Day 8 Route 66 - Tulsa to Weatherford 222.9 miles

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OK, it would take a week to do Tulsa properly so we decided that we wouldn't do anything in Tulsa, apart from drive through on 11th Street (Route 66)!! There is just so much to see in the cities that it is overwhelming and somewhat distracting from the Route 66 experience of driving through 'middle America'.

So, we headed back to 11th Street this morning and drove all the way through Tulsa to Southwest Boulevard which had us heading off to Red Fork on Historic Route 66. On the way we managed to photograph the neon sign at the Rancho Grande.

We drove south-westerly on the northern side of I-44 through Red Fork, Oakhurst and Bowden before crossing to the southern side of the interstate and into Supulpa where we took a photo of the Happy Burger sign - established in 1957 it is the oldest hamburger stand in Sepulpa! After Kellyville we crossed back to the northern side of I-44 where we took the Tank Farm Loop, an old concrete section of Old Highway 66 through a wooded area that is littered with old oil field tanks.

After Bellvue we crossed the interstate again into Bristow. We then continued on to do a strange little loop through Depew before stopping to take a photo of the Rock Cafe at Stroud. The historic 1939 eatery has been restored after burning down in 2008. We continued on the south of I-44 through Davenport, Chandler and Warwick and then crossed back to the northern side of the interstate into Wellston and Luther.

In Arcadia we visited the restored 1898 Round Barn. To support this small venture I bought a Route 66 mug here. We stopped at POPS for lunch, a HUGE new diner on Route 66 that boasts over 400 kinds of soft drink. They have shelves and fridges organised by themes, for example blue soft drinks or Mexican soft drinks. We even found the Bunderberg Ginger Beer and Bitters, Lime and Lemon!!

From Arcadia we continued to the north of the interstate through Edmond before taking the beltline option through Oklahoma City. We had a little bit of trouble with this as the junction at Memorial and Kelley has been changed since our guide was written - nothing that a U-turn couldn't fix though!! This option missed the Capitol, but our guide assured us that it had more route flavour, for example the Gold Geodesic Dome at 23rd Street. Once again it was a case of sacrificing the city attractions for the Route 66 experience.

On the west side of Oklahoma City we continued on to Bethany where we were able to cross the 1924 Lake Overholser Bridge even though we were led to believe that it was closed last year. After photographing the bridge, we continued around the lake where we had some difficulty getting westbound again. There was just a little bit of driving on the wrong side of the road!!

Once we got ourselves sorted out, we continued on to Yukon (where the skyline is dominated by the massive grain elevator emblazoned with 'Yukon's Best Floor'😉, El Reno and Fort Reno.

After Fort Reno we had to avoid the pre-1933 route through Geary. This is a partially unpaved section and we have decided to draw the line at attempting the dirt sections of Route 66! We made it past the Calumet/Geary turn off without any trouble and then turned right on the Route 281 spur. Unfortunately, we then had quite bit of trouble picking up the Historic Route 66 turn left from the spur road. Bernie had to execute a couple of U-turns on the spur road and we were just about set to give up when we decided to take a leap of faith and turn left on Jones Road. Hallelujah, that turned out to be Old 66!

Back on the Mother Road we didn't have any more dramas finding our way through Hydro to Weatherford. Although we did have to ask Edna to assist us in finding our hotel for the night - the Best Western plus Mark Motor Hotel. Somehow we missed the left turn onto Washington Street and the right onto Main Street so we drove right through to the other end of Weatherford without encountering any motels ... because they are all on Main Street!! Edna sorted us out though.

When Bernie checked in the girl on the desk wanted to know if he had eaten kangaroo. Her ambition is to travel to Australia and eat kangaroo!! After checking in we drove around to our room and pulled the sleek convertible (with top down) in between the big trucks (utes) - we felt quite out of place.

After unloading he car, we ventured out to find a supermarket to buy some more water. We drove down Main Street and we could see the Walmart sign over the other side of I-40. Bernie reckoned that if we just drove under the overpass we would be able to get there ... except that the road under the overpass was actually the entrance ramp for the interstate heading east!!!! We had to drive halfway back to Oklahoma City before we could get off. OK, slight exaggeration - it was only halfway back to Hydro!!

For dinner we drove down to the local Mexican restaurant, Casa Soto. Bernie ordered a Corona and I asked for a glass of red wine. I was told that they didn't have any red wine - only beers and margaritas. I was a bit dubious about a margarita so I asked for a glass of water. The waiter was back soon with a sample of margarita for me to try. Oh, OK then, give me a margarita. Small, medium or large, on the rocks or frozen??? OMG, how hard can it be to order a drink? I finally settled on a medium margarita on the rocks. I think I'm a convert!!!

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