Looping Route 66: May 13 Long Day

May 13 267 miles - too many miles for one day when traveling the Mother Road. Flamingo Hotel for the night.

We got a decent start this morning, but between stopping at Savoy in Tulsa for their famous cinnamon rolls for breakfast, the required stops along the roadway, taking a few rather primitive roads, and the stop and go traffic through Oklahoma City, it made for a long day of driving and a later than usual arrival at the hotel. We left The Tulsa Club Hotel (best bed of the trip so far) at 8:30 and finally pulled into the Flamingo Inn in Elk City, OK. at 7PM. Then we still needed dinner so I'm writing this late and tired and will likely keep it short.

The Frisco steam engine and Meteor support car on display at the Tulsa Route 66 Village

Note the oil derrick also on display in the background

Oil well tanks along the Oklahoma back roads

Ran down a very primitive section of Route 66 with a warning not to try during wet weather.

Red dirt reminds me of Georgia clay.

The Route 66 Interpretive Center in Chandler, OK.

Built in 1936 as an Armory. It was as a WPA project.

"Bricks" are stone from a local quarry that were hand chiseled into squares

Ruins of old gas station. Purportedly counterfeit money was being printed here by an Al Capone accomplice. He was eventually caught by the Feds and the service station closed - never to open again. Body of a murder victim was also dumped inside in later years. Homicide was never solved.

"The Old Round Barn" in Arcadia. Originally built in 1898 by William Odor. 60' in diameter and 43' tall. Bottom floor was a barn but the top floor was used for social functions like music and dancing. Over the years it deteriorated until the roof eventually caved in during the 1970's. Local retiree volunteers known as "The Over the Hill Gang" replaced the fallen in roof 1989 - 1992. Round barns are supposedly easier to build than post and beam, used less material, required less labor to feed the livestock, and some considered the rounded shape better able to withstand tornadoes.

Different flavors of soda provide color while lining the windows at "Pops"

Next up was a stop at "Pops on Route 66". They have every flavor of bottled soda you can imagine and a huge assortment of suppliers for each flavor. I got a Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream Soda! Bottled in Ft. Worth TX.