Now today was a significant day. We both were looking forward to Oklahoma City - Lynn because of the links with An Officer & A Gentleman, and me because I have always had a yearning to visit the Oklahoma Memorial. We woke early, had a pretty crappy breakfast, and were "on the road again".
Like I said yesterday, the hotel, or rather Motel, was ok. The breakfast and coffee was poor, something we have found common as we were relying on breakfasts to keep food costs lower.
First stop was Gay Parita - a restored filling station and gift shop. This place is everything the guide books say it is - traditional and full of historical life. The staff were enthusiastic and chatty, so we did the honourable thing and supported them but purchasing more fridge magnets (we will need a bigger fridge) and a t shirt. A walk around to see the old style stuff they have there was rather cool, but the temp was increasing to a point where even the locals were grumbling!
We cracked on - again the car not missing a beat and the road long and straight ahead of us. A Route 66 playlist was on again (something Lynn and Ella created some time ago) and filled the car with cheery and not so cheery music!
We followed the route, across a rather historic Johnson Creek Bridge and onto the Spencer Gas Station - another that has been restored (although unfunctional). we have discovered the restored areas have been done so well that the Route 66 spirit lives on - but I am unsure how popular this really is and hence how financially viable these places are - surely there will come a time when it has to end - we see very few people at these spots... I do think sadly the days are numbered.
Probably time for another shout out to the Route66 Navigation App - which has kept us on the road and in the right direction pretty much infallibly.
Kansas has the shortest length of Route 66 but so far, I think it has the most significant. We have all seen the movie Cars right? Well here we have the major influence to the movie in Galena. "Cars on the Route" is a must see - again chatty owners who just love regaling the stories of the movies influences.
As one slips into Oklahoma, one should try the recommended Waylays KuKu Burger joint - really good and quite reasonably priced too!
Another staple attraction of Route 66 is the infamous Blue Whale of Catoosa. An odd, not exactly lifelike replica of a Blue Whale, it is a must see - so we did. Not before though we did encounter a possibly sketchy moment with a couple of cars (one of which did not have a bonnet - sorry, hood). I saw them in my mirror "drifting" and approaching at speed. One passed me, and pulled in directly in front - immediately slowing. The other was behind me - and I was slightly unnerved! Now I could well be reading too much into this but I did not like the situation - so immediately overtook and sped away. Looking back, pretty sure they were just arsing about but I was not taking chances. We never saw them again, thankfully!
Anyway, the Blue Whale. It is iconic in Route 66 terms. You can se there are slides from it into the lake, but sadly there have been a couple of fatalities on this lake and so no swimming is allowed anymore. A couple of local lads were fishing off the whale and so, in the 100+ deg heat, we opted for a quick couple of photos, a wee break and a purchase of a fridge magnet!
Now Oklahoma is a very clean and beautiful city. We stayed in the Homewood Suites by Hilton - and even used a bit of local public transport to get us up to the Memorial Garden. For those unaware, at 09:02 on 19 April 1995 a guy called Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb right outside the OK FBI HQ, killing 168 adults and children. The Garden is truly fitting, and is a sombre and peaceful memorial to those passed souls. The garden has one chair for each person who perished - the smaller chairs symbolise the poor children who were attending the FBI Creche in the building that fateful morning. I will leave today there.
RIP.
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