A Spring Break tour of Route 66 (Oklahoma)

[okie34]

As promised, though a day late and certainly a dollar short, I'm beginning a thread on a 3 to 4 day tour of Route 66 through Oklahoma.

My daughter and I will be scootering from Ponca City, Ok on a round trip via the following:

Day 1 - Ponca to Baxter Springs, KS.
Day 2 - Baxter Springs to Sapulpa, OK.
Day 3 - Sapulpa back to Ponca Via Edmond, OK.
Day 4 - Extension day

The "Day 4" as an extension is going to be based on how we feel once we get into Edmond. It's only a couple of hours solid riding from Edmond back to Ponca, however, if the dreaded 'Monkey Butt' sets in, we may take the opporunity and camp at Lake Arcadia near Edmond.

We have been planning this trip since last fall when I took a overnight run to Mena, AR (See this post: scootdawg.proboards59.com/index.cgi?board=rides&action=display&thread=17481). My daughter is enamored with Route 66 ever since we made it down to a little place outside Arcadia, OK and saw an all original Pink Caddilac complete with an Elvis look alike. She's also seen "Cars" and got some of the history in a High School class.

There have been several stages to this little venture though. First was the talking about and growing the idea that it might really be something fun. Second was convincing Mom that it would be beneficial as well as fun for said daughter (I did not mention the benefits I would acrue). Well she now is "somewhat" convinced.

Now the issue was getting my daughter on her way to a license. Hello Driver's Ed! She took this and passed with flying colors. However, taking the State Driver's exam was a little tougher. A couple of tries and she now has a Learner's Permit. So there's another one out of the way.

Now we're on the way to the "real" preparations. We have the route. Not that it's a challenge. For the most part, in Oklahoma, Route 66 is essentially OK Highway 66. but not all of it. This is especially true in Tulsa. It's not too confusing, except where you cross the Arkansas River going into Sapulpa. Getting the route on paper maps was easy. Simply look it up in Google and there's tons of information out there.

Ok, so now the routing is done. What next? Accomodation plans. Since we are camping at least on the first night, a suitable campground must be found. Well, as luck would have it, Baxter Springs has a campground run by the city right on the river just on the east side of town. Next? Sapulpa. Well, my parents live there, so that an obvious stop. It can be a problem though if we get any MC's to go along on the trip as the neighbors enjoy their peace and quiet. On the scoots though, They won't even know we're there. So there's another one down. So far, so good. Momma is meeting us in Sapulpa (Momma doesn't camp and we only have 2 scoots) and will follow us the rest of the way. Now we're cooking with Propane!

Accomodation arrangements made, now what? Oh yeah, it would be a good idea to get the scoots ready, eh? OK, both scoots to the shop. Oil changed, New taller windshield for the CF Moto, batteries charged and checked, so far so good. I get on my Daelim and start it up ready to head home. Oh yeah, Brand new Pirreli's on, running smooth, but what's that smell? Antifreeze? Dang! Then Temp gauge is pegged! The wrong way! Oh man, did Old Man Winter do me in? Did I loose the water pump? This sucks!

Took it back to the shop and left it with the Mechanic. He didn't know much about the Daelim, but a scoot is a scoot, right? Well, yes and no. So I get out the Service Manual and go through that, I get my hands dirty with the mechanic and between the two of us, we figure the Thermostat is stuck closed. Whew! Not that's it's really a good thing, but beats the heck out of the Water Pump crashing.

Anyway, Scoots are now in decent traveling shape.

Stay tuned folks, there's more to come. I'll even start taking a few pictures and getting them in the coming posts.

[dangdawg]

Oh this is going to be good. A bone to you already

[okie34]

Here's a little side note of some of the stops we plan:

Sedan, Kansas - Stop there and take in a snack and break. Visit the Yellow Brick road and the Emmett Kelly museum (Emmett was a famous Circus Clown who did the "Weary Willie" tragic clown in the 30's 40's and 50's.

Coffeyville, Kansas - The Dalton Museum (where the Dalton Gang of movie legend met their end), The Brown Mansion (Not so famous Brown family, but married into the Koehler family of plumbing fixture fame) and the Funk aviation museum (1940's aircraft). Since I grew up in C'ville, we'll visit some of the old haunts, if there's any left!

Baxter Springs, Kansas - Obviously our stopping point for the day! We'll visit the old Soda Fountain Neon sign, and see what other attractions it has. Baxter Springs is a pretty community and one of the first "Cow Towns" to spring up ages ago. We should be able to find something to keep us occupied.

