September 22 , 2011 – Route 66

“U.S. Route 66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the humorist, and colloquially known as the "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road" or "The most famous road in the world" ^[1]) was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year.^[2] The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, covering a total of 2,448 miles.”

In Elk City is the National Route 66 Museum Complex which includes the National Route 66 Museum, the National Transportation Museum, the Old Town Museum, the Farm and Ranch Museum, and the Blacksmith Museum.   And that was our stop for today.

Here are some links about the Museum complex:

http://visitelkcity.com/museums

http://www.elkcity.com/Pages.asp?s=Mus&id=7

http://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.5284

 

And two great links on Route 66:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66

http://www.historic66.com/

 

What a wonderful complex – So many neat things to explore.

 

  

Andy enjoying driving:

 

 

 

Both of these sculptures were metal:

Giant Kachina Dolls:

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

This lady was getting a home permanent – WOW!

 

Because we were here after Labor Day, not all of the exhibits were open – :-((.   If you are in this area, I highly recommend spending a day or an afternoon here.

 

From the museum, we stopped by the World’s Largest Inland Drilling Rig.  The Parker Drilling Company Rig #114 is 181' tall, one of the world's tallest and one of the deepest drilling.  Before drilling for natural gas, it drilled a world record nuclear test hole in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska - 10' wide and 4,500' deep.   WOW!

  

This statue was across from the rig and it really impressed me.  It may be hard to see but it is two cowboys on horses shaking hands.  On the base it says “Binding Contract.”   Wish those days were still here.

 

Another wonderful day!  Tomorrow we are off to Texas.

Enjoy today.