Day 8 – Chandler to Elk City

After sleeping in last nights ‘interesting’ Motel, we got up early and hit the road. As we had stayed actually on Route 66 we wanted to follow Route 66 as much as possible for as long as possible. Being a bit ahead of ourselves in terms of progress it allowed us to explore a bit and also not having a Motel booked left the day a bit open ended.

Our first stop at 9.30am (it opened at 10am) was a little round red barn in the town of Arcadia built in 1892, the only one left in Oklahoma.
http://www.arcadiaroundbarn.com/Round_Barn_Website/HOME.html
As we were there before it opened we didn’t get to go inside, but from the outside it was a nice barn!!

Following the barn we drove along Route 66 to ‘Pops’, also in Arcadia. Pops is a diner that stocks over 500 different soda’s. Quite a site. Route 66 is on a bit of a revival but to build this massive building and a landmark on what really is a quiet back road is somewhat brave. I have a feeling though the owner has some wealth as the web address for Pops is http://www.route66.com
Anyway I had a breakfast burrito and Kristina had 3 eggs, bacon & breakfast potato. Both very nice, though Kristina was not happy the only tea on offer was herbal tea, she ended up with orange juice.

We got a 6 pack of soda’s, Kristina 3 were:
Fentimans – Dandelion and Burdock
Route 66 Soda’s – black Cherry
WBC Goose Island – Orange Cream

My 3 were:
Henry Weinhard’s – Black Cherry Cream
Leninade (Soviet Style Soda) made by http://www.realsoda.com
Kola Inglesa – Red Kola

Here’s a look at just a few other options…….

After breakfast it was my turn to drive and along old Route 66 we went, both together we covered over 50 miles before we got lost in the centre of Oklahoma. After a stint on the freeway we found the mother road again and stopped at the Stafford Air & Space museum.
http://www.staffordmuseum.com/
Quite a big museum if you take your time and read what’s there. We spent over a hour there enjoying reading about General Thomas P. Stafford and America’s space program. Some of it was a bit out of date but all in all it was very good and would have been nice to stay longer.

After more route 66 mixed with the odd bit of freeway we ended up in Elk City. We visited the route 66 museum (http://www.elkcity.com/museum_national_route_66.aspx) which was quaint and worth a little look. We got there 45 mins before closing though so was only able to look round a couple of parts at a cheaper rate.

Tonight is the only other night that we had nowhere booked to stay. After last nights bad choice of motel we decided to play it a bit safer and popped into a Best Western. After getting all checked in we headed to Pizza Hut for tea and then crashed in the room to write the blog and chill out a little. Tomorrow should be good with more of old Route 66 and a couple of famous landmarks to go visit…….