As expected, we had a slow start to the morning following our late arrival last night at the Will Rogers Inn in Claremore, OK. We enjoyed our morning coffee, made some plans for the day and checked the weather for the next several days for our upcoming destinations. We left around 9:30 AM today.
Although we made a total of 200 miles again today (is that a theme….), we only advance about 170 miles. As noted yesterday, we decided to backtrack to see the Totem Pole Park in daylight instead of dusk. It was a 30 mile round trip to get there and back to the hotel where we continued on our way.
It was really worth going back to see the Totem Pole Park. When we got there, the Executive Director and a board member were already there working on ways to get funding to paint the top of the main totem pole. We had a nice chat with them and learned some interesting facts about the totems and their creator. He also made 300 fiddles (I think as opposed to violins in this case) of which about 100 were on display. Made of many types of wood they were very intersting to see. I took some photos of the totems and some of the inside of the main one. We also scored a find for the virtual geocache there.
On the rest of today’s travels we visited quite a few interesting things.
In Catoosa, OK we saw the kitchy “Blue Whale” that seems to attract visitors still.
In Tulsa we photographed the Oasis Motel, the Desert Hills Motel, the Blue Dome and the Cyrus Avery Bridge. Avery was the primary person responsible for the development of the national system of highways in the 1920s and was considered the father of Route 66.
Other places today included:
Salpulpa, OK (old buiding now De Holman Distributing and the Route 66 Bridge that was used until 1952).
We ate a very late lunch at the famous Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK. The owner was the inspiration for the Sally Carrera character in the movie Cars.
We saw the brick roadway in Davenport, OK and the Lincoln Motel in Chandler, OK. Plus the famous Round Barn in Arcadia, OK.
We ended our day in Oklahoma City by driving past the State Capital in the hour before sunset when the light is beautiful. And finally by the Milk Bottle building.
Our hotel for the night was an unusual one of a kind place. Isola Bella in OKC. Its mostly an extended stay facility for FAA students at the academy here in OKC. Got it through priceline with no difficulty. Its gated, have to have a gate pass to get in and out and the room keys have no identification on them and work by passing in front of the lock. Reminds me of my Lockheed Martin trips to the Center for Learning in Bethesda, MD!
Okay, finishing up some laundry and calling it another day/night!
BTW… Leaving at 9:30 does not sound like a slow start to me. LOL
Sounds like another good OK day. Totem Pole Park and the fiddles sound neat. It is interesting hearing about real people who inspired characters in Cars. I didn’t realize the cars were based on real people. The Milk Bottle Building doesn’t look like it holds very many milk bottles! Happy travels tomorrow!