Day Six: June 11, 2010

Day six on the Mother Road! We left Joplin and headed toward Kansas. Even though there are only 13 miles in Kansas, they are worth the visit. I hoped we could visit the 4 Women on the Route, but we got there well before they opened. We did stop at Eisler Bros. in Riverton for something to drink and drove through Baxter Springs on the way into Oklahoma.

While it was nice to see Quapaw, Commerce, and Miami, Mike and I were on a mission to find the 9 ft sidewalk highway. It was really cool to drive that alignment! We had to stop in Afton to visit Laurel at Afton Station, but it was her day off. Marly was there though and he showed us around. Mike and I saw a Studebaker on American Pickers the other night and they had one very similar at the station. Hopefully I can see Laurel on the way back!

The distance between towns really seem to increase in Oklahoma but there are some great old alignments of 66 along the way! We ate lunch at Clanton’s in Vinita (good food!) and went across the Pryor Creek Bridge in Chelsea. We drove down Andy Paine Boulevard in Foyil and saw his statue. In Claremore, we took the Pre-1958 alignment to catch a glimpse of the Adobe Village Apartments then it was on to the Blue Whale and some early dead-end alignments. At some point during the day I pulled a muscle in my upper back so we decided to call it in a day in Tulsa to get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow it’s on to Western Oklahoma!

Pictures from Day Six