Apology/explanation for lack of posts & Miami/Afton/Route 66 Vinita-Catoosa

Over the last year, D and I have continued our "adventures" although they are not always monthly and not always out of town. Sometimes it is just an adventure to go to Home Depot or Hobby Lobby together other days it is an adventure to paint our nails and watch "Once Upon a Time". I am planning on getting the blog up to speed, tomorrow (and possibly the next few days).

But the real reason I logged in tonight was because the hubby and I went to Miami for the night as a quick getaway. We stayed at Buffalo Run, which was really nice. The way there was mostly uneventful, except we got to Buffalo Run get ready to go into the casino and I realized I forgot my purse at my MIL's house. UGH!!! So back to Catoosa we went to get my purse and then we returned to Miami. 

We ate dinner at Montana Mike's, serolin is good and not over cooked. The broccoli was perfect!

Today, we decided to take the "long way" home. Mainly because I begged the hubby to stop in Afton to get a picture of Tripper the Penguin. He has never understood D and my's obsession with the penguins and buffalo so I was super excited when he got off the turnpike to go to Afton. Laurel was super nice and let me take a picture of Tripper. I explained why I was taking a picture of a 6 foot tall penguin. The male that was working (I didn't catch his name, ooopppps) took a picture of me and Tripper and I was told that my story would be on her blog for the day. So go check it out, read some of the past post, it is pretty awesome to see where all these people come from to travel a road I drive on everyday. (Afton Station Blog)

When we left Afton Station, the hubby surprised me more by stopping at Buffalo Ranch to let me get a picture of the buffalo statue and the real buffalo. I didn't get a picture, but the plaque on the flag pole said something to the effect of "At this location on April ??, 18?? absolutely nothing spectacular happened" (I know that probably was not even close so if someone has a picture of this plaque please send it to me). And then we hoped back on the turnpike and right as I was about to doze off, I got another surprise. 

For the hubby's 3rd surprising decision of the day, he got back off the turnpike so we could take route 66 back to Catoosa. We had picked up one of the free books at Afton Station, so I had reading material for the drive. We went through Vinita, and into Chelsea. Here we took a small detour to see where the hubby used to live and to find the 1926 Steel Truss Bridge that was mentioned in our reading material. From there we continued on to Foyil to see the Totem Pole Park. I remember coming here as a kid but it was totally different as an adult. I wanted to stop and see the information on the first Bunion Derby but we were out of time. So we headed on home but not before driving past The Big Blue Whale and the elaborate old bridge entrance of Molly's Landing (Sorry no pictures, did I mention we were out of time because we had to go get our kids who my sister was awesome enough to take for the night).

After picking up the kids with dinner at my MIL's house for my SIL's birthday. All around is has been an awesome weekend, a night of no laundry, kids screaming, cooking etc, being able to watch an entire movie with the hubby without having to pause because one of the kids needs something, new friends, family time, and tacos. Tomorrow the hubby and I are decorating graves and then going to take the kids fishing and grill out. Please take some time out of your day to remember what this holiday is actually about. 

Night All

K

Check back tomorrow for all the pictures I did manage to take.
Pictures are up: HERE

Jan. 21--Arcadia, OK

This month we went to Arcadia, OK. We went to "The Round Barn" and "Pops". We took I-44 down there and took Route 66 all the way home. The thing we noticed most about small towns is there always seems to be a Sonic and Dollar General. We will see if this hold true for the rest of the year.

Welcome to Arcadia!

Almost There!!!!

The Round Barn

An Official Route 66 Roadside Attraction

The roof of The Round Barn

 A picture of the Round Barn before its restoration by the Luke Robinson and the Over the Hill Gang in 1992.

 One of the many neat items to look at inside of the barn

 The pop bottle sculpture in front of Pops

Some of the varieties of pop available at Pops.

Leaving Pops

An old gas pump

The Old Gas Station

 Taken from the picture to the left:

This is one of the last old gasoline filling stations still standing in this part of the country. No one knows for sure, but it is thought to have been built in the late teens or early twenties. It had two pumps, one for regular gas and one for ethyl, which was a little higher octane. Oil was dispensed from a 50-gallon drum, which was laid down on its side on a wooden frame. A spigot was put in the end of the drum, under which you put a quart can, then taken to your car and put in the motor.

Seeing there was no electricity out here at that time, most homes and buildings were lighted by kerosene lamps and lanterns. Kerosene was dispensed the same way as oil was, from a metal drum, put in your container and taken home.

Cold soda pop was sold only on days when the ice man made it by. The pop was put in a large metal box with chipped ice over it. Hard candy was sold most of the time; chocolate was sold only in the winter because in the summer it would melt – since there were no refrigerators.

Back then, times were very hard and it was difficult to make a living. One day, about the time Al Capone was terrorizing the City of Chicago, a so-called salesman came by the station, offering to sell the owners a way to make a lot of money, literally, for he had a set of plates for a counterfeit ten-dollar bill. The story goes that the people yielded to temptation, with the thought of being able to get rich quick.

A small room was constructed on the back of the old station for the purpose of hiding the printing materials and a place to work. The only entrance was through the window you see on the back wall of the station. The window had a solid wooden door, which was kept closed most of the time. People didn’t even know there was a room back there.

The way the counterfeiting was done was that they would press one of the plates on a piece of paper with green ink on it, then let that side dry for 24 hours, and print the back side of the bill the next day. Things went along just fine for a time, but while passing one of the fake ten-dollar bills, one of the persons was arrested and with the identification on him where he lived, he was traced to the old station. While searching the building, the counterfeit plates were found. So ended this crime spree, like so many others. The person being taken to jail was overheard to say, “It wasn’t worth it”

The old station was closed, never to open again. Many years later, which had nothing to do with the counterfeiting, a murder victim was found in the old abandoned building. The victim was never identified, for he had no identification on him and no one seemed to know him.

Please be careful entering this fragile old building.

                                                                                                                                                                                The Owners

                                                                                                                                                                Rock of Ages Farm

The Little Blue Whale

A close up of the Sign

A roadside sign about the Run of '89

A restaurant near the boundary of the run in '89

a cute little bridge we saw on the way back

Chandler High School Lions

Chandler Water Tower

A wooden Buffalo in Chandler

It says Welcome but we were leaving Chandler at this point

Welcome to Davenport!

Welcome to Sapulpa

Ollie's Restaurant in Red Fork, Tulsa, OK

The inside of Ollie's has trains all over it, this is the one on the outside.

A Route 66 Sign from The Round Barn in Arcadia!