Leaving Misery behind, i didn't spot Toto, but i'm OK

I woke up 5 mins before my alarm was slated to go off.  good thing as i didn't set it the night before. hah.  for the last few months i've been doing that tho.  odd.

I packed up the bike differently today so that if i did buy souvenirs i'll actually have space on the bike to put anything.  I tied down the 100% waterproof duffel to the bike.  I was leary that my seating position would drastically change for the worse. I also took out the new gloves i got.  They fit like they should. heh.

Beast is looking... beastly.

I headed inside to see what they had for breakfast.  not much, but i managed to grab some cereal and milk. great, now i have that stupid song in my head.

delicious rasin bran.  it was either that or cheerios.  i fucking hate cheerios.

I attempted to put a lot of miles behind me, so i took the interstate and started chewing them up.  Gotta love the speed limits down here.  70mph, so the cops will let you slide at 80. i like going 88.  I didn't feel like going through the hassel of finding Route 66 again as it's in little bits and pieces which aren't really joined.
Had i the whole trip to do it, i would have reveled in the discoveries.

playing with the GPS i got a hit for the 'route 66 drive in'.  Worse case is that there's nothing there and i just explored the countryside a bit wasting an hour or so. best case, something wonderful.
I didn't take a picture, but you can see it on google maps. whoop-dee-doo.
Route 66 Drive-in

It was however on old route 66, which was a GREAT little stretch of road.  Speed limits are set to 55mph, but there's no way with the amount of blind corners, bushes almost to the road, etc. to ride it safely  It was an exciting little ride that lasted about a half an hour.  couldn't take pics while riding that, as it was quite the job keeping the pig (Beast) in control while going 65mph. heh

you have to love quite roads like this when you can open it up, which i did.

i kept following old 66 as it was a nice road and i was moving along at a good pace. Life seemed suspended in time for a bit. no stress, worries, etc.  just road.
This led me to caterville... Quite a dilapitaded town.  I did like this though.

it's sad to say but most small towns i've gone through, since entering the USA, are in a sad shape.  most have boarded up windows, no real community or care in the look of the town they live in.  I suspect they do care, but lack of $$ puts it that way.  it's sad really.  i do love small towns.
I passed through Joplin, MO, which is in the midst of renovating the town.  Nice town actually, reminds of of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta where i grew up.

I just followed the brown signs that said "historic route 66". To note, the blue signs that say "route 66 bypass" is just a new road put there because old 66 was gone.
this led me out of Missouri and into Galena, Kansas.  Guess i forgot it went through Kansas. heh.

i like tanks

Following signs and not the GPS, i hit the historic 66. 

I came upon a bridge (snicker)

Obviously repaved, but this is the old 66...

if you can't read it, it essentially says "it's the last of it's kind"

This one says. "Kansas isn't important enough to have more than 13.2 miles of road" heh.

a seriously short, but enjoyable ride.  The weather was good, the road was good and i felt good.

out of Kansas and into Oklahoma. I wonder if cops give speeding tickets between the signs. how could they?

Entering Indian Territory.

it says "rich indians".  I found it neat that the Ottawa tribe was listed.
I found out later why this land was given to the indians.  White man fucked over the indians in the Georgia area and moved them all here.  fuck you white man.  wait.  indians became rch.  hmm. tough call.
I found this out by the friendly woman at the Oklahoma visitor center later on.

love old murals on old buildings.

Riding through that part of Oklahoma reminded me of riding in Alberta before you hit the foothills.  Not totally flat, not totally straight roads, and either ranches or farms everywhere...  a lot of wide open spaces

I kept following the route 66 signs (either blue or brown) and at one point i thought i was on a private road as it was getting very narrow and no other traffic was either behind me, or coming the other way.  I saw a brown Oklahoma sign for 'Historic Route 66', but this one had a crest or something on it. it looked completely different, and i now know why.  This is the most horrible road i could imagine.  it was absolutely fantastic.
from wiki  "Some sections of Route 66 still retain their historic eight-foot-wide "sidewalk highway" form, never having been resurfaced to make them into full-width highways."

the road was 8 feet wide. also a nasty road to ride on.

this is in great shape, for being what 80+ years old?

probably the best stretch in that entire road.  we have sidewalks bigger than this road.

neat how you can see the ancient original road veer to the left, aligning with the state highway

love it.

I just kept following signs, and if i missed one, kept heading in the same direction if it made sense.  Oklahoma must have a ton of country highways, most in great shape. 

I ended up in Vinita where i was starting to get hungry.  I had cereal this morning, but the last thing i ate before that was a small hamburger at steak and shake, 3pm the day before.

