#157 Elk City, OK 10-26-09

We left Claremore, OK on Sunday and headed west and south for about 138 miles. Our stop on Sunday night was at the Midwest City Elks just outside of Oklahoma City, OK. They were closed, so we just parked out by the electric hook-up and left the next morning. We drove as far as Elk City, OK, about 145 miles. We stayed on a paved parking lot in back of the Elks Lodge. No hook-ups, and the lodge was closed until Wednesday.

We have finally found some sunshine! But, there is a cold breeze blowing to keep the temperature in the high 50’s. On the way into Elk City we saw the signs advertising the Route 66 Museum in Elk City, so we just parked the RV and jumped into the car and visited the museum that afternoon. We arrived at the museum about 3:30 PM. They close at 5 PM, but we had time to go through the three different parts that comprise the walk through exhibit areas.

One of the many cars that traveled Route 66

An original teardrop camper trailer. What happened if it rained? Mom still had to stand outside and cook!

This was a huge Popeye collection.

The story of the farmers leaving the dustbowl areas and heading to CA on Route 66.

I remember these scenes below. Love the car. Only it needs to be Red and White!

Water skiing the old fashioned way!

The house below was about as big as a studio apartment. Everything was in one room. Bed, combination cook stove and heater, table, chairs and couch. We have more privacy and room in the RV.

The gazebo was actually attached to the house and you could get to it by walking down the porch.

Below is just part of the rooms that were displayed inside the museum.

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Here we are inside the old train station! All aboard.

And here I am riding in the caboose. It didn’t go anywhere, just sat there.

The Old Opera House is set up inside to do dinners and functions.

A Phillips 66 gas station, just waiting for some customers.

We had to cross the street to go to the old barn that housed the farm and ranch items. We were met with a collection of windmills. Pretty neat.

Look what you can make with old horse shoes. And below you can really get creative with tools and implements!

We were greeted with a great collection of old farm tractors.

This was only part of the collection of tractor/implement seats. First collection has been painted bright colors and really makes a splash. The second collection are just cleaned up. All of them are in really nice shape.

Old tools, nicely displayed. And different brands.

Even a collection of old washing machines and pedal cars. Opps that’s a stroller in the middle. Can you believe my Mom used to push me around in one of those?

Isn’t this a cool truck? Some one did an excellent job of restoring it. It looks band new!

More trucks and tractors and equipment in the album below.

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We only had about 20 minutes to tour the farm and ranch part of the museum, so I took a lot of pictures. I’m sure I missed some things as the building was chock full of displays. The entire experience was first class and really well done.

#156 Claremore, OK 10-23 thru 24-09

We stopped at the Claremore Elks Lodge. They have about 5 sites with electric and and one with water. No one else was there, so we hooked up to the water and electric and went inside to check in. Lucky us! It was BBQ Ribs night! So we signed up for dinner in the dining room. Each Friday there is a volunteer cook, and they have a huge BBQ/Smoker they use. Food was good and we ended up with a box to take home! We also found out that Claremore is the home of Will Rogers. And we were only about a mile away from his Memorial Museum. So we stayed two nights and went to the museum the next day—and it was sunny! A really nice day.

We walked into the museum through the front door and were greeted with a Will Rogers recording of the song “I Never Met A Man I Didn’t Like.”

Outside is a beautiful from the back of the Museum. Above is a beautiful statue of Will on his horse. Very nice.

Frank is standing by the bronze statue inside the museum. A nice plaque below is near the entrance telling a little about the man.

The picture below is a recreation of his study/bedroom at their home in CA. He did a lot of writing for the many newspaper columns he produced over his career. He also did radio shows. Acted in movies, before and after Talkies.

Some of the playbills from movies that Will Rogers starred in

Before he became a famous columnist, radio and movie star he was performing in Wild West Shows. He traveled from Argentina to South Africa doing his rope tricks.

When the world lost Will Rogers he was mourned in many countries. He knew presidents, Kings and Queens, but never lost his home town, country boy appeal.

After touring the Will Rogers Museum, we drove a little further into town to the “Worlds Largest Private Gun Collection.” Hopefully you can click on the plaque and read about this amazing collection. There were display after display of more kinds of guns than I even knew existed.

How do you like the artistic way they are displayed?

There must have been hundreds of displays like the ones above over the entire inside of the building. All different makes, models, countries and sizes of weapons. It was overwhelming.

Above is a replica of a “backyard” gun shop. Many farmers had their own gun making shops, usually attached to the back of the barn, and made their own guns. Everything is all done by hand. There was a video playing showing how each step was done. Very nice.

Cowboy Frank!

How to make black powder and how gauge is determined. Very interesting!

There were also many displays of old instruments such as the one below.

Now if you read this below, you will know how, where and why the name Dixie came to be!