Day 7: Oklahoma City to Clinton, OK

Sign outside of a closed business
in Hydro, OK

A shorter drive today from Oklahoma City to Clinton - the shortest time we will be on the road during this whole journey.

Oklahoma City State Capitol

Oklahoma City, the state capital, had very few signs that we could find from the Mother Road. We saw a couple motels and a theater, but other than that, we couldn't find much more. We did drive by their state capitol, which stood very majestic from far away and was pretty impressive close-up.

Mural in Bethany, OK

Right outside of Oklahoma City, we drove through Bethany, which is a suburb of the city. Bethany houses the Western Motel but as we approached some of the side streets of the main 4-lane highway, we also saw several murals depicting sights that you would have seen back in the day. They were very nicely done as you can see in the pictures.

Mural in Bethany, OK

Next, we got to Yukon, which still has one of the largest grain elevators and proudly displays its product on its side. That is something else that we noticed in this side of the state.

Grain elevator in Yukon, OK

As we drove through several of the towns, we noticed that they are much more industrialized than what we had seen before now. Whether it is grain or oil or steel, you can clearly notice the industry in the town as you drive through.

Long stretch of the original
Route 66 in Oklahoma

Another interesting part we have been seeing over the past couple of days is the character of the downtowns. The buildings clearly reflect their era and if you can picture away the existing cars and make believe that the paved road is a dirt road, you will find yourself back in the wild west.

I was also glad that for many miles today, we were able to drive the original paved road far away from the interstate. Sometimes it would take 20 minutes before we saw another car.

1933 pony bridge over the South Canadian River

Near Geary, OK, we drove over a fairly long 1933 pony bridge crossing the South Canadian River. While the bridge was impressive, it was sad to see that there was no river to be found below us - everything had dried up with the recent drought. In our travels through Oklahoma the past couple days, we found several spots where blackness replaced the once green trees or land.

When we got to Clinton this afternoon, we stopped by the Route 66 Museum because we heard it was worth it. While not very large, the museum had the stages of the route divided up by decade to show the many changes Route 66 went through.

Creating the road in the 1930's

Workers laying concrete on the Bridgeport Bridge

Starting with the desire and need to build the route in the 20's, it quickly underwent changes in the 30's with the Depression where travelers no longer could afford to travel.




Then in the 40's, World War II demanded use of the route for artillery movement. From there on, the route served many other purposes - from moving people to goods until the need arose to build firmer interstates. That's when the route slowly became abandoned until the last several decades, where some people do understand the importance that route has played and try to preserve it the best they can.

Love and peace, man.....

It was a great stop to learn some more about the history of Route 66 and a great way to end the day.

Miles driven today: 99
Time driven today: 3hrs 35min

Total miles driven: 1,005
Total time driven: 34hrs 10min