This morning we left the hotel at 8:40 am and drove by the state capitol building in Oklahoma City, a very impressive state building in the federal style. From Oklahoma City we started toward Hyde with the top down and already 85F; this stretch of Route 66 is the original narrow pavement made from Portland cement and is in pristine condition, if only we built highways this well today! Near Hyde we came across a "Pony Bridge" built in 1933, the design used 38 pony (small) trusses and was very narrow, very interesting.
The next stop was the Thomas P. Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, OK, and because Dave and I are aerospace fans this was the treat of the adventure so far. Stafford flew four flights from Gemini to Apollo and is truly an American hero. Oklahoma has had eight astronauts in the space program, a record in the US. The museum is very well done and includes a Wright flier, a MIG 21, a Spirit of St. Louis, a Lunar Lander, an Apollo Space Craft, and many interesting artifacts.
It was a very hot day and early in the day the top went up on the Vette, we couldn't take the 101F temps. At Clinton we stopped by the Route 66 Museum, another winner! We met a young couple from Venice, Italy, they were also doing the Route 66 trip, many Europeans come to the US to travel 66. The museum included a few nice cars from the past along with many relics you would recognize. The museum showed a video, in the theater, the history of 66, in a way it was very sad when you think about all the towns that became ghost towns when the interstates were built. From the museum we drove to the state line at Texola, what a depressing place!!
We drove thirteen miles from the state line to Stafford, TX; at Stafford there is the Conoco gas station used in the movie "CARS." The gas station was renovated for the movie and now houses the local Chamber of Commerce. After Stafford we were off to Groom to see the "Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ", it is the 190ft. cross you see from interstate 40. If you have never stopped to see this cross you should stop next time you are traveling west, it includes full size "Stations of the Cross" and of course a gift shop.
Not to far from Groom was Conway, TX and the "Bug Ranch", several VWs buried in the ground nose down. We took spray paint so that we could add our special graffiti, Kelchy will love it!!!! Everyone does it, we are not in jail. From Conway we flew to Amarillo, just kidding, we don't speed; at Amarillo we decided that we had had enough after 298 miles and parked for the night. Tomorrow we are going to try to get to Albuquerque, wish us luck!
See ya later alligator, Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment