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Last time I wrote I was on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. I saw the Oklahoma City Memorial: 168 empty chairs where the Murrah Federal Building used to be. The museum cost $7, so I didn't bother, though the promise of an audio recording of the explosion from a meeting in a nearby building almost persuaded me.

West of Oklahoma City there are some great stretches of old Route 66. When first put together in 1926, Route 66 was a patchwork of existing, mostly unpaved roads. By the early 1930's, much of the road had been paved with portland cement, and some of these sections are sitll in good shape. Quite remarkable when you consider they've been around for 60 or more years. One unique feature of the early roads were half curbs on the sides. The idea was to reduce erosion and also to redirect inattentive drivers back on the road. Unfortunately, when it rained, the curbs turned the road into a giant sluice box, and the curbs also tended to cause inattentive drivers to roll over. So, the curb concept was abandoned.

Route 66 went through a number of small towns. Many of the towns depended on the constant stream of tourists. When the interstate came in the 1950's, the small towns were bypassed, and the towns gradually faded away. There are numerous abandoned houses, restaurants, motels, and gas stations along the road. In some of the larger towns, some of the old establishments are still around. The local motels are often the most noticeable, with large, inviting

neon signs.

Western Oklahoma had a few museums of interest. I went to two Route 66 museums, in towns about 25 miles apart. The first in Clinton, OK, was pretty good. The second, in Elk City, wasn't so good, but the price of admission also got me into a pioneer era museum. They had an excellent collection of early farming equipment, and the museum volunteer patiently explained what everything did. Ever seen a milk separator?

I spent the night in Texola, on the Texas-Oklahoma border. The next morning I rode into Texas and the scenery changed dramatically. In McLean, Texas, I went to the Devil's Rope (Barb Wire) Museum. There were at one point over 500 patents for barb wire. The museum had examples of almost all of them. They also had an interesting collection of fence making and other general farm tools. Just west of there is the largest cross in the western hemisphere. At

190 feet tall, you can see it for miles around.

And now I'm in Amarillo. Apparently, there a lot of helium around here. I haven't seen any, but I have seen a lot of cows, most of whom view me with great distrust. I guess they know I'm not from around here.

Carl - dearcarl@yahoo.com

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-- MadisonBryan - 08 Oct 2001