Checking in on 66 – Miami to Tulsa

I don’t write for fun as much as I used to. Or take as many photos…unless you count our dog, Rex.

With the Centennial of Route 66 less than two years away, it’s actually already here in many ways. I have so many plates spinning at the same time that I’m starting to lose track. But this morning, I woke up before sunrise and felt the itch to drive. Even though I had to be back in Tulsa for a 2:00 PM meeting, I lit out anyway. What got me out of bed?

Neon!

Last summer, I wrote about the history of Miami, Oklahoma’s Marathon Service Station (you can read that here) including its latest incarnation by local entrepreneur Eli Chenoweth. At the end of the article, I talked about another historic building that Eli was in the process of restoring: an even older station that once served the Hudson Oil Company. This past November, that building became the newest location for his successful coffee and shaved ice business.

Like many small businesses, turning that OPEN sign on was only the beginning. Eli has continued to fine-tune the space, which recently included the addition of some neon to the front of the building. The excitement of seeing the tubes buzz with my own eyes is what got me on the road while Samantha and Rex snoozed comfortably at home.

I arrived right at sunrise; the streets were quiet. I forget how much I like the early morning, especially weekend mornings in smaller towns. It’s like being part of an exclusive club. I waved at the young man slinging drinks while I did some buzzing of my own, still awed by the design of that little icebox of a building. It’s a wonderful addition to Oklahoma’s Route 66 corridor and I can’t wait to see what the future brings.

The Miami area has a lot of great things to photograph, and since the city streets were still quiet I decided to loop up to Commerce before starting the drive back home. I took a photos at the Coleman Theatre, Waylan’s Ku-Ku Burger, Dairy King, Allen’s Fillin’ Station, even Mickey Mantle’s Boyhood Home. I don’t think I’ve ever actually taken a picture of the latter before; I’m not really a sports guy. But I did think of my childhood best friend, who was related to Mantle.

On the south side of Miami, I naturally stopped along the Ribbon Road. This section of Oklahoma’s unique 9-foot-wide pavement is currently endangered. Although the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and several other preservation organizations are currently engaged in the process of convincing the county to restore the road properly rather than replace it with a facsimile, we are not having much success. The process continues, but any time I’m up here I make sure to make time for a visit. You never know what tomorrow holds.

Afton, too, has seen preservation efforts stymied. The Horse Creek Bridge is long gone and Afton Station is still just a shell of what it once was. The stickers in the window are a reminder of how this spot was once a do-not-miss attraction on Old Highway 66. It sure is missed now, along with dear Laurel Kane. The razed lot across the street where the Palmer Hotel used to stand doesn’t help matters, either.

In Vinita, I stopped to capture the very first granite Will Rogers Highway marker, installed in 1999. I wrote about the history of these markers here; somehow, I had completely missed photographing it over the last 11 years!

It was about then I realized I hadn’t had anything but coffee all morning. I stopped in at the nearby Hi-Way Cafe for breakfast. As a bonus, I got to sit and chat with owner Beth Hilburn about this, that, and the other. She’s one of the newest members of the Board at the Association and I’m so pleased to have her support!

Another recent success story awaited me further south in Chelsea; the restoration of their 1904 bank building is coming along! It looks terrific and I smiled widely as I snapped photos. My camera attracted the attention of a man inside the NAPA Auto Parts store. He came out and eagerly showed me a few items he had fashioned out of discarded wood from the bank floor boards. He hopes to sell them in the gift shop when the building is completed.

I was just in Claremore for our January Board Meeting, but there was a stop I’d been wanting to make for a while: the Claremore Museum of History. The volunteer on duty, Carol Little, gave me a wonderful tour of the space – including their original Surrey With The Fringe On Top. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of space they had dedicated to Lynn Riggs and, unsurprisingly, I spent a lot of time at the Andy Payne display.

All that and I still made it back to Tulsa in time for my afternoon meeting. Miraculously, I didn’t feel rushed though there’s never enough time to do everything you want on 66. That just means another road trip won’t be far away.