2024 Route 66 East - Day 2

 Clinton OK

The thunder and driving rain woke me up at 0500. That band of rain passed and we walked to a diner for breakfast about a half mile away at 0700.

Diner breakfast!

The Farmhouse diner had about six work trucks in the parking lot, always a good sign, and the meal was great. When we were finishing up, another heavier band of rain hit! Conner picked us up in the van, returned us to the motel and we are on a one-hour weather delay with trailer open and departure at 0900.

At 0700 the weather app said it would clear by 0800, now it says 0930. UPDATE: Another cell overhead, trailer now opens at 0930 for departure. Reminds me of the American Airlines flight delay updates on Thursday, always moving the departure back time by 20 minutes, no more, no less! 

Wet roads at the start

We rolled out at 0950, the rain had stopped but the gulleys were still flowing and standing water and sediment were all over the road!

Oklahoma!

There was no ‘Welcome to Oklahoma’ sign, but a pack of dogs chased us through Texola, to make sure we were out of Texas. We chased the storms for a while, but eventually the clear skies caught up to us.

Motel ruins in Erick

Roger Millers home town

Our first SAG stop was in Erick Oklahoma. Only 20 miles into the ride, but with the heavy cross winds the group was getting pretty strung out so Lon set the SAG stop a few miles early. I reloaded and headed out with Conner, Rich, and Matt. 

Yours truly and Conner on abandoned Route 66 pavement

Rich rides past a Route 66 badge

The highlight of the day was riding a 5 mile segment of abandoned Route 66 pavement. The pavement was smooth, but the trees had grown over in some sections, making it like a tree tunnel.

Here is a video picking my way through the tree tunnel.

Later the trees receded and we could go a bit faster!

Goat farm and nice pond outside Sayre

Sayer Courthouse

The Sayer Courthouse was featured in the movie the Grapes of Wrath. While the movie storyline took place elsewhere in Oklahoma, director John Ford liked the courthouse and featured it in a scene with Henry Fonda.

Route 66 Pedestrian Underpass 

Built in 1939 to avoid heavy Route 66 traffic

During the heyday of Route 66, the traffic would get so heavy that many towns built pedestrian underpasses so people could safely cross the highway. They became unnecessary when the Interstate came through, and many have been removed. This one in Sayre is still in use. It now doubles as a storm shelter!

Yup, that’s a big crosswind!

Our route generally headed east along the I-40. There are frontage roads on both sides, so we didn’t have any freeway riding today. But since the goal was to ride as much original Route 66 pavement as possible, when the old pavement would stop on one side’s frontage road, it would typically continue on the other. So we would cross over the freeway, giving some respite from the cross wind, exchanging it for a strong headwind (going south), or sweet tailwind (going north), as we crossed over (or under) I-40!

Old yellow bridge

Leaving Sayre we were back on the I-40 frontage road. This bridge and pavement is on one of old Route 66 concrete sections.

Route 66 Museum

Grapes of Wrath display

One room school house

By the time we reached the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City OK, the group still spread out and way behind schedule. Partly because of the late start and mostly because of the heavy crosswinds. A number of riders decided to skip the museum and head to the finish in Clinton 30 miles away. Lon said the group was too spread out for the scheduled visit the museum in the finish town of Clinton, so he suggested taking time to visit this one. I did, then headed into town to grab some lunch before making the final push.

Red Brick Road in Elk City

This one is available!

The GPS route took us through a cool neighborhood with a red brick road. Most homes were restored and in great shape!

North I-40 Frontage Road

When I-40 was built, it followed Route 66. But since it was an Interstate highway, it didn’t make as many twists and turns. Today, we crossed I-40 many times to stay on the old concrete pavement. In this photo you can see the old pavement (light colored) ending just before the freeway, then on the horizon, you can see the same color pavement in the distance, picking up on the other side. Clearly showing how I-40 cut across old Route 66! We followed the frontage road to the left, then under the freeway, and picked up the old pavement on the other side.

Old Route 66 culvert

Lon had noted several old Route 66 culverts on the cue sheet that date back to 1928. I stopped at this one, looking for the date. It was just high enough to stoop down and walk through, so I looked for snakes on the floor, it was clear so I headed in. About halfway through I noticed wasp nests on the ceiling, some were active, so I hustled out of there! I didn’t find a date on the structure, but I did have to wash my shoes later at the hotel, they were covered in red clay sediment!

Farmers Route 66 Tribute near Clinton

Our progress so far!

I rolled into Clinton around 6 pm and put this 85 mile day in the books at just under 8 hours. Tomorrow we have similar mileage to Oklahoma City. The weather calls for…wait for it…crosswinds! Breakfast is here in the hotel from 0600-0700, load and depart at 0730. Get some rest and I’ll see you then!

Day 3