Leaving Joplin, we rather abruptly entered the 3rd state of our trip, Kansas, almost without realising. There's only around 15 miles of Route 66 that passes through the SE corner of Kansas, and the later interstates bypassed it all together. Passing through only a couple of towns, we soon left Kansas behind us as we entered our 4th state of the trip, Oklahoma.
We saw this and suddenly realised we were probably in Kansas
We saw this and realised we were not in Kansas anymore (yes, that is a large, plastic horse in the background)
That all said, Kansas does have it's share of Route 66 moments. Bridge Alert: It has the only remaining "Marsh Arch" bridge, just outside of Riverton. Unfortunately, we'd caught up with a large group of Germans on Harley-Davidsons (whom we'd last seen in Dwight, IL) also doing the route, who'd decided to stop on the bridge for a group photo and smoke break, so it took us a while to get across!
Das bikers
And this local guy went on to make it big in Hollywood (yes, apparently this was the original)
So, on to Oklahoma. The north east corner of the state doesn't quite live up to the stereotyped plains (though we're assured that will change). It's a lovely drive through rolling hills and wooded areas along the modern OK 66 state route (which was designated by the state after the US 66 was removed).
On the way to Tulsa, we stopped to see one of the iconic images of the route: an old swimming hole complete with giant whale (or minature whale, I suppose) near the town of Catoosa. Although now closed (the water didn't look all that tempting anyways), once upon a time you could either dive off it's tail or slide down shoots out it's sides into the lake. Apparently, this was built by a man named Hugh Davis as a surprise anniversary gift for his wife. I wonder what he gave her the following year?
Typical Route 66 absurdity, all in the name of fun
Inside the tail of the beast
Next stop was Tulsa where we got lunch at a real all-American diner, Tally's Cafe, complete with neon signs, red leather (or plastic) seats and booths, and pictures of Elvis on the walls. Perfect. (The food was great too - did you know that ground beef and port sausage mixed into a hamburger patty tastes amazing? Try it.)
Our fast food consumption has gone up around 400%
Train alert: we spotted this huge locomotive on the road out of Tulsa, with Selina for scale, pointing at a wheel or something.
Continuing on through eastern Oklahoma we reached Chandler, where the author of our guide book resides. As he is also an artist and his guide book clearly marks his studio/gallery (genius, how better to get gallery visitors than to write a book telling them to go there!), and though it was closed we did catch him outside and he signed our guide for us. We are those people.
Driving through the afternoon sunshine we were looking out for a giant soda bottle (of course) and it was a definite change from the surrounding area. The futuristic gas station houses a diner and what appears to be a regular shop, except the fridges along the back wall contain hundreds of different types of fizzy drinks (a.k.a. soda/pop/soda pop/coke), of brands I have never heard of, in every flavour you can think of (including one just called 'green'). They apparently have over 400 types. Think of a Binny's, but for soda. I partook of Black Raspberry and Neil had a Yacht Club Ginger Ale.
Giant soda bottle at "Pops", with the Mini. Note hand sized equivalents of both on the Mini's roof (again, for scale, of course).
From here we drove into Oklahoma City and finished up at the State Capitol Building, before leaving the route for the night to head out to stay with friends in nearby Shawnee, OK.
Capitol building number 2 for this trip.
Steven, Hannah and Susan Brooks, with your traveling duo. (Susan is Miss Pam's sister.)
I think Tom probably ate crayons when he was little, so he might like that sign. :)
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