Event Coverage Road to Rumble! D/FW to RRR on Rt. 66 Road Trip!

There were several cars sitting around as yard art.















I'm curious if this hood ornament is a Petty design.



I found these out in the back lot.





Shades of the Grapes of Wrath.





Or this plane made from scrap metal.





Uh, can this count as a "barn find"?

 

Then there was a couple more bottle trees.



Then the sheriff's office.



Across from the sheriff's office was the town jail now used as a day care center.



I swear this place has more photo ops than a county fair!



























How about the diner also?

 

The old general store was really cool. That's where the wedding reception was going to be held.







The little lake cabin looked to be straight out of a story book.



A tongue-in-cheek take on "fat cat" Replublicans?



A little twisted humor!



Warning! Wagon picture ahead!



I felt fortunate that the man himself, Lowell Davis, came out to say hello when he saw me snapping pictures of everything.

 

By the time I'd spent a couple of hours at Red Oak ll, I was ready for a tall glass of iced tea. I found it at the Pancake House. This truly is a place "where everyone knows your name".



Though not old to the Route, having been built in '79, ithe Pancake House's claim to fame is this old automated band. Slip in a cassette and the band moves to the tune. They know of only one other like it.



Back on the Route, headed toward Carterville, MO., I spotted this sign. I ought to frame it, entitled "Retaliation".

 

Carterville, MO. is one of those sad decaying little towns where good fortune has made it's last withdrawal.





This passanger car must mean something to the townsfolk.



They show their Rt. 66 hetitage with these stepping blocks out front.



Like a new board on an old fence, this place stood out in downtown Carterville.

 

Tinman, every time you post , you continue to top yerself ! scrubba

 

I thought this little Plymough looked pretty clean. Don't know the price though.





I'm thinking there hasn't been a market for used cars in Carterville for four or five decades!







"Clean as a whistle on the inside, sir. Whadahya say?"



Every wrecker tries to be Mater.

 

Back in downtown Joplin, I got the wild hair to drive with my left hand and reach over and hang the camera out the window with my right hand . . . .



Earlier I showed a picture of this old sign that I spotted across from the 66 Drive In in Carthage, MO., advertizing Wilder's Restaurant in Joplin . . . . . .



Here's what the restaurant looks like today. It sits just a couple blocks south of Route 66 on Main Street. Here's a link to their history. wilderssteakhouse.com/default.aspx





Remember when Duncan Hines endorsed dining establishments?



One of the things that I wanted to seek out on my first pass through Joplin but a sick wagon didn't allow me to do so was this place.



Known locally as the Bonnie & Clyde Hideout, Bonnie & Clyde, Buck & Blanche Barrow, and William jones rented this apartment on April 1, 1933. A shootout with police ended their lease on April 13th. Two policemen lay dead and the outlaws escaped. Supposedly, the inset picture was taken by Blanch. I was told that this is where the police found and developed the roll of film that had the images of Bonnie & Clyde that we know today.



Here's a link about the shootout: texashideout.tripod.com/joplinaffair.html
The site is now a B & B. Visit their site @ joplinhideout.com



On returning back to 7th St. (Route 66), I saw this old motel sign. The motel is now closed for tourist but it had a killer sign!



To get to the Hideout, I had to pass through the tornado zone. I stopped for a few more quick photos.



As most of the damage that we can relate to are the cars because we know what they looked like before the destruction and not the houses or other buildings, I sought out a couple of the damaged cars that hadn't yet been removed.





Ironically . . . .



A couple of old stations awaited those travelers that were about to cross the MO./KS. line. Once bypassed, one found new life as a liquor store . . .



. . . . while the other one didn't.

 

While passing back through Galena, KS., I saw this old Teem drink sign.

 

As you recall, when I passed through Baxter Springs, KS. on my way to the Rumblle the week before, I'd snapped this old DX sign and station slab . . . . . .



Yet when I passed back through some ten days later, this was the scene that greeted me . . . . .



Alright, which one of you thieving bastards took it! Fess up!

 

I had heard that around the turn of the century, furniture makers also were the local undertakers 'cuz, after all, who else could better make a casket? As proof of that being the case, I spotted this old ghost sign in downtown Baxter Springs.



Baxter Springs with it's Route 66 neon!



As I was getting a little hungry while passing through town, I opted to try out the Cafe on the Route. It, along with the Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK were featured on the Food Channel's Diners, Drive Ins & Dives when they hosted a Route 66 segment.



I had the frog legs.



Saving room for their buenella later.

 

While making a return pass through Commerce, OK., I revisited the Dairy King. Luckily, it was just dark enough for it to have it's neon lite up. Unfortunately, they were closed.



