Kansas and into Oklahoma

There are only 13 miles of Rt. 66 in Kansas... only three towns.  The first town over the border is Galena.  There are several original advertisements on the sides of buildings. The new ones are beautiful, but the old weathered ads are certainly more authentic.

For you "Cars" movie fans, this is Tow Tator, the truck used as a model for one of the characters.  This is for you, Bob! 



In Riverton, I found the Rainbow Bridge, the last remaining rainbow-style, concrete-truss bridge.  And you can still drive over it, unlike many old Rt. 66 bridges.

On to Oklahoma.  Evidently, when Rt. 66 was first being planned in the '20's, one plan was to have it go through the center of Kansas.  It happened that there was an official on the highway planning committee who was from Oklahoma.  He wanted to bring business to his state, so advocated strongly for the route to go through Oklahoma.  Oklahoma had only become a state in 1907, so he wanted people to travel through and see that the region was not as primitive as people may have thought.

The first town is Quapaw, another town known for its murals--newer ones.  Here's one of the murals.  I was fascinated with a vine-type plant that was growing up the side of the same wall.



O.K., for all you baseball fans, Commerce is the home of Mickey Mantle.  His nickname was "The Commerce Comet".  His childhood home is still there and has been restored to how it would have looked in 1938 when Micky was 7 yrs old.  Here it is.

Commerce was also the site of a Bonnie and Clyde shootout with police in 1934!

Then to Miami, pronounced Miamuh, where I stopped for the night.  Then to the Coleman Theater, a beautiful structure built in 1929.  Will Rogers, Tom Mix, Sally Rand, and the Three Stooges all performed there.  Nick, sounds like people you would have enjoyed seeing!



After leaving Miami, I drove on a piece of 66 that was actually paved before Rt. 66 was born in 1926.  This piece of road is one-lane.  Only half of the needed money was available, so a decision was made to pave the full distance, but only one lane!  You can see my small car takes up most of the road.  I never did meet another car on the road.

This is the view to my left as I'm driving.  Could have been the same view

many years ago.

The last two days the heat has been ferocious.  My car thermostat went as high as 109 on Sun., 107 yesterday, a bit cooler today--around 100.  They have a heat index, like our wind chill factor, which they use to dexcribe how hot it feels when certain variables are taken into account, ie humidity.  The heat index has been high.  I long for a good thunderstorm to cool things down.  Will continue tomorrow.