Tuesday, October 27, 2009

#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.

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One of the many cars that traveled Route 66

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

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This was a huge Popeye collection.

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

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

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Water skiing the old fashioned way!

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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.

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

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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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.

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Old tools, nicely displayed. And different brands.

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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?

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

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More trucks and tractors and equipment in the album below.

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.

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