Did you ever get your "Kicks on Route 66" ?

[K2C Sooner]

I ran across the photo below and it immediately reminded of several signs, restaurants, abandoned gas stations and side attractions along Route 66 from OKC to Joplin.

I used to drive 66 instead of the Turner Turnpike just to save a few bucks. I remember Stroud seemed deep rich in history of the mother road and I still think they have a historical restaurant.

Catoosa has two landmark destinations. One is the Blue Whale and across the street is the Arrowhead gift shop (closed). I know the family that owns the Blue Whale and was told many celebrities have visited it over the years. The most famous was Paul McCartney in disguise, but admitted who he was.

Bucket list.....Drive the whole route...........

BTW, this picture is in Nevada, not on 66.

 

[Sooners83]

if you can define what the actual route is versus I-40 at least through OK....TX and NM I would be curious to see what it was...and what it is now. I know there there are several areas/towns that have the old route..especially through OK, TX and NM. I would love to see a map of the divergence of the two...I have looked before with no success.

 

[K2C Sooner]

if you can define what the actual route is versus I-40 at least through OK....TX and NM I would be curious to see what it was...and what it is now. I know there there are several areas/towns that have the old route..especially through OK, TX and NM. I would love to see a map of the divergence of the two...I have looked before with no success.

83, to much of the original road has disappeared. I don't think you can ever drive all the miles driven by Bonnie and Clyde here in Oklahoma. Days gone with the wind...........

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Yeah, that would've been a pretty good trip.

Start in Chicago, take your time and drive all the way to the Santa Monica pier in LA.
Ideally right after it was totally paved from start to finish with a hyper fast 50 MPH speed limit.
I do remember Tucumcari, New Mexico on a family vacation in '56 or '57.
Painted desert...
Trying to steal petrified tree chunk from a National park, got busted by the old man...
Don't get me started...

Too late.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

We did the trip from Chicago to New Mexico. Didn't make it to the Pacific. We ran out of time as we stopped alot. Spent 9 days from Chicago to Albuqureque. It's a pretty good trip. Paul McCartney was a few days ahead of us as we stopped a few places that told us he was spotted etc. But we never saw him. I'll have to see if we still have the book we used. It was a great book that listed some great things to see and great things to avoid... like the money trap museums that are in every town and pretty much are the same thing. Favorite stops were the Cadillac Ranch & Tucumcari. We stayed in some great old motels along the way. BTW, the town of Tucumcari was the town that the producers of Disney's movie Cars was copied for likeness etc.

 

[Oklabama]

There is a $19.5 million Route 66 museum planned for Tulsa. 42,000 square feet structure resembling a bridge that will stretch across Riverside Dr. with views of the river and downtown.

 

[sybarite]

My father moved to Elk City after I want to college. It was a major stop halfway between OKC and Amarillo, the Flamingo Inn also having a pretty good restaurant. I drove with my roommate up from Will Rogers to 66 through St. Louis and Chicago on the way to his home in Boston three times or four times. He knew every restaurant and gas stop from Tulsa to Chicago.

 

[K2C Sooner]

There is a $19.5 million Route 66 museum planned for Tulsa. 42,000 square feet structure resembling a bridge that will stretch across Riverside Dr. with views of the river and downtown.

No need for a museum. Just go to Beryl Ford Collections and you can see many photos from the mother road. I attached just one batch of photos. Not all of them are from 66, but close. I heard he took over 200,000 photos that now belong to the Tulsa County Library. If you ever get bored, google him..............

Be sure to check out the 54 Corvette in the picture of the original Quik Trip picture. You have to scroll. First QT was approximately at 55th and Harvard......


https://www.flickr.com/photos/losttulsa/sets/72157611454881274/?ytcheck=1

 

[Sunburnt Indian]

I drove into Billy Cook Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge in Elk City. I asked a salesperson if I could drive a 1967 Dodge Coronet. He told me they didn't like putting miles on the new cars.

I visited Milo Gordon Chrysler-Plymouth in Lawton, test drove, and bought a 1967 Plymouth Belvidere. When I test drove the Plymouth, the speedo did not function.

I stayed behind the Onyx beer joint in Elk City, 1 block off world famous route 66.

Elk City lay in the Comancheria.

Geronimo was sometimes seen grubbing in trash cans around Canute. Geronimo remained a prisoner of war until his death in 1909, but pretty much came and went as he pleased from his cell at Fort Sill.

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Good damn stuff 'Burnt.
Please, feel free to regale us all you'd like about your adventures...gosh my friend, can't get enough.

BTW, I'd heard that about Geronimo. (in my youthful hubris I thought it was urban legend)
That the Army even held him in such high esteem that he did come and go as he pleased.
Almost as if they were conflicted about holding him as a 'prisoner'.

History... as enriching as it is a freakin' bummer.

 

[iasooner1]

I think I tried somewhere between Miami and Tulsa but if memory serves, she wasn't having any of it at the time...

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Well, wood, you should have given her a 'lude'.
I didn't invent date rape, but some would maintain that I pioneered the concept...

I'm not proud by any means...

 

[iasooner1]

Dang this new format lacks the rofl emoticon!

Mods that sucks!!

 

[Gramps]

They still have the old 66 in Amarillo, if you don't want to drive I-40.

 

[Section22Sooner]

There are still hundreds of miles of old US66 in Oklahoma. It was decommisioned as a US highway years ago, but it's there.

