 at Chandler
and took Route 66 until we got to Oklahoma
City. Our next
stop along the Mother Road
was Arcadia. The Round Barn, built in 1898, is still a
main attraction. They have a Route 66
Exhibit downstairs, but the loft upstairs is used for dances and other
events.
Another great place to stop in Arcadia, and we did (even though it’s
not historic) is POPS, which is a convenience store and diner, with more than
400 kinds of soft drinks. Out front is a
Giant Alert…a 66’ tall pop bottle, which is illuminated at night. Too bad we couldn’t see it after dark!!
We drove through Edmond and
then headed south into Oklahoma City. We had planned to go to the National Memorial
on this day, but it turned out there was a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and the
streets around the Memorial were shut down and lined with people. So we went by the State Capital, which did
not have a dome until 2002. When oil was struck in 1928, the capitol grounds
had 24 pumping oil wells. You can see in
the picture there is still a derrick on the grounds.
At this point we got onto Interstate 40 to make some
time. I wish we could have stayed with
Route 66, for there is more of the original route crossing Oklahoma than any other state. It mostly parallels the interstate. Remember...Cyrus Avery, the guy who was
commissioned to connect the highway between Chicago
and Los Angeles, was from Oklahoma, and he made sure his state was
well traveled. He wanted Oklahoma to benefit from
the tourist traffic. We could cross the
state for a third time and see many places that we did not take the time to see
on this 2012 spring break trip. We crossed over
into Texas
without stopping in the ghost town of Texola, which sits on the border of both
states.
Even though Texas
is the largest state in the 48, it is second in size to the number of miles
delegated to Route 66. Kansas
had 13, and Texas,
where things are bigger, can only boast of 178 miles from Texola to Glenrio,
east to west. Both of those border towns
are now ghost towns, having been bypassed by Interstate 40, but there are plenty
of places in between to spend some time exploring, such as Shamrock.
Shamrock had a St. Patrick’s Day festival going on down
town, but we drove through it anyway.
It’s a smaller town, however it was crowded with people…and hopping with
activity…carnival rides, concession stands, lots to see and do on
Main Street. The water tower is the tallest of this type in the state.
One of the most interesting buildings on our trip is the U-Drop In/Tower Conoco, dating from 1936. One of the restaurants in the “Cars” movie by
Disney is shaped after this building, the one named “Flo’s”. We stopped in to see the café and make use of
their restroom, though we did not eat there (shame on us!!)
We left Shamrock on Route 66 and traveled to McLean, a
little town that was left behind by the Interstate, the last town in Texas to be bypassed. There are still a few fixtures in town, but
the town just had a “dead” feeling. There’s a Phillips 66 Station
here that has been restored to its classic tiny cottage-style.
Perhaps it was that Rattlesnakes sign that got to me. Even having the Ten Commandments on tablets
of stone in front of the church didn’t compel me to want to spend much time in McLean. I was
ready to move on down the road!
In
Conway
we stopped to take pictures of the five VW Beetles (the “Bug Ranch”) buried
nose first in the dirt. This was a spoof
on the famous Cadillac Ranch in
Amarillo…another
stop, which we made on the way back.
People are encouraged to take spray cans of paint and
decorate the vehicles as they wish. This
is just another way to make traveling the road a fun thing to do. This really had little to do with Route
66. All I can say is some people have
way too much money!!
As far as meals, we snacked in the van along the way, and stopped
in Weatherfield for ice cream some time in the afternoon. In Amarillo
we stopped for supper at Chick Fil-A.
The sun was going down and we needed to get to Tucumcari, New Mexico
for the night. We had a reservation at
an actual Route 66 icon…The Blue Swallow Motel.
The motel court has 13 units, each with their own
garage. They only had one family unit,
and that is the one we had reserved. It
had two bedrooms, one bath, and a tiny kitchen.
This motel was made from surplus WWII cabins in the 1940s. The owners have taken care to keep the original motel furniture, fixtures, and colors in use, although up to date. The rooms were very clean, and very
unique. We had a great night’s
sleep. I was probably more impressed
with this motel than anything else on the route. I am so delighted that we chose to stay
there. Let me post some pictures to
better tell the story.
I took some pictures on Saturday night when we arrived because the place was just too cute. Then I got up early the next morning to walk around the motel courtyard and snap more pictures.
We had a family unit, with doors entering into bedrooms from the outside, and a hallway between the rooms inside. A bathroom with a shower was located between the two bedrooms.
The pink stove, the lamps, the chenille bedspreads, the door
knobs, the magazines on the lamp stands…everything right out of the 40’s. Actually the bedspreads were brand
new…special ordered with blue swallows on them.
The girls had never seen nor used a rotary phone before, but they did
that night…still working! The
televisions were installed in the cut out arches in the walls. I wonder what originally went there?
As I mentioned earlier, each unit had a garage. Of course our van wouldn't fit, but I found some
other open garages with murals on the walls…look familiar? (“Cars” movie)
Kevin and Nancy are new owners of this
historic place, and they are doing a wonderful job of restoration. They also had a very nice gift shop. Had to get a few Route 66 hats and t-shirts
here.
After walking around and snapping oodles of pictures on
Sunday morning, we took time to drive around Tucumcari. This is one neat town!! I definitely want to return here some day and
spend more time. We drove by a Mexican restaurant, La Cita, noted for its sombrero
on the roof. There were several murals
in the town, and a Route 66 Sculpture near the Convention Center. The picture below with the red sports car....just a private residence. We were taken with the architecture and art deco work.
Notice in the picture above the wind turbine behind the route 66 sculpture. We saw hundreds of these on our road trip. Seems like they are popping up all across our nation. Also, see the mountain in the background? We are now in New Mexico, and it’s Sunday morning…our fourth day. Check back in a few days for another blog on our Route 66 Road Trip.
By the way, I have to insert a couple of pictures from a
Rest Area stop we made in 
We were meeting our NM son and daughter-in-law at Tijeras to
take a detour up the Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway, through the foothills of the
