Outa Dodge

On Tuesday the 5th, we reluctantly left the Foss reservoir to try to make some progress out of Oklahoma! Our only stop of the day was at the Rte.66 museum in Clinton. It really was a nice museum compared to some of the roadside souvenir stands to which we had subjected ourselves. There were nice displays and lots of information on the construction of the highway itself. This was a nice 55 Ford Thunderbird (for my friend Dan).

55 T-bird, built during the heyday of the highway.

Route 66 was conceived as a way to unify transportation routes across the country that were primarily based on cattle drive trails. The road was dedicated, I think, in 1926 or so. It was the route used for most of the migrants from the dust bowl states to the West coast during the 30s and is mentioned in many works of literature including Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. During the Eisenhower administration, the interstate highway system was developed and many of the towns situated along Rte. 66 were bypassed. Some survived, many did not. The last town to be bypassed was Kingman, AZ in 1978.

Kathy gets to see her armadillo. She was happy even though he was stuffed.

An old, "Splittie" was used to illustrate the type of transportation used by the counterculture (damned hippies).

Lunch time (simulated).

After leaving the museum, we set a goal of getting out of Oklahoma. There really was not much to see, although the Murrah Building Memorial in Oklahoma City was tempting, we were tired of the wind and the boring scenery. Rose did over 300 miles this day which does not seem like much but it represents over 6 hours of driving with the howling wind and no entertainment except Kathy reading to me from the AAA tour books and our feeble attempts to solve crossword puzzles. She'd read me clues such as Canadian Prime Minister Pierre___ and over the wind I would hear comedian, Mr. Pierre ___. No wonder we don't solve the puzzles but, bless her heart, she keeps trying.

We finally cleared OK, pulling in to the Overland RV park in Van Buren, AK in time to set up and do laundry. It was nice since we were able to walk to a local restaurant, Big Jakes, where they showed cowboy movies while the patrons dined. We also filled our pockets with peanuts in the shell from the buckets on the tables. Waste not want not. Later.