 

[Sooners83]

They still have the old 66 in Amarillo, if you don't want to drive I-40.

yeah well I live in Amarillo so I know this area very well..same with Elk City, Clinton and Weatherford...point being I would love to see a map of the deviation between what is now I-40 versus route 66. If you drive to Albuquerque you can kind of see a road the traces by the interstate here and there...but really am not sure what road is what (if that makes sense)

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

yeah well I live in Amarillo so I know this area very well..same with Elk City, Clinton and Weatherford...point being I would love to see a map of the deviation between what is now I-40 versus route 66. If you drive to Albuquerque you can kind of see a road the traces by the interstate here and there...but really am not sure what road is what (if that makes sense)

Just east of the Tx/Okla border is a pretty good stretch of Rt66. West of Amarillo through New Mexico has another pretty good stretch. Most of the stretch's we drove on was parallel to I-40. There are some nice stops that we took in. What amazed us was the number of empty, vacant old gas stations and motels. Most were converted to a form of a business of some sorts. The old Mother Road is traveled quite frequently and it includes many from Europe. I hope to finish our trip from Albuequre (sp) to the Cali coast one day. I hear it is even better once you hit AZ.

 

[Soonersincefitty]

What's really the pisser is, some enterprising fellow, a long time ago had the foresight and wherewithal to buy as many of those cool old steel/enamel signs that were popular back then.

He sat on them for a few decades, and they now decorate a million theme bars and restaurants across the land.
Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[K2C Sooner]

What's really the pisser is, some enterprising fellow, a long time ago had the foresight and wherewithal to buy as many of those cool old steel/enamel signs that were popular back then.

He sat on them for a few decades, and they now decorate a million theme bars and restaurants across the land.
Hindsight is 20/20.

Photo of Highway 66 and 33 junction in Catoosa, approx. 1952.

A short 6 years later I moved to the area and rode my bike through this junction often. My best friend in grade school was killed near this junction (you can see the area at the top of the picture).

Three blocks behind this photo (not pictured} now stands the Hard Rock Casino and a new Wal Mart Supercenter, both on the original 66 highway...

 

[K2C Sooner]

Okay, I've tried to post this picture three times. Test...................

An air view of the same 33\66 junction. Approx 1960. I lived in the furthest house at the top right. You can barely see the backstop my Dad built for our sandlot baseball field next to it. It's a blur, but it's there.

We built a pretty good little league baseball team from the addition pictured. I was the pitcher and lost my first game 32-0. I was robbed..........LOL

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Well dude, we have no idea what it is but, it's there in techni-black and white.

Would that be uh...Catoosa?

 

[K2C Sooner]

Well dude, we have no idea what it is but, it's there in techni-black and white.

Would that be uh...Catoosa?

I'm working on it............... yes the Catoosa 66 junction with 33........

 

[K2C Sooner]

I'm working on it............... yes the Catoosa 66 junction with 33........

BTW, For you Tulsa area posters, give me some locations from your childhood or at least from the old days. I will try to find some photos on the Beryl Ford collections series. You can PM me for requests...

 

[K2C Sooner]

More OK history...............


LAWTON, Okla. (AP) _ Heavy rains and flooding in southwestern Oklahoma led to the discovery of human remains in Comanche County that are believed to be about 1,000 years old.

http://bit.ly/1Jhc1rC ) that the remains were found Wednesday in eastern Comanche County near the Grady County line. Deputies contacted archeologists at the University of Oklahoma who determined the remains are that of an approximately 40-year-old man who was probably an American Indian and died about 1,000 years ago.

Sheriff's department administrative assistant Beverley Crosby said an American Indian tribe with ties to the location was contacted and took the remains to an undisclosed location for burial.

Crosby said the tribe does not want to be identified.

 

[PryorFan]

I ran across the photo below and it immediately reminded of several signs, restaurants, abandoned gas stations and side attractions along Route 66 from OKC to Joplin.

I used to drive 66 instead of the Turner Turnpike just to save a few bucks. I remember Stroud seemed deep rich in history of the mother road and I still think they have a historical restaurant.

Catoosa has two landmark destinations. One is the Blue Whale and across the street is the Arrowhead gift shop (closed). I know the family that owns the Blue Whale and was told many celebrities have visited it over the years. The most famous was Paul McCartney in disguise, but admitted who he was.

Bucket list.....Drive the whole route...........

BTW, this picture is in Nevada, not on 66.

Photo of Highway 66 and 33 junction in Catoosa, approx. 1952.

A short 6 years later I moved to the area and rode my bike through this junction often. My best friend in grade school was killed near this junction (you can see the area at the top of the picture).

Three blocks behind this photo (not pictured} now stands the Hard Rock Casino and a new Wal Mart Supercenter, both on the original 66 highway...

I ran across the photo below and it immediately reminded of several signs, restaurants, abandoned gas stations and side attractions along Route 66 from OKC to Joplin.

I used to drive 66 instead of the Turner Turnpike just to save a few bucks. I remember Stroud seemed deep rich in history of the mother road and I still think they have a historical restaurant.

Catoosa has two landmark destinations. One is the Blue Whale and across the street is the Arrowhead gift shop (closed). I know the family that owns the Blue Whale and was told many celebrities have visited it over the years. The most famous was Paul McCartney in disguise, but admitted who he was.

Bucket list.....Drive the whole route...........

BTW, this picture is in Nevada, not on 66.

"Well, I'm a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see"

I've actually stood on the main route 66 intersection in Winslow, Az.