Roadtrip: Route 66 in Oklahoma

There was no way we could "rediscover" America without spending a little time on Route 66. It was the one thing that David insisted we see on our journey back to California. Reading up on Route 66, we discovered that the best preserved portions of the road can be found in Oklahoma. So, from Independence, Missouri, we drove straight down through Kansas to Miami, Oklahoma, in the state's northeastern corner, to begin getting our kicks on Route 66.

Our journey on Route 66 took us to many very interesting sites and to many sadly forgotten, deserted towns. We took our time and stopped whenever something interested us. We didn't worry about getting anywhere fast. That's how you have to experience Route 66. It's a pure piece of Americana and was actually one of both of our favorite experiences on our roadtrip.

Now a piece of advice if you want to drive Route 66 yourself: you need a guide book. It takes work to drive Route 66 because it's not always clearly marked and parts of it have been paved over or crumbled into disrepair. Oklahoma does the best job, I think, of maintaining their portion of Route 66. (I also think there's a lot more to see in Oklahoma, since once you get into Texas and New Mexico, Route 66 is pretty deserted, and always has been.) But in Oklahoma, there's a new town to see every few miles and lots of kitschy, random sites to behold. We had done some research online before setting out, but luckily, we were able to pick up a free guide at one of our first stops. It made our journey so much easier and I really don't think we would have gotten as much out of our trip without it.

Alright, now onto the wonders of Route 66. Hold onto your socks, people, this one's got a lot of photographs. I'm going to break it down by town.

Baxter Springs, Kansas - Before dropping down into Oklahoma, the first city we hit on Route 66 was Baxter Springs, Kansas, population 4,238. (Remind anyone else of Radiator Springs? There were a lot of references to Cars along our drive.)

Quapaw - The first town we drove through in Oklahoma, just after getting onto Route 66, was Quapaw, named after the Quapaw Indians, which means "downstream people." Quapaw is part of the Tri-State Mining Area which mines mostly lead and zinc. The town is full of colorful murals painted on the side of buildings, starting to fade. It may be morbid, but I was really looking forward to seeing all these derelict and deserted buildings along our way. They're just full of an eerie kind of nostalgia.





Miami - Pronounced My-Am-uh. We stopped here for the night. We wanted to stay at some old run-down Route 66 motel, but we couldn't find any suitable options so we ended up staying at the Hampton Inn again. Miami was the first chartered town in Indian Territory. Their pride and joy is the Coleman Theater, a 1929 Spanish Mission-style building. Miami also has the last in-tact section of the original 9-foot-wide Route 66 or "Ribbon Road" that was built in the 1920s.

Afton - Afton was founded in 1886 and took its name from the daughter of a Scottish railroad surveyor who named her after the Afton River in Scotland. (It also happens to be my grandmother's middle name.) One of the coolest stops on our whole trip was a visit to a good "old-fashioned tourist trap" (that's what their sign said) called Afton Station and Route 66 Packards, which was full of vintage cars and Route 66 memorabilia. We also passed the now defunct Rest Haven Motel which had one of the coolest old signs we saw. (I took a lot of pictures of old signs.)




Vinita - Vinita is the oldest incorporated town along Oklahoma Route 66, established in 1871. It was also the first town with electricity. It was originally named Downingville, but its name was changed to Vinita in honor of Vinnie Ream, the sculptress of the life-sized Lincoln statue at the U.S. Capitol Building.


We passed a lot of countryside along our trek, as well, and a lot of hay. David and I called this rolled up hay "kimbap hay" because it looks like slices of kimbap (Korean sushi, basically). We just a real kick out of it and had to take a photo.

Chelsea - Chelsea was founded in 1870 and was supposedly named after a homesick railroad worker's hometown. It was also the site of Oklahoma's first oil well. It's main attraction is a mail-order home from the Sears and Roebuck catalog which cost $1,600 when it was ordered in 1913. The more interesting sites are located just before reaching the town proper. One of my favorite sights was the Pryor Creek Bridge, built in 1926, which was part of the original alignment of Route 66. It was bypassed in 1932 when a new addition to the road was built. We drove the original Route and passed by this fantastically rusted old garage.







