Day 11 - McLean, Texas to Chandler, Oklahoma.
Up early enough to watch the sun rise big and red on the horizon. Our neighbours in the motel from Canada were also doing the Route 66 - east bound to Santa Monica so we swapped info on places to see and stay etc.
Hit Route 66 on a long section of Portland concrete pavement that took us out of Texas and into Oklahoma. Stopped at Shamrock to fill up the Chevvy with gas. $3.20 per US gallon (3.8L) at this station which when converted to $NZ equates to around $1.05 per litre. The cheapest we have seen is $2.80 per gallon and according to one service station owner, the price had dropped around 30 cents per gallon over the last few months - we picked the right time for a road trip! It's a pity we can't take some home back to NZ. Certainly makes for cheap motoring.
Pulled over off the road at Elk City where Nikita spotted a Flea market being set up. Here we got chatting to Ken about our road trip and he gave us the low down on being an Okie. Ken was all kitted up in his blue denim overalls and checkered shirt (check out his picture we've posted) - all he was missing was his pitch fork to complete the hillbilly profile ! P.S. He was a very nice humble chap.
Moved on down the road to the National Route 66 Museum. Luckily for us it didn't open till 2.00 pm as there was a ton of stuff to look at. The museum was in a Pioneer Village around about the size of Ferrymead and there simply wasn't the time to fit it all in, let alone wait 1-1/2 hours till it opened. Managed to do a quick lap around the outside and snap a few pics for the blog site.
Back on the road again and navigator Suzanne guided us onto what is described as in the Route 66 guide book (The EZ66 Guide For Travellers) as "One of the BEST drives on all '66 is the 1930's route from El Reno to Hydro. This curbed-concrete road heads arrow straight for much of the way, interrupted by charming curves as it crosses fields and woods, bridging deep gullies on long concrete-post spans" The drive certainly lived up to the book authors' comments. The only minor irritating issue was the constant tick - tick noise of the tyres as the car drove over the concrete joints on a otherwise very smooth 85 year old section of road. This length of '66 also took us over the South Canadian River on the Pony Bridge, built in 1934, spanning 3/4 mile, which uses 38 pony (small) trusses. A late lunch was taken at a quiet picnic stop in a very balmy 30degs C.
Time was marching on and we decided to high tail it through Oklahoma City so we could arrive at our accommodation somewhat earlier than in the past few days. Nothing pre-booked for tonight and we managed to stay at the 1939 Lincoln Motels in Chandler - as recommended in the guide book. Dinner tonight was pre-packaged microwave meals followed by a short walk to the Sonic Drive In for waffle cones for dessert.
Miles travelled today: 255.4, Hours driving, 5:19. Tulsa tomorrow............It should not take us 24 hours, as Gene Pitney sings in his song, Only 24 Hours From Tulsa.
Highlights: Classic barn shapes (not Tony though), meeting an okie from Elk City (Ken the flea market man), deserted concrete roads (Suzanne quite likes the da dit da dit ....), lots of fluffy donkeys (Nikita).
By y'all.