Route 66 Chicago to Los Angeles: Day 4 - Joplin to Oklahoma City

Finally -- warm weather. Although there was frost on the cars this morning, within a couple of hours the sun was out and and we were warm. We began to shed the long sleeved shirts; turned off the car heater (Stanley and Simon don’t have one and have been suffering from cold) and drove with the windows open. The temperature got into the low 80’s by the time we reached Oklahoma City this afternoon and will get warmer as we head south and west. Only weather complaint is a first wind that moves the little Beatles around at high speed on the Interstates.

When we left the hotel this morning in Joplin, we had to be careful to closely follow Route 66 because it heads directly into Kansas, but Route 66 only stays in Kansas for about 5-6 miles…..didn’t want to miss this little bit that treks through Kansas, before crossing the Oklahoma border, where we stayed for the remainder of the day.

We crossed into Kansas at Galena. Although today is Saturday, the town was totally empty of people…..almost like a ghost town. However, many of the buildings and store fronts have been prepared as period pieces paying homage to the Route 66 of the ‘30’s and ‘40’s.

Just outside Galena, we crossed the last arched-bridge still in use on Route 66; the bridge having been built in 1923. From there we were off to Oklahoma and particularly to Commerce, Oklahoma, the boyhood home of the great NY Yankees center fielder, Mickey Mantle. Fans of motorsports are not necessarily baseball fans, but in my case I love both activities. No one my age who loves baseball could not appreciate the skills and the accomplishments of “The Mick.” He is simply one of the best players to ever play the game. His boyhood home is a small farming town, but there are plenty of signs paying homage to Mickey. For those of you who enjoy Billy Crystal, a good portion of his biography describes his interactions with Mickey, whom he adored.

Next stop….the Blue Whale. This is a huge wrought iron sculpture of a whale, painted blue that sits, half-in/half-out of a very small lake alongside Route 66. Kids used to jump off the Blue Whale to swim in the small lake, but that is no longer allowed. Kids can still fish in the lake on a catch-and-release basis. My brother and I found a young kid trying to fish, but his line had tangles around his fishing reel. We cut out the tangle; re-attached the hook (with his worm), weight and floater and got him back to the business of fishing. He seemed to appreciate our efforts and I like the place enough to buy my first Route66/Blue Whale T-shirt.

It was now onto Buck Atom’s, another strange roadside attraction on the Route as it goes through Tulsa. Ice cream, homemade candies and stickers….and a very large sculpture of Buck Atoms and his spaceship.

Tomorrow we’re off to Amarillo, Texas, and my quest for a new cowboy hat. To paraphrase Dorothy, “We’re not in Kansas anymore” and the proper gear for a gentleman is a proper cowboy hat. Tomorrow is Sunday so it may be hard to find a proper cowboy store open, but I’ll try to snag one here in the next couple of days.