1913 Sears and Roebuck mail-order house. (I mean, we totally had to drive past the home, right?)



Foyil - The tiny town of Foyil is home to the world's largest totem pole at 90 feet tall. I mean, when you taunt me with words like that, I have to see it. I mean, it's the world's largest totem pole! It was a bit out of our way, since we had to turn off Route 66 to get there, but totally worth it.

Claremore - Claremore is one of the bigger towns along Route 66 and home to several museums, including the Will Rogers Memorial Museums. I know you will all be shocked to discover that we didn't actually visit any of Claremore's museums because we wanted to continue on our way. Plus, it was lunchtime, and we were hungry, so we stopped at a BBQ place on our way out of town. We also stopped the The Nut House, an authentic log cabin on Route 66 just outside of Claremore that offers souvenirs, homemade fudge, and jams.


Catoosa - Perhaps one of the strangest and most beloved roadside attractions in all of Oklahoma's Route 66 is the blue whale of Catoosa. It's simply fabulous. This is what Route 66 is all about.

Tulsa - We next drove through Tulsa, the second largest city in Oklahoma. It was difficult here to stay on Route 66 because it's been paved over and reconfigured so many times. We didn't, unfortunately, have time to stop in Tulsa, but it looked like a very cool town full of some gorgeous Art Deco buildings and museums. Maybe another time....

Depew - After driving through Sapulpa and Bristow, we took a short detour off the current Route 66 to visit Depew, a nearly completely abandoned town situated on an older alignment of Route 66. There were a few buildings still being used, but for the most part, the town was just full of run-down and boarded-up buildings. It was the closest we got to seeing a Route 66 ghost town.




Stroud - Stroud sits midway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. We stopped at the historic Rock Cafe, built in 1939 and currently owned by Dawn Welch, who served as the inspiration for the character Sally in Cars.





Oklahoma City - It was already late in the afternoon when we stopped for some apple pie in Stroud, so we were only able to make it to Yukon, a suburb of OKC and hometown of Garth Brooks before stopping for the night. We only managed to travel about 200 miles that first day on Route 66.

Clinton - The next day we had to cover more ground, so we hopped on the Interstate (gasp!) to travel the rest of the way out of Oklahoma. Most of I-40 by-passes and, in some places, covers Route 66, so I didn't feel like a total sell-out for taking the faster route. We did, for all intents and purposes, follow the rest of Route 66 all the way home. Our last main stop on Route 66 in Oklahoma was a visit to the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton. It gives a great history of the building of Route 66, the changes the road undertook throughout the years, and the culture of car travel in America. Plus, it was full of great memorabilia and paraphernalia of the time period.



Route 66 was a great experience. I can't wait to travel it again someday. There's truly some amazing things to be seen along the way.

Roadtrip: Liberty Jail and Independence, Missouri

We left Nauvoo around 5 p.m. (though we had to return once to retrieve a few things I left behind in the Visitor Center's bathroom....oops) and drove westward as far as we could before stopping in Chillicothe, Missouri. We spent the night at a brand new Comfort Inn just off Highway 36 which was very nice and well accommodated. The next morning, Sunday July 10th, we set off to visit more church history sites, namely Liberty Jail and Independence, Missouri.

Liberty Jail (and the Church's Visitor Center, pictured above) is located in the ironically named Liberty, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. Joseph Smith and a few other church leaders were jailed there from December 1, 1838 to April 6, 1839. It's sometimes called the "prison temple" since so many revelations were received there


Here's Zara, waiting for our tour of the jail to begin.

A reconstruction of the jail has been built inside the Visitor's Center. I thought it was an unique way to exhibit the jail, but well suited for the Church's purposes. With a cut-out of the jail visible, you get a great sense of the dimensions of the jail, including the thickness of the walls, without having to huddle inside the jail itself. More guests can be accommodated on the benches lined up around the jail, while the missionaries do their presentation.

