site of the time capsule

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I’ve just returned from downtown Tulsa. I drove along part of Route 66 to get into downtown - by chance - but it was a fun drive looking for old signs and buildings.

They have a fence and tarp up around the vault (as you will see in the photos). The YMCA is directly across the street. I went in and talked with the guy at the desk and he had the security guard try to take me up to an area with a balcony overlooking where he thought I’d have a good vantage point. But we couldn’t get to the area and I only got a few images from a 2nd floor window. We went up to the 4th or 5th floor and on a rooftop, but were on the side and another section of the Y building was between us and the vault. I’m sure I won’t park nearly as close tomorrow as I did tonight. I was ONE block away from the site.

There are many old Plymouth’s driving around the downtown area. I’m sure my expert will be able to identify the model and year of all the images I snapped. As long as the weather cooperates tomorrow, I’ll go back down. I’m pretty sure I won’t see them lift it up, but maybe I can be on the route when they are heading to the convention center with it on the trailer.

The Tulsa newspaper, Tulsa World has many articles on the event. Here’s a link if you want to go read any of them: http://www.tulsaworld.com

There was water in the vault so my best guess is even if the plastic “wrap” was waterproof (can’t imagine it being 100% water tight) there has to be a lot of water damage to the car. Oh well, it’s way cool to be out here.

Something I heard today was this is the only time capsule in the world with a car buried in it. As Gomer Pyle would say; Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! Another thing I heard on the radio this evening was they did a “test run” and lifted the car up today. I’m sure they wanted to insure the steel plate the car is sitting on was still intact prior to the actual event on Friday.

While I was at the site, one of the sheriff’s deputies came over to tell us a strong thunderstorm was heading for downtown and suggested we leave. Fortunately it is moving North West and I’m on the North East side of town near the airport. I heard a little rain a few minutes ago, but we’ve missed this storm. I’ve been watching the radar and it’s going to miss the campground!

This has to be one of the two most unusual campgrounds I’ve been to in my RV travels. The sites are sandwiched together like sardines. A quick look at their map tells me they have 253 sites. And there is one “bath house” which is in the office building and has maybe 6 showers and toilets. I would venture a guess that 75 to 80% of the sites are “permanent” but not in the sense that most RVers think of. It’s not like at the beach where people rent a site by the year to vacation. These are mostly older travel trailers and are people who work around here. The lady who guided me to my site in a golf cart told me a lot of the folks here work for American Airlines maintenance facility at the airport. It sounds like they are assigned here for months at the time and then go somewhere else. I don’t think they have tent sites either.

But I can’t complain. I have a full hookup and I’m reasonably close to downtown. When I called the KOA last week they could only offer me water and electricity. Just another day of adventure on the road.

That’s about it from Tulsa town tonight. I’ll upload a few photos for you to see and get ready for the big day tomorrow.

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Photos

Site of the time capsule
Here's a view in front of the courthouse where the car is buried. It is behind the fence. As you can see there is VERY limited viewing for spectators. There were a few risers to my left on the street. The YMCA is just out of image on the right.

view from YMCA
This was taken through a window on the 2nd floor of the YMCA.

From the roof
We went up several more floors and came out on the roof to the side. You can see some old Plymouth's in the parking lot and a few local news vans.

58 Fury
Here's a 58 Fury cruising the streets. He was stopped at the light for the cross street where the car is buried. Car buffs may also notice the old Studebaker on the right side of the image. I was concentrating on getting a shot of the Plymouth and didn't notice the Studebaker until I was looking at the images on the laptop.

Tulsa campground
Here's a view of the campground. As you can see the sites are quite small. When I left I discovered why he has his truck parked towards my site. They have a 2nd vehicle. Many have two vehicles.

Tulsa campground view 2
Another view of the campground.

Oklahoma pull through site
Here's how I "pulled through" my site. To be fair, I don't think I asked for a pull through here (they don't really have any what I think of as typical pull through sites). I was planning on disconnecting the Jeep prior to going to my site. But they brought me through one of the sites you can see in the background.