Day 19 -Oi! where did the road go??

First thing I do is visit the Route 66 National Museum in Elk City.

It  is actually a collection of several small museums, however I just have a walk around and then go into the Route 66 shop for a look.

Back on the road and continue on 66 into Sayre.

and promptly take a wrong turn and end up heading south for about 15 miles… it is only when I see the second sign for south that I stop and check my location… yep wrong road… grrr.   I turn around and plot the shortest route back and on to the next town, Erick.  On the journey I have seen many signposts indicating ‘Heritage Markers’ ahead, but have usually been going too fast to stop and look at them.  However, I did stop on the way to Erick at this one…

and it’s my old mate FDR again.

Arrive at Erick, eventually, after the 30ish mile detour

and then the last town, Texola, where I have reached the state line saying bibi to Oklahoma and Yeehaw to Texas

The first town I come to is… Shamrock!  More irish than Eire methinks; it’s a bit like St Patricks day on steroids.

There is, however, a lovely restored gas station that houses an information centre, so I stop and go in.  There are two lovely ladies, probably a bit older than me, who are running the shop and small museum.  Again just warm, friendly people with free coffee and wifi… great.

One of the girls offers to take my photo.. and loans me a hat to wear; somehow I think she has done this before

They also have a collection of old black and white photographs.  I particularly like this one for some reason…. 😉

I’m feeling hungry now so ask them to recommend somewhere – they say the place across the street is good; ok I’ll try that.

I don’t want to be negative, but I’m having a really hard time with the food…

a) There is cheese on everything.. I like cheese, but not all the time

b) There are sauces or dressings on everything, I’m not that keen on sauces

c) There is loads of fast food, of every description… am struggling to find good food at a reasonable price

d) Portions are absolutely enormous… I mean I can’t eat much, even when it’s child portions, but it is so much waste, I feel terrible about it.

There have been times when the food has been really good.. e.g. the pizza in DC and maybe I should make more of an effort to find places, but I am so tired in the evenings that it is really difficult.

So Big Verns Steakhouse looks like a good choice… I order a chicken salad with french dressing.  It has cheese hidden under the lettuce and the french dressing is bright red! I did ask if that was the french dressing… yes that’s right.  I taste it.. sorry but it’s not the french dressing I’m used to.  Again the salad is enormous, so I mostly just eat the chicken, which is good, but overall another disappointment.

Anyway, back to the journey… loved Shamrock, thought it was cute.

Next up is McLean, where I was hoping to stay last night but didn’t quite make it.  On the way I spot this random mural on a wall.

and am then in McLean itself.

This is the hotel that I wanted to stay at… kitch isn’t it?

It gets good reviews on booking.com so was looking forward to it.

Next is a place called Alanreed… I wonder who he was, if it is named for someone called Alan Reed that is… not much of note really

except I run out of road again, but manage to stop before I hit the gravel… hurrah!

I look across country and can see the road so I turn around and head for it.

Find it ok and am going along for quite some time, passing by the leaning tower of water in Britten,

and an extremely large cross.

I continue on this road as it crosses over the interstate and starts to run alongside it, until suddenly without any warning…

Yep, in the gravel again, but this time someone has pinched the road!.. the road you can see in the top right corner is the interstate running eastwards, i.e. back the way I have just come.  The only thing for it is to do what other vehicles have obviously done, ride up onto the interstate and join the eastbound traffic until I can cross over to the westbound carriageway… what a palaver!

It is getting really late again so I’m not going to carry on much further.  I see the next place is Vega… mmmm wonder if they’ve misplaced the s somewhere 🙂

I pull off the interstate (i40) and am on to the 66 again as it runs into Vega. I stop at the first motel I see, called the Bonanza.  I think this is going to be crap but actually it is very good, clean and comfortable with the usual facilities and at a good price so I am happy.

I unpack then ride into the town to find something to eat… just don’t go there.. in the end I go into a petrol station and buy something to microwave.  There I meet a chap called Thane, yep he is named after the Shakespearian character and actual historical Scottish figure Thane of Cawdor… he is quite impressed that I know about it.. I don’t tell him I was an English Lit ‘major’.  We chat about bikes, (he has a Harley, of course), Route 66, Scotland etc. for quite some time. He is a retired truck driver so we have a long conversation about travelling the states.  He’s a great chap and I really enjoyed talking to him.

During the night there is an enormous thunderstorm.  I try to get a photo of the lightening, but this is all I got.

It then chucks it down…. glad I’m not riding in it!