Then, I swung over to take in the Mickey Mantle boyhood home before dark overtook me. It's furnished in 1938 fashion when Mickey would have been seven years old.





It was while traveling through Miami, OK. that I spotted the neon of the KuKu Hamburgers up ahead.



As I understand it, this is the only remaining restaurant left of the Waylan's Ku Ku Hamburgers chain.



I chose to pass up getting a motel room in Miami and instead shot for a motel that I knew about near Afton, OK. but was greeted there by a "No Vacancy" sign. Possibly a carryover from the Joplin tornado clean up crews in the area. I ended up finding a room in Vinita, OK.



If you look real close, you'll see that the back of the chair is leaning a little. That's 'cuz the piece of junk is broken! Go to a garage sale MR. Motel Owner and get a new one. Geesh!



It felt good to have the wagon at my front door again rather than four blocks up the street sitting in a garage!



One last double check on the wagon before putting an end to Day 13 of my trip.

 

Thank You for a great story and pics!!

 

The capri hotel in Joplin is off of main st by the 44 hwy and is basically a tweaker hang out, allot of fights and shooting go down there

 

Thanks again Toptinman for taking us with you.

 

It's now Sunday, Day 14 of the trip. What will be my final day on the road. It's nine o'clock when I'm packed, loaded up, and cleaning the windshield before hitting the road for home. The sun is already heating up the day like a cup of warmed over coffee. I'm soon back in the company of a trusted friend, the Mother Road.
Entering Chelsea, OK. from the east I crossed over this pony truss bridge that has carried Route 66 travelers over Pryor Creek since the first bridge (Shown on my first pass through town.)



was bypassed in 1934. This pony truss beidge served until the road was widened into a divided highway. It now only carries the west bound traffic.



Because the traffic was so heavy on Rt. 66 before the town was bypassed by the interstate, an underground walkway was built to allow foot traffic to cross safely to reach the downtown area.

 

Once reaching Foyil, OK., I decided to take a side trip to Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park. It is here that Ed built what is supposedly the world's tallest concrete totem pole.



After retiring as an art teacher in Sand Springs, OK. in 1937, Ed moved his family to Foyil and started work on the totem pole. It topped out at ninety feet.



It took him eleven years to build, having completed it in 1948.



I'm curious about this cigarette smoking bird man!



Also on the grounds are picnic tables and this Fiddle House. This house once housed Ed's handcarved fiddles and furniture until some of them were stolen in the seventies and never recovered.



Ed also applied his talents to the gate posts.



This arrowhead was pretty impressive also.



There are around a dozen homemade concrete items that Ed completed before his death in 1962.

 

The Adobe Village Apartment on the 1926-1958 alignment through Claremore, OK. was originally named the El Sueno Tourist Court when built in 1938 and was the first motel built on Route 66 in Claremore.



It's obvious from the plastered over 2nd door that there used to be two rooms per cabin.



I know I did a bad thing when I reached Tulsa but, in order to save time and because I'd already done part of the Route through the city on my first pass, I got on the interstate and blew on through Tulsa. I know that's not what a true roadie would do but you gotta understand!
When I reached Sapulpa, OK., I got curious about where their old cinemas might be in the downtown area. That's when I logged on to cinematreasurer.org and sought them out. Unfortunately, all three in the downtown area have lost their appeal.
Standing at 10 S. Waters St. was the old Criterion Theater which was in business from 1935 until 1980.



Then, at 118 E. Dewey Ave. was the State Theater. Again, no sign of it's having ever been a movie theater.



All traces of the Yale Theater having once been a theater at 7 S. Main St. are long gone.



The only hint that this may have been a theater is the pattern on the sidewalk in front.

 

Luckily fate smiled on me again this trip as, while I was seeking out the old theaters, I stumbled across an "in process" restoration of this old gas station.



As it sits just caddy corner from the Sapulpa Historical Museum, I wondering if it's not one of their projects. It's not directly on the Route though.



A newspaper clipping framed on the wall states that it was build in 1922 at a cost of eight grand.

 

Further up the road was this dry docked boat sticking out of a building.



It marks an antique store. Apparently veterans are encouraged to sign it's hull. (Or is it bow? I'm not into boats much!)



This boat sits next to the larger one.

 

I made it to page 6 but must leave for work!!!!!I pick up were I left off in 12 hours. Thanks for a great read so fare

 

When I rolled into Bristow, OK., I happened to look up and see the date on the old Ford dealership. It's still being used as a showroom today, some eighty-eight years later.





Also in Bristow sits this 1924 Wilcox Refinery service station. Keep in mind, that's two years before Route 66 was commissioned.