I thought it made for a very interesting exhibition, though still a touch too long. Zara started to get very antsy and I had to remove her from the building.

David took over the picture-taking duties. Of course, he took a bunch more photos of tissue boxes.

After our visit to Liberty, we headed south to Independence, Missouri, another place of importance to the Church. The building above is the Church's Visitor Center in Independence, just across the street from the headquarters of the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized LDS church). While Independence did, at one time, host a small settlement of the early Saints, the town is significant because Joseph Smith revealed that it would be the site of the New Jerusalem or Zion during Christ's Second Coming. Basically, when Christ comes again, he's going to reign from Independence, Missouri.

This is the Community of Christ's temple. They had several buildings in the area.

There weren't many other Church-related things to see in Independence so I suggested we visit the home of Independence's most famous resident: Harry S. Truman. I've had a fondness for Truman ever since I read David McCullough's biography of him. I like that he was a simple, hard-working, and honest man who just happened to land himself in the White House, almost by accident. He dealt with some very serious issues and made some very difficult decisions during his Presidency. Through it all, I think he maintained his integrity and dignity so I was very curious to see his home.

We drove into downtown Independence, where we scheduled a tour of the NPS-run house. The park ranger who conducted our tour did an excellent job. Really, it was probably the best tour we had our whole trip. He was knowledgeable and very respectful of Truman and of the home without being overly praiseworthy. (Too often, biographers or curators of famous people fall so in love with their subject that they can't see any fault in them. I appreciate it more when they recognize that their subjects were human and therefore prone to mistakes and frailties like any normal person.) It was a beautiful, though modest home and seeing it and hearing of Truman's daily routines before and after the Presidency only reconfirmed my prior impression of the man. I highly recommend taking a tour of his home if you ever happen to be in the area.

Truman loved his hometown and thought there was no better place in the world. I don't know that I'd drop everything to move there myself (though David teases that we should, just to be ready for the Second Coming), I did find Independence to be a beautiful and charming town. Really, I was quite surprised to discover how much I enjoyed our time in Missouri. Who knew?

Roadtrip: Carthage Jail

On the same day we visited Nauvoo, we also visited Carthage Jail, the site where, on June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were shot and killed. The tour was conducted by a young sister missionary who had little taste for history and difficulty remembering the historical facts. She was obviously new to this assignment and very nervous which led to a lot of rambling nonsense. I really don't mean to be harsh on this sister, I really don't. I understand how difficult public speaking is and how tough it can be to lead and command a large group of people. This kind of thing takes time and practice. I just don't have a lot of my patience for mediocre tours, but again, that's my thing. Other people seemed to get a lot out of the tour and it's certainly worth the visit.

The jail has been restored to its appearance as it would have looked during Joseph Smith's incarceration and death.

In the basement is the tiny jail cell where Joseph and three other men were kept. It was dank, dark, and cramped in there. I could barely stand up in the room.

When the jailers heard that a mob was preparing to storm the jail on the 27th of June, they moved Joseph, Hyrum and the two other incarcerated men, John Taylor and Willard Richards, into an upstairs bedroom.

A mob of 150-200 men stormed the jail and shot through the door of the bedroom (you can see the bullet holes in the door above). Hyrum was shot in the face and died almost instantly. Joseph and the other two men tried to defend themselves against the attackers.


Joseph, who had moved near the window, was shot twice in the back and once in the chest and fell through the window to the pavement below. John Taylor was shot several times, but survived. Willard Richards was unhurt in the attack.

Carthage Jail, obviously, holds a great amount of significance and garners a great deal of reverence among members of the Church. Given the events that occurred there, many people understandably become quite emotional. David and I were quite amused, though, by the great number of tissues boxes that were scattered throughout the jail itself and the visitor's center. At David's insistence, here's only a few of the many, many boxes of tissue we passed on our tour.