The famous highway originally started from Chicago, Illinois, and ran through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles:
The nation’s longest drivable stretch of Route 66 cuts through Oklahoma, making its way past charming towns, roadside diners and quirky attractions
In this post I am going to cover all the sites I traversed between Tulsa and OKC. Below you have the Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza. Its namesake Cyrus Avery is best known as “The Father of Route 66.” In the mid-1920s Avery lobbied Congress to make Route 66 a national highway. Used his influence as a government consultant to route the Mother Road through Tulsa and personally chose “66” as its number because he liked it.
Adjacent to it you will find the flags of the eight states of Route 66
Of the many quirky things you will find there is Buck’s Cosmic Curios on 66. Its a souvenir shop located within the former site of a gas station and features a 21-foot-tall Muffler Man, Buck Atom, space cowboy.
If you love vintage signs kept for their sake you got the giant Meadow Gold sign. The Beatrice Foods Company erected the sign in the 1940s. The building where it had sat was destroyed but fortunately the neon-sign was saved from the wrecking ball. It was restored and moved to this new location in 2004.
Now I kept driving along Route 66 until I reached the town of Stroud which is in the middle between Tulsa and OKC:
It was time for lunch and what better place to stop than Rock Cafe. The cafe dates back to 1936, built with rocks gathered from the construction of Route 66, it has been restored and reopened a number of times. Rock Cafe owner Dawn Welch served as the inspiration for Sally the Porsche in “Cars.” A crew from Pixar, researching Route 66 for the film in 2001 stopped for dinner at the Rock Cafe and met Welch.
When you go inside you can really tell they overemphasized the Cars paraphernalia:
I decided to try an Oklahoma staple: chicken-fried steak
Don’t be confused by the name— there’s no chicken in this recipe. The reason it’s called chicken fried steak is because it has a breading on it that resembles fried chicken. The dish is served with the gravy on the steak along with mashed potatoes and another vegetable, I chose fried okras for my plate:
You will encounter many interesting buildings within this small town.
Stroud Trading Co. built in 1901 at some point also served as an opera house and hotel
On the side of one of the buildings you will find a fully restored Coca Cola sign
Here we capture a 1903 telephone office
Below is a bank. Perhaps it was one robbed on March 27, 1915 by Henry Starr along with six other men. Henry Starr was a bandit that managed to rob 21 banks in a nearly 30-year career even though over half of that time was spent behind bars. That is more banks than Jesse James. As for the heist in Stroud, word of the holdup spread quickly and the citizens took up arms against the bandits. Henry was wounded and captured in the gun battle. Then sentenced to 25 years but somehow paroled four years later.
Mural here shows Stroud circa 1898 and features a steam locomotive at the railroad depot as well as a number of townsfolk. It commemorates the railroad’s role in Stroud and shows the former Stroud train depot.
Further along in my drive I come across this magnificent building. This is the Chandler Route 66 Interpretive Center. The structure was an Armory before it became a museum
Also in Chandler you will find the Route 66 Bowl with plenty of classic gas station signs in the parking area in front of the building:
Near the end of my trip I reach the town of Arcadia famous for the round barn. Built in 1898 proved to be useful for not only housing livestock and grains but for community-wide dances and events. Today it is a souvenir shop downstairs and the top floor could be rented for events.
In my final stop before entering OKC, I hit up Pops. Its a place that sells around 700 different kinds of soda and drinks. However the main spectacle is the is the 66 ft massive soda bottle standing out in front of the restaurant. If your lucky to check out at night you will see it light up with LEDs:
