From - Route 66 Motel Afton
Oklahoma
To Foss State Park near Foss Oklahoma
Distance traveled:
284 Interstate miles
+
unknown miles for route 66 byways
A
quick shower and pack the car and I was on the road by 8:30. I knew that I wanted to be Foss State Park for
4pm to meet another Facebook friend.
Calculations said a direct route there is 5 hours but since I am taking
byways for route 66 I was hopeful that 8 hours would be enough time. Alas it never really is enough time.
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| vintage Tractor in McDonal's parking lot |
I enjoyed the morning following route 66. A stop a McD’s in the town of Vinita was interesting! An old tractor was set up in the parking lot as a nostalgic attraction. I got my coffee and started chatting with this older “farmer”. I so wish I could have taken a picture
without appearing rude! In his overall
jeans and straw hat he was a real characterture of the old time western
farmer.
Anyways, he sees me enjoying
the tractor and taking pictures and we strike up a conversation. I guessed that the tractor was from the
1950’s and he said “let’s go take a look”.
We went up and investigated. He looked at the positioning of the carburetor and
deduced just from that, that it was a 1949 model! Amazing!
The man knows his tractors!
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| How often do you see a restroom accessorized like this? |
In
Chelsea, I saw this quaint diner that is still in its historic splendor, it
beckoned me to have to stop for toast and coffee and just experience the
feeling of sitting in an old style diner. Even the rest room was quaint!
Following
route 66 was easy along the next stretch.
It is a well maintained modern byway with speed limit at 65 and so I was
making good time…but the greater speeds also means that everything goes by so
much faster. For example I only got a
glimpse of the Blue Whale and the mismatched twin bridges that looked like one had been moved. I later looked this up and found the following:
Two huge steel truss bridges that cross the Verdigris River. Both
bridges, once dubbed "Felix" and "Oscar" by locals,
served original Route 66 travelers but were built more than 20
years apart. The first bridge, which later became the westbound bridge, was
built in 1936, but as travel increased, an additional overpass was
constructed in 1957, which now serves eastbound traffic.
This pair of mismatched bridges became a photo op for travelers
for many years. But, in August, 2011 the State of Oklahoma was forced to
remove and replace the 1936 bridge due to its state of disrepair. This
controversial move resulted in the Oklahoma Department of Transportation
entering into an agreement with the state's Historical Society to produce a
documentary about the 1936 "Bird Creek Bridge," repaint the 1957
bridge by 2015…
Large pieces of the 1936 bridge now can be found
guiding the entrance to the nearby Molly's Landing restaurant, just west of
the old bridge site. Other large pieces of the bridge also can be found at
Rogers Point Park, on the east side of the river near the bridge site.
|
I
made my way into Tulsa and followed a fair stretch of route 66 through town
but then, realizing that time was being eaten up at city traffic speeds I put on
the GPS to get to Sapula. Here is where
it got tricky…the main highway was under construction and the GPS took me to an
entrance that was closed. I ended up
circling around and around for about ½ an hour before I finally found a route
to get to the next town.
Once in Sapula
I found the old route 66 once again and continued again on a fine highway all
the way to Edmond.
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| Nostalgia in Chandler |
To make my way faster along this stretch of the road I took more pictures from the car window and fewer by getting out and walking around. Stroud, Chandler, Warwick and Arcadia all have interesting bits of nostalgia.
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| Nostalgia in Warwick |
Add to that all the interesting
road views and soon the afternoon is getting on and it is time for fuel. So I head to Oklahoma City and the
Sam’s club there. Fuel and groceries
done, I set the GPS for Foss State Park.
It is still 1.5 hours away via I44.
So I forgo seeing the next stretch of the old route in favour of making time on the interstate to meet my friend Christie on time.
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| View of Foss Lake from my camp site |
Foss State Park is on a man made lake and I learnt that most lakes in Oklahoma are man made. The view to the dam on the other side is very pretty and they actually built the road across the dam…so in the distance you can see tiny little cars passing by.
My camp site was shaded by a few trees and there was a pleasant breeze, so Christie and I enjoyed a lovely evening just relaxing and enjoying the scenery. Christie had plans for a big dinner she was cooking for us, (pork and fried potatoes and creamed corn) so we had this grand feast as well.
The moon, now at 1st
quarter, was shining in the eastern sky and the sun was setting in the west,
the cicadas were serenading and the birds were chirping, just an all-round
feast for the senses.
With
the setting sun my body clock started to tell me it was time for sleep so I
crawled into my sleeping pad and for the first time I had to get out my
electric fan to stir the breeze and keep me cool. I managed to read a chapter of my new book
before my eyes felt heavy and called to me for some shut eye time.
Renate Dundys Marrello
2014 – 08 – 04
Photo link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154529886730341.1073741912.709160340&type=1&l=81d7ec1a3c
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