Day 165 Oklahoma City Oklahoma
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
176
205
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma,
United States
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Leaving the park at around 9:25am we travelled along the I40 to a point at a small township called Castle to head north to Bristow to enable us to travel along the famous route 66.
The stand out feature along this route would be we encountered the Volkswagen (VW) graveyard.
We kid you not! As we drove this back road (highway 48) travelling at around 60 miles per hour, we drove past a double line up of old VW's. There were at least 50 or more in various states of disrepair. It certainly created a comment from all three travellers as we passed.
We arrived in Bristow to find our most common morning tea site (a Wal Mart) to enjoy a cuppa and a rest stop.
We set off again to head directly down the famous route 66, the main highway used in a bygone period of time, to take travellers from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Oklahoma is a state that has 400 miles of the old highway in existence and still in use.
The portion we chose would take us around 90 miles south west into Oklahoma City, the capitol city of this state.
The fact that is this is a superseded highway, been replaced by freeways and tollways or turnpikes. We were pleasantly surprised to find the roadway surface was in the main, well maintained and better than parts of the freeway we took into Oklahoma State.
As we travelled we were looking for the original Roadside Cafe, but to no avail, lunchtime came and we pushed forward, but no sign of the old fashioned roadside diners, so we pulled into a State Park (paid for the privilege) and stopped and had lunch overlooking a lake.
Back onto the 66 after lunch to complete our chosen section and head into Oklahoma city, choosing to visit the National Museum of Cowboys .
We spent a wonderful time looking at the exhibits, made up of great artwork, as well as sections dedicated to the movie heroes and cowboys that managed to bring the Wild West to us all through the screen stories.
Be they real, of not, the stories as depicted in the movies were what we knew about the wild west.
A great tribute to the actors and the movies, as well as the most well known Cowboy (John Wayne) had a great section, including a lot of gifts given to him in recognition of his contributions to the movies and the depictions of the Cowboys, in his honest way of portrayal.
Sections were also dedicated to the Native Americans, the modern day cowboys/ cowgirls and the US military role in the settlement of the West. A great display and well worth the stop.
We headed out from this point to the nearest KOA park.
Settled in and relaxing with our afternoon drinks, our next door neighbour approached for a chat.
This lovely lady told us about the country's second biggest Canyon, situated in Texas, near Amarillo.
Gee we might have to check out that, if we can fit it into our busy schedule.
Hope all is well.