 

Thanks so much for your great pictures! Makes me want to hit the road. Sorry for your bad luck and not making the Rumble. The places you ran across were really cool! Thanks again.

 

Thanks for all the great pictures, I will have to make the same road trip just to see everything someday. It's like time has stand still, I could spend weeks on the road just exploring all the sites !!

 

Once back in Stroud, OK., I was beginning to get a little hungry. A stop at the Rock Cafe cured that!



The Rock Cafe burned to the ground on May 20, 2008 with only the walls remaining. Dawn Welch, the owner, wasn't about to throw in the dish towel and call it quits. Instead, she grabbed a shovel and pitched in to help rebuild her business. Dawn was the inspiration for the character "Sally" of the Cars movie.



The original fireplace still shows signs of having been scorched from the building fire.



I had the jagersnitzal and spaetzle which made for great road food.



It's a tradition to leave your mark on the restroom walls before leaving.



After leaving the Rock Cafe, I sought out the old Barton Theater. Unfortunately, the Purple Cow has pretty much erased all signs of the theater except for the name above the upper middle windows.



Before leaving Stroud, I snapped a pic of the Skyliner Motel and their sign. Love the style of the sign.

 

I had to drive down some gravel roads just to see this old obelisk that marks the Ozark Trail. The Ozark Trail road network dates back to 1915-17. Route 66 used this section of the old Ozark Trail from 1926 until 1930 when it was bypassed by a newer paved road to the north.



Here's the scoop on the Ozark Trail. In 1913, William Hope "Coin" Harvey, who operated a resort in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, founded the Ozark Trail Association as a private highway organization. Several Texas and New Mexico counties joined the effort, and the line went diagonally from St. Louis, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. As part of Harvey's plan, stops along the way featured white obelisks denoting, in the official Ozark Trail green lettering, town names, as well as directions and distances to other towns.

 

By the time many travelers of the Route reached Chandler, OK. they were tired and hungry. One of the places offering a good night's sleep was the Lincoln Motel, formerly the Lincoln Court, that was built in 1939.



The two room cabins, other than a few upgrades, haven't changed much through the years.



In downtown Chandler sits the H & S Theater. It originally opened on Sept. 16, 1926 which pre-dated the Route by about two months.



As I was leaving Chandler, I noticed this old station which is now being used by a pet groomer.

 

Coming into Arcadia, OK. from the east, I saw this copy of the Blue Whale off to my right.



Oh, yeah! I'd heard about this place! If the gate is open, then that's an invitation to drive on it. You're always welcome!



Welcome to the world of John Hargrove!



John has a shop where he does upholstery work but, apparently, John doesn't let a lot of his time go to waste. Check this place out!







John has his own version of a bottle tree.



Sleazy Rider?



Just look for the VW Beetle poking out of the building!



Where it's possible to actually sit in it while looking out!



John allowed a pose with the VW in the background.



Then the real tour began!

 

John built this Messerschmitt looking car himself. Recognize the Ford pickup rear fenders acting as the front fenders?



John has used an old VW bus to copy Filmore from the movie Cars & Cars 2.



How about John's home theater?









I don't think John has let a Rt. 66 landmark go unnoticed, even with this copy of the Wigwams in Holbrook, AZ. which he uses to hide the projection equipment.



John talks to a friend about the next day's July 4th gathering at John's shop. John said that everyone is invited. Said that some HAMBers would be there this year.



John is avid old street rodder from years back. I recognized his Deuce sedan from rod runs and NSRA events from before but never got a chance to meet the man.



He still has his Long Distance award from the Deuce Doings from '77.



More VW wall decor.



Sitting in back was his friend's Oldsmobile.



He found this old drag car with a J2 under the hood!



With the scoops removed, the holes in the hood still hint that this "isn't your Father's Oldsmobile"!



I had to take a shot of the wagon just to prove that I was there!



One last look at the front entrance to John's shop through the gas station that he has added on.

 

It was after I was back on I-35 heading south from OKC headed back home that I stopped at exit 66 (How appropriate since I'd just been traveling Route 66!) to grab a coke and a snack. When I came back out of the store to get in the car, I found someone standing there checking the wagon out. After confering with him, he offered that he had a salvage yard about a mile west of the store where he had some old stuff that he was trying to unload that he'd had for years. He hated the thought of crushing it but seems that he couldn't find anyone interested in buying any of it.. Well, even though it wsn't going to be long before sunset, and the fact that by then I was ready to get on home, I let my couriosity get the best of me and I had to check it out. I know that I really didn't do the scrap yard justice as I was in a rush but here is what I found.