Rather than write everything out and take up space, Here's a really nice list of the various things to see and history of Route 66 in Oklahoma. This will be our tour guide for the most part.

www.oklahomaroute66.com/theroad/towns.html

Just took a look at the extended forecast. It's actually sounding good! After some chances of snow Thursday and Friday night, the temps start to swing back in our favor with highs near 70 at the beginning of the week! Nothing granted just yet, but it's starting to look promising!

Stay Tuned Folks, there's more to come!

JD

[okie34]

Well, we have a revised revision of the revised revision, call it "version 4". Actually, we decided rather than go across Kansas all the way on US 166, we'll go straight east to Pawhuska, then towards Bartlesville on OK 10. This is a little 2 laner with minimal traffic and rather scenic. In B'ville, we'll cut north on the west side of town on another state highway and come out on US 75 well north of B'ville and it congested traffic. This will also minimize the time we spend on US 75. Even though it's 4 lanes into Kansas, it is heavily traveled.

We'll take another short cut from Caney, KS to Tyro and then on US 166 the rest of the way.

I found a web site that has GPS routing information available for the entire Route 66. (www.historic66.com/gps/tomtom/). I've given the TomTom site, but there's all the common GPS unit formats. It's also a great Route 66 information site.

We'll be leaving Thursdaymorning. Right now the tempslook to be decent with highs in the upper 70's and lows in the mid 40's. Little brisk in the mornings, but that'll motivate me to get the coffee boiling!

I'll make a quick invitation here. Any one that wants to meet up along the way and make the run for a bit. You're welcome to tag along. I'm kind of hoping someone from Tulsa will pipe up and help guide us through..

Stay tuned, There's more to come!....

[okie34]

Well folks, tomorrow moring is the big day. We'll be leaving late tomorrow morning to take advantage of the she warmer daytime temps. Looks like Mother Nature may conspire against us but not too badly. Overnight temps in the moid 40's with day time highs in the mid 60's to mid 70's. Looks like we'll miss the rain, but this IS Oklahoma and things can change in a hurry.

Got a pic of the scoots unloaded, tomorrow we'll get a couple of loaded scoot pics. Of course we'll have camp pics and stop pics. This should prove to be a blast of a trip!

Stay tuned, there's more to come...

[okie34]

Just a short note: We made it! However, my daughter decided NOT to brave the wind and cold. I don't blame her!

However, I did have a friend go along who is just about as deranged as I am. He went along as far as Sapulpa and headed on down to OKC that day.

My wife and daughter made it up to Sapulpa and I continued the ride while wife and daughter followed behind in the cage.

It was all done at 5:30 this afternoon.

I'll bring in details over the next couple of days along with pictures. First off, I have to figure how to get the pics off the camera and get my camera back from my parents (Kid left it there by mistake).

Stay tuned, There's more to come...

[okie34]

Hey folks! I haven't forgotten about the report! Unfortunately, my computer power supply died a horrible death. The poor thing simply does not work with out the squirrels running. It is also unfortunate, that pictures are on that computer!

I may do a test report and add the pictures later though. Haven't decided yet.

Thanks for being patient. Let me say it was an "interesting" trip. Not the best and not the worst.

JD

[mafunsalow]

Sounds like a great trip. hope you get the puter sorted out can't wait to see the photos !!

Mar 10, 2009 10:53:52 GMT -5 okie34 said:

if the dreaded 'Monkey Butt' sets in

Fyi I bought this as a gag gift and it actually is pretty good stuff
www.antimonkeybutt.com/

[okie34]

Ok, I'll go ahead and get this baby started. Hopefully the replacement parts for my computer get in this week and I'll add pics later.....

Well, the day arrived. Unfortunately, my daughter decided to opt out on the scooter side of the trip. She was a little nervous about going so far on the Scooter. I didn't push her to go. I want her to be "comfortable" in her skills before she gets going to far.

Anyway, the dat started out crisp and clear. Met up with my Buddy Jim riding his Honda Shadow 1200. Yeah, there's a far cry between my 250 and that shadow, but I knew where we wre going!

We delayed our departure by about an hour hoping that things would warm up a tad before we got going. It was about 45-50 degrees at the start and the wind was starting up. Time to go! First stop, Pawhuska, OK. We were debating if we wanted to grab a bite here or not and decided to keep on going. Took a few minutes to get moving again, walking out the kinks, getting in my nocotine fix, praying for the wind to STOP!. Didn't happen though, so away we went.

US 60 bewteen Pawhuska and Bartlesville has a few small hills and a couple of twists in it. Made for a decent ride, but the wind continued to be my bane. Hello B'ville!

Made our stop here and decided we needed sustenance. Just happened to be a little grill joint just up the road and only 2 blocks off the route! I hadn't been here in years but I remembered they make what I know as a "Hot" Hamburger. It's really an open face burger with fries piled on top smothered with brown gravy. Oh man, I needed a wheel barrow to get out the front door after that! Back on the road we go. From here, we head up OK 123 to Dewey and north on US 75 to Caney, Ks.

