May 11 - a bit over 100 miles today. Tulsa Club Hotel - downtown Tulsa
At our stop at the Blue Whale (more on that later) we saw this sign post - 711 miles under our belt and 1505 still to go before reaching Santa Monica! We've technically moved out of the Ozarks and off the Springfield Plateau which geologically included the Tri-State mining area. Land there was rolling hills with occasional pastures. Now we're again on flatter soil with large cattle grazing fields and an occasional planted field.
Got to sleep in just a bit this morning as our first activity of the day was trying to get a tour of the Coleman Theatre in Miami (Me-a-Me) which wouldn't open until 10AM. We knew it would be a crap shoot but luckily several volunteers were on site and let us in. As a refresher from yesterday's blog, the theatre was built in 1929 by George L. Coleman, Sr. at a cost of $600,000 and seated 1600 people. He had the exterior done in a Spanish Colonial Revival style which he liked from his travels in the southeast. The interior is an elaborate Louis XV style much like he and his wife appreciated from their trips to the larger theatres in Chicago and NY. At the time it was said to be the most elaborate theatre between Dallas and Kansas City. The theatre still houses it's original "Mighty Werlitzer" organ. Our tour guide Kathy even played a quick number on it for our enjoyment. The sound was amazing. Also rather amazingly, the theatre was completed in a years time!! George was a water well driller who made his fortune as the original discoverer of the zinc and lead deposits in the area. He then bought up the mineral rights for the surrounding areas and became a philanthropic multi-millionaire.
Exterior in Spanish Colonial Revivalist style
Stage area from balcony
From a distance
Getting closer
View from stage to seating and balcony. The balcony is full width free floating
Hallway behind the balcony seating
More unbelievable details. Wood was all solid milled mahogany.
With that tour behind us we were back on the road. First stop - photo op as Route 66 crosses over I-44 in Vinita, OK where you can see the self billed "Worlds Largest McDonalds". A 30,000 sq ft roadside service plaza which spans both sides of the road.
At one time the arch was painted McDonalds yellow!
Then just more sights along the way. Buildings, bridges, murals. The usual sights the tour book mentions.
Getting out of the mining region and into the oil region
Next up was Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park. After he retired in 1937 Ed spent the next 11 years fabricating this 90' tall totem pole out of steel, concrete and rock. It is the oldest and largest example of a folk art environment in Oklahoma. It includes figures of birds, animals and Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest and Plains areas facing the four cardinal directions. Other totems Ed created during the 50's such as the Arrowhead Totem, the Birdbath Totem and the Tree Totem are also on site along with other items of his creation like an eleven sided building and several picnic tables. Ed passed away in 1961 and the park fell into disrepair until being bought in 1989 by the Rogers County Historical Society who continue working to restore and preserve the park.
Next up was a visit to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, OK. his hometown. In 1938, just a few years after his untimely death in 1935 at age 55 in an airplane accident while visiting Alaska, this Memorial Museum was erected as his final resting place on the very property he bought years previously for his retirement home. Quite honestly, neither Martha nor I knew much about him. In his time he was amazingly popular. In his death he became Oklahoma's favorite native son and the memorial museum does a good job outlining his family history and his varied entertainment venues - from cowboy shows as a young man, to silent and "talking" movies, to his newspaper stories read throughout the country. They said the size of crowds for his funeral rivaled that of Lincoln's. Such was his influence and impact on people. It's just hard to grasp the popularity he had in his day given how little he's remembered in our time - other than sort of knowing his name and possibly a few of his more entertaining quotes.
The Memorial Museum made from native Oklahoma Limestone
Stained glass window showing his varied careers and interests
Famous sculpture of Will Rogers by Jo Davidson. Rub his shoe for good luck.
Inscription reads his famous quote "I never met a man I didn't like".
Next up was a trip to see the Blue Whale in Catoosa. Anther Route 66 iconic landmark. It was built by Hugh Davis in the early 70's as an anniversary gift for his wife who collected whale figurines. Although it was also built for the enjoyment of his grandchildren who could jump off it's tail or slide out of it's gills into the spring fed pond. It became a local attraction along with a small reptile park he had. The 80' long by 20' high whale was constructed of steel mesh wiring and hand mixed concrete. The landmark fell into disrepair after the death of Mr. Davis in 1990 but is now maintained by his family and local citizens. Oddly, it is on private property but open to the public.
What was that story?? Jonah and the whale??
Inspecting the construction methods.
Even explored the second story and looked out the portholes.
Final stop for the day before we head into downtown Tulsa and our home for 2 nights at the Tulsa Club Hotel was the Golden Driller giant. He stands outside the Tulsa Expo Center. Originally constructed in 1959 by the Mid-continent Supply Company for the International Petroleum Expo. Due to the positive attention received it was donated to the city. At 75' tall and 43,500 pounds this statue of an oil worker is the 6th tallest statue in the US. His right hand rests on an actual oil derrick moved from a depleted oil field. He was used in 2020 as a marketing tool during Tulsa's bid to land Tesla's gigafactory. His face was wrapped as Elon's, the Tesla logo emblazed on his chest, and the word Tulsa on his belt was replaced with Tesla. They still didn't win the bid!
No driving tomorrow. Museums, touring the art deco buildings, fine dining and exploring the many breweries are on tap. See what I did there??
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