Amarillo, TX - Sayre, OK -  Oklahoma City, OK

June 16 - 20, 2023:

I leave Amarillo about 10 AM heading east on route 40 making stops at almost every town along the route.  I know this is strange, but I get more enjoyment taking photos of these derelict buildings, murals and street art in these poor distressed town as I get in touristy hot spots. 

1st Stop - Groom, Texas:

Hoping to avoid any hail

Leaning Water Tower

Grain Elevator on Main Street

My 2nd Stop - Alanreed, Texas:

Semi-restored original Route 66 Gas Station in Allanreed 

My 3rd Stop - McLean, Texas:   

I visit the excellent McLean - Alanreed Museum and then stop for a needed cold beer.  McLean had good stuff !  

Alfred Rowe was a major area landowner who went down with the Titanic

Model oil rig

The real deal

Seems that Watermelons were big here

The boys are all pimped up for the photo

Everyone loves an old fire truck

The boys get together to eat watermelon

Lots of ranching gear

Liked the mural

Another good one

The Museum murals were really good

A Great museum !

Nice cafe in town too

Loved the look of this old building

I was the only customer, the bar was very rustic, but cool, definitely my kind of place

My 4th Stop - Shamrock, Texas:

One of the most photographed Route 66 gas stations

Another view

The tallest water tower in Texas

Home of the midnight cowboy ?

The second best gas Station in Shamrock

I decide by mid afternoon that Sayre Oklahoma will be my next overnight stop at the Sayre, Oklahoma city park campground where I pay $12.  I justify this extreme expense on getting a shower and being able to refill my water bottles.  As I arrive, I remember this place, Twinkles and I stayed here once before in our travels years ago.  

This was another prosperous town in days past, but is now pretty distressed, the downtown appears half vacant.  There is a nice museum the old train station, an interesting Courthouse with a domed roof, a renovated movie theater and the post office with a beautiful WPA project mural.  They also have a couple of WPA built underground tunnels built to enable school children safer passage to school which are now used for tornado shelters.o scope it out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre,_Oklahoma

An ordinary looking Post Office

Inside a great historic WPA era mural

WPA built Tunnel under the street 

Another favorite mural

The Stovall Theater has a really special renewed sign

Extensive windmill farms in this Texas area

Weatherford Park, Texas is proud of their wind power technology  

I arrive in Oklahoma City about 3 PM, park at a Walmart, just to scope it out and figure out my next move.  I decide to visit the Bricktown Entertainment District in which you will find the minor league baseball stadium, a water canal lined with restaurants and clubs.  I park around the corner from Mickie Mantle Blvd in front of a police outpost and then start exploring on foot. It’s a vibrant area, there is a game tonight and the canal area appears to be a most popular attraction, especially the canal boat rides.  The surrounding streets have many restaurants, bars, breweries, it’s a pretty happening scene.  I end getting dinner at "Fuel" which has two very friendly personable barmaids and learn that there will be a band playing later, I return but the band is weird, I don’t stay long. It turned out to be a sort of exciting night however as you will see below. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City

The current Amtrak Station is nearby

Beautiful interior

The Chickasaw Ball Park is very popular

Canal Boats appear to be a big success

I'm getting prepared for my upcoming visit to the Bob Dylan Museum in Tulsa, OK 

A most Colorful railroad underpass!

A series of Murals run along the railroad for several blocks  

I am thinking I will stay overnight where I am, in front of the police building, it should be real safe and I settle in for a good nights rest and then all hell breaks loose.  The wind starts ripping, the rain starts pouring and the Van starts rocking.  I look at my phone weather app, the radar shows a dark red storm front moving directly through Oklahoma City. I weather it out inside the van until it abates after a couple of hours.  I then see police out front and decide it might be good to get out of sight, so I drive a block away and park in a hotel visitors spot for the balance of the night.  

It’s now Sunday morning, but the First Americans Museum is open and it turns out to be a huge building, all new, very impressive and state of the art exhibits. There are great exhibits representing all 59 Indian tribes located in Oklahoma.  The only state with more Native Americans is Alaska.  The majority are tribes who were forced to move here from their original homelands.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/brand-new-museum-oklahoma-city-honors-indigenous-people-at-every-turn-180978742/

Museum front view

Indian sports legends were highlighted

 I then explore the Automotive District which you would expect to be the area to buy new and used cars, but no more  That would have been the case if it was 1950 perhaps when this area was where the car dealers were located, but not today.  Fortunately, the old buildings were attractive and were saved. The area has now been repurposed and the new businesses have retained the original appearance and some of the original signs. 

A good vibe here

This one might be pushing the envelop a bit

An old Packard car agency

On Monday, I visit the Oklahoma State Capital, I’m sort of surprised that it is open as it is a national holiday, Juneteenth National Independence Day.  I wasn't so  impressed with the Capital interior on the first and second floors, but the third through fifth floors were much more ornate with many historical murals.The Capital surroundings are mostly dedicated to the oil Industry, I suppose as it should.

Woody Guthrie is now revered here, not so much when he was alive

I the happened upon this donut shop called, "Hurts Donut" that was really good and surprisingly is a chain with a number of shops mainly in the midwest area.  On their map, it shows one in Arizona close to the Tucson area, I’m going to have to look for it.

Nice box too

I then explore the Central Downtown District which was virtually empty, I suppose they all took off on account of the holiday.  The downtown is heavy on Banks, Oil and Energy Company headquarters, Churches and Parking Lots.There are several very impressive buildings especially the Court House.

 

They have a fleet of modern trolley cars

The reflections on the glass building front were special

Art Deco that could use some cleaning

I return to the Bricktown District in the evening as I have found the location of the  Mojo's Blues Bar at the very end of the Canal. They are having a blues jam and it turns out to be one of the best ones I’ve ever seen.  There is a core group of players who are great with other random people just showing  up to play.  There was a young unknown guy who showed and impressed everyone with his playing, then a petite woman shows, also unknown who had an incredible voice.  One of the regulars yelled out;  Who are you, Where did you come from ?   She was doing songs that weren’t blues that the lead guitar guy wasn’t familiar with, but the bass player was, so they switched instruments for a while and the bass player filled in perfectly, even doing background vocals.  They also brought in another dummer in who was killing the drums, so good.

 

I’ve seen about everything I want to here, it’s time to move to my sort of prime destination in Tulsa, OK.