Having grown up in this area (and having had a girlfriend in Caney - College days) I knew a little shortcut that would parallel US 166 for a few miles keeping us out of the majority of traffic. Only I hadn't been down it in years! I was really concerned with the quality of the road after so many moons. It wasn't bad. Apparently there's enough traffic and a Wild Animal rescue farm that gets visitied often anough to warrant fairly regular upkeep. We got back on the main hiway at the little town of Tyro and continued on to Coffeyville, Ks. Yes, the place where the Dalton Boys met their end.

Driving into Coffeyville, I was a little unfamiliar with the changes. even though I grew up in C'ville, It had been several years since I had really had a chance to drive around it. It's amost a Ghost Town compared to the bustling community I remembered. Many of the places were the same, but most weren't. The downtown area is practically deserted and most of the larger industries have moved on. For a town that was once in the 35 to 45K population range, it has dropped to around 10K. Where there were once 10 elementary schools, there is now one.

A couple of years ago, the Verdigris River flooded pretty heavily and broke through a levee. This caused major flooding to the east side of twon. The likes that I doin't think had happened before. As we drove through, I saw on a few of the buildings left standing (abandoned) where the waterline had been. It was not pretty. Essentially, 1/3 of the town had been under 4 to 10 feet of water and a broken crude oil pipeline at the refinery just north of town sealed it's fate. The east side of town had been bull-dozed and all that was left were foundations and memories.

It's time to clear out of here and get going. Eastward Ho!

Next stop on the way was Chetopa, Ks. Not much had changed here. The weather was marginally better though. The sun had decided to come out along the way, but the wind whipping from the north had only intensified. I spent a lot of time just keeping my little Daelim from moving over the white line and into the shoulder. Gusts to about 35 and 40 mph were a certain challenge, trucks coming the otherway intensified this. Lucily, I managed to keep it on the road and other than walking kind of lopsided in Chetopa, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We stopped on teh east side of town and watched several fisherman on the Neosho River trying their luck. Lots of fishing going on, but no catching. More gas, more nicotine, on we go to our first destination.

Yes, the wind was a pain. Living in the plains, you would think I was used to that, but alas, I had high hopes. Fleetingly, those hopes were blown away. We buzzed into Baxter Springs, Ks. around 4:00 p.m. and made our way to the east side of town (I sure like the east sides, eh?) to a little campground operated by the City along the Spring River.

We set up camp. Here I found out that my new tent takes 2 people (or 1 person and a BIG rock) to set up in the wind. Even though the camp ground was somewhat protected, we were still getting a few gusts. Once camp was set, we headed back into town. McDonalds for dinner (yuck!, but beggars ain't choosers) and off to explore. We followed the old Route 66 north out of town to Rainbow bridge. I actually have a picture of this, but it's actually a short video clip. I mean short too. I had set the camera incorrectly and was taking a video shot when I thought I was taking a still! Oh well. It's certainly not a typical iron girder bridge. It's pretty unique and one of the land marks you'll encounter. Certainly worth taking a picture. Cruising back into town, we came across an old DX station. It was pretty well run down. I hope, that someday, someone buys it up and makes a little curio shop or something out of it. Even though it would be touristy, it would help preserve the history of the Mother Road.

Oh well, back to camp. Walk along the river and enjoy the view. The Spring River is really a pretty river compared to most of the muddy waters I'm used to. This was relatively clear and was moving along at a good pace. This close to Missouri and the Ozark foothills, I guess it makes sense though. Starting to get dark and I decide I want some hot chocolate to warm up a bit. Nice choice.

Here I found the vagaries of having a small butane stove. Yes, it lit right up, Yes, it sounded like a 747 on a take off roll, yes, it got the water boiling pretty quickly. Yes, the pot I was using was as unstable as my ex-wife! Spilled the darn thing right in my lap! Fortunately (or unfortunely as the case may be) it was cold water and NOT the boiling. Yep, another learning experience.

Anyway, got my Hot Chocolate out of the way and decided I wanted more. Uh oh, you would figure I'd learn the first time. Rooting around the box, looking for the other package, I found it. It had come loose inside the top trunk and managed to rip open on the speakers I had installed. Oh boy, this is going to be fun to clean out. Then I figured, sound waves! Eureka! Lay on some tunes and get the speakers going. Not a smart idea. Anything that had remained came flying out in a small cloud of chocolate powder!

Somedays, I think someone should just shoot me. Especially, when I come up with such hairbrained ideas. Oh well, it's too dark to mess with it now, I'll deal with that in the morning.

Off to bed I go!

Stay tuned, there's more to come!....