h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay, where was I? Tulsa?

We left Tulsa after lunch with Emee and her lovely family, around 1:30 or so. We passed through dozens of towns I can't remember the names of because I've left my Oklahoma travel guide in the car tonight. I'll fill in the details later.

One very cool place we stopped isn't on the map, and I don't think it even has a name. Mr B spied several yard ornaments and we stopped for a closer look. The owner had turned the front of his shop into a visitor's center and museum of sorts. He's built replicas of several Route 66 places, he has a movie screen, but we didn't see a movie. There's part of a diner there,and the front half of a Volkswagon Beetle hanging out the second story. On the inside are the front seats, and the kids had fun taking turns pretending to drive. He had a couple of classic cars in his shop, and a microbus under a carport made up to look like Filmore from Cars.

The yard ornaments included a sign saying how far it was to different cities on 66, an old motorbike, a few old gas pumps, and a bottle tree. There was a duck pond at the bottom of the hill with a cutout of the Blue Whale of Catoosa, and he let the kids feed the ducks. He was in the middle of grilling his dinner, so I didn't want to bother him too much, but I wish I'd taken the time to ask at least a few questions. It was obvious he'd put a lot of work and love into his project.

He gave us a copy of the guidebook that I'd ordered from the OK Rt 66 Preservation group that didn't arrive before we left, and it's been invaluable. I wish I'd had one for the whole trip! He also told us about a new place that was scheduled to hold their grand opening the following day called Pops, which turned out to be a really fancy convenience store. (We stopped anyway the next morning and had breakfast in their diner before getting back on the road).

We made it as far as Edmonds which is just northeast of Oklahoma City. We had some outstanding barbecue, but now I can't remember the name of the place. We thought about going back to Arcadia to see the Round Barn since it was closed by the time we got there the day before, but in the end we went on to Oklahoma City.

And due to the volume of the screaming children behind me, I'll have to leave it there and pick it up again next time.