Deep in the Heart of (North) Texas

The last few days have been long and tiring. As a result, I haven’t been able to keep the journals I was hoping to for the last few days. Accordingly, this will be an extra long post.

Much of the last several days have been spent concentrating on going to places that have been icons of Route 66 for much of the last 50 years or more. I’ve had a chance over the course of the previous several days to do so as well, but there were other things beside the Route. The last three days have been spent almost exclusively doing Route 66 centered stuff.

Many of these icons are in small towns along the road. For those who have seen Cars, this will seem familiar. The story of Route 66 for many of these small towns was that during the heyday of the Route, from its inception in 1926 to the time when the interstates began being built (different times in different places), it was a golden age. The various restaurants, motels and other attractions would get more than enough patronage to make the businesses go. However, as the interstates were built many of the towns were bypassed, causing many of those businesses to close. Getting bypassed even caused some towns to disappear almost completely. Some of them, such as the Rock Café in Stroud, OK, or the Eisler Brothers’ Store in Riverton, KS were able to remain open because of their popularity both within their communities and with people who would be willing to go out of their way to patronize the places. (The Rock Café actually burned down in May, but Dawn Welch, the current owner of the Rock, was insured and is committed to rebuilding the Rock Café, if you are interested, her blog is http://rockcafert66.wordpress.com/). Of those who were not lucky enough to remain in business, some were able to sell their business to others. However some simply abandoned their property, while possibly with intent to return, and never came back. While I have been immensely enjoying driving the Route, I get a bittersweet feeling when I pass a closed business, be it a motel, restaurant, pharmacy, museum, etc. that closed down, when it’s obvious that it had a rich history in serving the people on the Mother Road.

Among the many places that were thriving at one point, but have now been closed and/or abandoned, two stand out most immediately to me. The first is a swimming hole in Catoosa, OK, a suburb of Tulsa, the centerpiece of which is a large blue whale. It was initially a private gift of a man to his wife. The wife collected whale figurines. Eventually it was opened to the public, along with several other accompanying attractions. Eventually it became too much for the family to run and it was closed. The second is a Gas Station in what used to be a vibrant little town called Alanreed, TX. However, once the interstate came through, the town was bypassed and no one stopped there anymore. The town effectively died as almost no one passed through anymore. I don’t wasn’t to come as looking like I hate interstates. They certainly have their purpose; I have used them several times since I’ve been on this trip. However, there is so much more of this country to see than can be seen from the interstate highways. I would encourage occasionally taking trips that you make regularly on interstates on non-interstate roads. You might be surprised what there is to see that you never knew was there.

However, not all is doom and gloom. With the resurgence of interest in the Route since it was officially decommissioned in 1985, many of the businesses that had once been left for dead have been bought and are being restored. I have had the chance to meet several of these people in the last several days. One of these people, whose name escapes me, bought a row of stores in a tiny town in Missouri named Spencer. The row of stores basically constituted the town and has been abandoned for years. Just in the last few months he has made serious progress on restoring the Phillips gas station and I understand that the intent is to restore the rest of the stores as well. This could end up being a big draw as it happens to be stationed on an original 1926 concrete road. It has never even been asphalt paved and considering its age, looks absolutely gorgeous. Another, one Gary Turner, has set about to restoring an old Sinclair station which was named (yes, at least some of the Gas stations on the Route actually had names) Gay Parita outside of Paris Springs, MO. The job Gary did on the station is phenomenal. The third person I met on the route (I met others, but for the sake of time, I’ll limit myself to three) was Laurel Kane, a lady who was originally from Connecticut but moved down to Afton, Oklahoma to open a visitors’ center/museum on the route. She settled on restoring an old service station in which she also stores her collection of old cars(though because of the size of her collection, she only keeps a portion of them on display at any one time and rotates them in and out of the station), all in gorgeous shape. These are just a small number of people who have worked to keep the spirit of Route 66 alive.

Today I was able to indulge my love of American military history and visit the site of a military engagement during 1868 with the Cheyenne tribe in what came to be known as the Battle of the Washita. For a recap of the battle, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Washita_River. In short, the U.S. Cavalry under Gen. Custer was ordered to fight an engage the Cheyennes, he did so, but was unaware when he did that the band he was attacking was not the band of renegades, but a peaceful band of Cheyenne. Needless to say, the battle did not last long, though Custer did lose 21 men in the fight. I was struck by how gorgeous the country was, as well as how peaceful it was. Especially when considered against the violent history upon which it, as well as much of the rest of the west, was built.

I also had the chance, yesterday to visit the Oklahoma City Memorial. It was gorgeous. I’d urge anyone who goes to Oklahoma with even a minimum of free time to take some time to visit.

I finished out my day today (before heading to Amarillo, TX) by visiting the largest cross in the Western hemisphere. Route 66 is renowned for having giant things of many different kinds. The Cross, in Groom, TX, is a relatively recent addition to the Route. And it is big. It is hard to find words to communicate the immensity of this cross. Pictures won’t fully do it justice, but they will have to suffice.

Tomorrow, I’m meeting Brian Cannon in Santa Fe. Catch you all later.