Childhood Memories Revisited

Childhood Memories Revisited

Day 7, Trip 4, 7/7

Another day headed back to CA. We felt good about the things we accomplished for the cats to make their summer more comfortable, well actually, in Oklahoma, survivable. With that, we wanted to get ahead of the heat, and headed out after breakfast about 9:00AM.

For as long as I have known my husband, I have heard stories of his memories driving from Illinois to California on Route 66. Yes, he was that iconic 60’s kid in the backseat of the Ford Custom with his two siblings, windows rolled completely down, trying to stay cool as they traveled the two lane highway. Parents in the front seat leading the charge, hoping to find a better life out west.

Although there are many Route 66 highlights, we had to visit them sparingly as our main goal was to get back to California, (Kind of ironic, thinking about it). Our stops or highway breaks always revolve around filling up the car with gas. Interestingly enough, back in the day, cars didn’t travel as far on a tank of gas, and service (gas) stations were littered throughout the 66 journey. Nowadays, cars are able to go quite a bit further on one tank, and we made it to Clinton, Oklahoma.

We first noticed Clinton’s Route 66 Museum on our way to my sister’s house, and made a mental note of stopping on the way back. After filling our gas tank up, we moved the truck across the street and parked in front of the museum. From the first moment on, the museum launches you back five decades with neon signs, by-gone era architecture style, and advertisements that used to blanket the walls. A small drive through soda kiosk sits off to the side, gracing the scene perfectly to his memories. We walked through the old chrome doors and paid a modest entrance fee. Well organized, each section of the museum was dedicated to a decade of influence. From trails to highway, displays described how that specific decade influenced Route 66’s growth. For more details and information about Clinton’s Route 66 Museum, read Will's blog here.

Once again we hit the road and this time, made it to Shamrock, Texas. Again an iconic Route 66 town, Shamrock’s Conoco Station made it on the big screen influencing the Cars movie, with Romero's Body Shop. Since we were hungry, and were just about done with sandwiches made out of the ice chest, there was a small homegrown burger diner next to the Conoco gas station, called Rusty’s. Not to be confused with the other diner that was part of the gas station building, Rusty’s is a popular among locals. Offering a solid burger and chips plate, hospitality was generous, and locals gathered to exchange data. Such a pleasant atmosphere and lunch, we will return to Rusty’s again in the future.

The sun hadn’t set yet, and we needed to check into our hotel. We picked a Best Western as they usually have dependable rooms, comfortable beds, and offer a standard breakfast. Unfortunately this BW went a little overboard on the use of the industrial cleaner, or something similar, because the detergent smell was quite strong. We stayed anyway, as it had been a long day. As evening fell, we wanted to head back to the Conoco as we had heard the lights are lit up at night, unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to park a truck and trailer at a hotel, and we secured a spot. We promised next time we will make an effort to get the evening pictures.

We settled down in our room, watched some shows, worked on our blog, and got ready for another day on the road. Today was a very fun and reminiscing day for us both, especially Will.