Get Your Kicks on Route 66

While we have been sticking to the Interstate, we have been following pretty closely along historic Route 66 through Oklahoma and Texas. A small, two lane, seldom traveled road these days, there are still some interesting touristy stops and places not far off the highway. We spent a day in Elk City, Oklahoma at the National Route 66 Museum Complex. A museum with classic cars and motorcycles and other Route 66 memorabilia, like the Burma Shave signs that once lined the road. It was a fun place to while away a hot summer afternoon. The boys loved the old cars and the drive in screen showing trailers of The Blob and The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

They also had buildings collected from various stops along Route 66 assembled into a town square. You can't go in most of them, but the old fashioned soda shop is opened and serves candy and cold sodas. There's a table with checkers all set up and ready to play and the coolest juke box I've ever seen. You can only choose one song at a time, but they have records (yes, actual 45's!) of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and many others. You can only push 1 button and select 1 song at a time, and I was able to take this video of the juke box in action, but the internet won't let me upload it.  Here's a picture instead.

Our next stop was Amarillo Texas, where the boys cooled off in the pool and we enjoyed dinner at The Big Texan Steak Ranch, a Route 66 staple. Offering free limo service from our RV park, we sampled some locally handcrafted beer and enjoyed a lovely steak dinner. The Big Texan is famous for its 72 ounce steak meal. They have a special section in the restaurant for those who dare order it, and if you can finish the whole 72 ounce steak, salad and roll within an hour dinner is free! Their menu claims that the current world hot dog eating champ, Joey Chestnut, ate the entire meal in 8 minutes and 52 seconds in 2008. We did not even attempt it, choosing instead to share the steak dinner for 2. The little dude had a fabulous hamburger, the middle son enjoyed a plate of yummy chicken quesadillas and the teenage vegetarian had...a side of mac and cheese. After dinner we walked through the kitchy Route 66 scenes and took some pictures.

Route 66 was a fun way to break up a few long days of driving. We're heading into the mountains and looking forward to enjoying a change of scenery and some cooler temperatures in the coming days!