Coming from Oklahoma City driving to West again, we stopped yesterday in Elk City on Route 66 to visit there the well known and great museum about the "Mother Road". It was worth to make this stop!We spent more than two hours to see all those interesting things inside of the museum and outdoors too. I will show you tomorrow more photos in my next post about our journey on Route 66.
I was always - and I'm now more - a big fan of this old road and can imagine how much fun and real adventure it was back in time, to travel Route 66 from coast to coast - except maybe the quality of the road - that was yesterday and is still today - very bad! :)
Big collection of car tags from famous and infamous people who have traveled the road
It was big fashion to eat out in the 66-Diners on the road
Murals painted in vivid colors showing a red Pontiac and a green Ford, traveling the road
Nostalgia comes back to live: the good old days - the time, when waitresses were bringing the orders to your car windows :)
Show off your sports car: a white Thunderbird traveling on the "Mother Road"!
I love these bikes!This "Indian" model is a special beautiful one and has its story! It was so fast, that the police could NOT stop the riders, until they decided to buy some machines for their forces too :)
...or this beautiful blue Harley! I can imagine how fantastic it was to be sitting on this bike riding along the good old Route 66!
The "Golden Queen"! "Easy Rider" would be probably very jealous of this perfect master piece, still today, I'm sure! :)
A close up of the golden bike
An authentic model of an old gasoline station and all the stuff around. Note, to have a "water bag"(at the left upper corner at the wall - or click in the picture to see it bigger)
for rides trough the rough desert were a must to have
and they were sold for $1.50 per piece :)
The red barn, a mural showing farm life living
There was also a collection of old and pretty kid toys - some of them can even I remember.Today they are expensive collector items.
Elk City is a Route 66 town
from the git-go. In 1931 the US Highway 66 Association held its annual convention here. More than 20,000 people attended too! That's a pretty sizable crowd for those days I'm thinking. Elk City is also the site of the Old Town Museum. In its many years of operation it has expanded to include a Route 66 museum.
The National Route 66 Museum celebrates Route 66, not only in Oklahoma, but all eight Route 66 states. The museum focuses on the people who lived, worked and traveled the Mother Road and offers the road wanderer a walk through all eight states. The realistic murals and exhibits feature vintage automobiles and antiques from the hey-day of
Route 66.
The National Route 66 Museum
is part of the Old Town Museum complex that includes the National Transportation Museum, Pioneer Museum and Beutler Brothers Rodeo Hall, the Farm and Ranch Museum, Livery Stable, Train Depot, Wagon Yard and other areas depicting Old Town Elk City. The National Route 66 Museum uses a road motif to allow visitors to travel through all eight states along Route 66 "The Mother Road". The trip begins in Chicago and ends in California. Murals and different vignettes depict the eras of the road and the interesting places that made Route 66 so famous. As you travel along, you can listen to recorded histories and personal accounts of the road from overhead audio kiosks.
Hi my friends,
we decided to go back West again and enjoying all the fun on Route 66. I'll post tomorrow more about that Museum in Elk City. My archive is full and it's waiting to be shared with you :) I hope I'll don't bore you with my enthusiasm about the "Mother Road"...LOL...
We are just now in Amarillo, Texas - again - and we went for dinner in a great (for food) and funky (in design) Restaurant with the reasonable name "The big Texan".
It was just delicious!!!
YES, that's the place where you can eat a 72 oz Steak for FREE - if you can eat it in one hour! Can you...? :) I made some photos of the place - of course - they will be online soon too!
After Amarillo we will be heading probably towards Santa Fe in New Mexico - up the hills and further North maybe to Utah or Colorado. I'll let you know - stay tuned with me! :)
Thanks for all the wonderful comments and have fun - enjoy life!
Susanne and David