I bought some food at a gas station.  don't laugh people, you can find amazing foods at a gas station these days that isn't a mcdicks, or subway or kfc.

This one was called "Champs Chicken" at "the wood shed" gas station.

It's a cheap meal.  the chicken was pretty good (better than KFC) and it came with an assortment of deep fried sides.  no fries.  I chose the jalapeno poppers and mushrooms.  both pretty good.  I opted on not getting the deep fried green beans. maybe next time. Fast food in the US is dirt cheap.

some sites along the way that kept me diverging from my path.

an old bridge still being maintained from the original 66 alignment.  it was built in 1926

Monarch butterflies were everywhere it seems.  All over my helmet, my pants, my jacket and bike.  One must have been in the japanese air force because he dove right into my hand.  dammit.  stain on the glove already.

I kept going, and came upon a sight i thought i wouldn't see... the blue whale!  i had seen it on Roadside America and thought it was neat.

you enter it's mouth and can run along it's back, or slide ot it's fin?

If this were to be restored, i'd imagine little kids would like it. little kids are easy to please.

looks like an old snack shack.  I think they should re-open it.

I assume change rooms.

the full site

The site had visitor info, a map of Oklahoma and looking for any donation as only private money is funding it.

I put $5 in the slot.  These are the kinds of things we need to bring back, cheese or no cheese.  Am i just being nostalgic, or do i just hate corporate greed more than anything?  you go anywhere in Canada or the USA and it's the same stores/restarants in all of them. Mcdicks, pizza hut, KFC, Taco bell, etc...

We lost all variety.we lost all uniqueness.  it's pretty boring when every small town has the same stores in the same strip mall.  you forget which town/city you are in. seriously.

incidently, this is also the Will Rogers memorial highway and also the old mail route. Wil lrogers is from these here parts...

good thing i checked my helmet before putting it on.

I headed into Tulsa, and spotted three things. Traffic. construction and visitor info.

I hit the visitor info and chatted with the lady there for a bit, and how her family came across country on route 66 back in the day (1940s) and she told me how the relations between whites and indians were and in some respects, still are.  small towns liked the indians more than big towns did.

I picked up some info and some sweet Oklahoma stickers. so far i have something from every state except illinois or as my buddy Todd would say "Ill-Annoys".  Illinois drivers suck more than most. srsly.

Many suck in all states i've been through. Everyone is intent on being on their cell phones while weaving. nice.

an odd site at the visitor station.  must be a zoo around here.

when i think Oklahoma, i think "Multi-colored penguins"

due to me being one of the few with real 'luck' i ran into all the construction at rush hour. arg.  detour after detour i decided to just hit a starbucks. 

sorry for the bad picture, but it's hard to ride one handed while taking a picture at speeds, in traffic with contruction going on.

Why the picture? i hit 13333.3 kms. heh

After two different locations not existing anymore (looks like they were are converted into TI Mobiles) i gave up that quest and just tried to get the hell out of town.  a long time later, i stopped to get some "gourmet ice"  it's a slush, but more creamy.  Kinda like the Icee you can get at AMC movie theatres.

Done with that, looks like i was a block away from route 66.  The wind was starting to pick up and it was starting to get much cooler.  I decided to find a room for the night.  another 1/2 star motel.  clean enough.  has wifi, and a tv.  i'll have to start looking for cheaper places going forward, internet or not. i can't afford $50-$100 a day, every day.

it was still early and stll had daylight so i decided to go for a short ride.  maybe find a coffee somewhere.

the clouds looked surreal.  best pic i could take going 75.

I saw a gas station and a car wash across the street.  i've een wanting to wash it so i can put some stickers on. heh.

I started with the pressure washer, getting all the bugs off and CRASH.

bike tipped over AGAIN. dammit. 

more scrapes on the right case, handlebar and NERF bars. The right case got bashed in a bit more and the support frame got bent a bit more.  This time though, the fender got scraped and the right handguard cracked. Nothing a little duct tape can't fix for now. the rest can wait, but now the case is rubbing n the rear plastic panel.  meh.

Simeon is getting more wet than a... maybe i shouldn't say that in a public forum.

His hair reminds me of Mike D.'s latest FB picture.

Speaking of Micky D, that's what i ate for supper.  my choices were some Taco place or Sonic.

I guessed the free wifi outweighed the food quality.

I was taken by surprise.  possibly the best McDicks i've had.

The bun was soft and fluffly, the lettuce crispy and the fries crunchy. Another bonus was that they had Diet Dr. P on tap.  Another oddity was the cardboard the burger came in.  much thicker than the paper thin crap they give us at home.

i'll keep that bag of pork rinds for another time.