Our first stop is the town of Hydro. I hate to admit it, but we’ve never actually gone into the city. We always just stopped out at Lucille’s on the highway. Hydro is a really cute little town and worth a look. The main street has diagonal parking on each side of the street and a lane down the middle for parking also. We stopped in at the Drug store where there is also a Route 66 Grill. Pretty good menu too. They have a small memorial to the Mother of the Mother Road, Lucille Hamons. We signed the guest books and headed back to the road. As we pulled up to Lucille’s station we both had big lumps in the pit of our stomachs. The place looked so forlorn with the windows on the motel boarded up. We looked in the windows of the station and there is nothing left to suggest that it once was a thriving place of business. We walked across the road and paid respect to our adopted grandmother at the cross that has been erected in her honor. We sat at the picnic table that is there and took some photos.

As I was standing there looking around I swear I heard her meek voice saying “You kids get in here out of the cold”. It just wasn’t the same not being able to spend our day visiting with Lucille. We got back in the car and noticed that a black and white cat had come out to see who was there. As we drove away my tears began to flow. We miss you Lucille. When we passed later in the evening we noticed that her yellow sign is still lit. A welcome beacon in the dark night.

Hydro, Oklahoma

Cheryl took these photos a few days before Christmas 2000. Little was I to know that I would lose her in a few short months. Cheryl’s memorial cross is now beside Lucille along Route 66.

We continued on to Weatherford and were amazed at the lack of rush hour traffic. Another little town that is just starting to grow. Hope it doesn’t lose the small town flavor it has now. We then cruised on into Clinton. It was sad to see the vacant lot where Pop Hicks restaurant used to be. Another icon of the road gone because they couldn’t afford to pay the high costs of insurance to cover the costs of rebuilding. We headed over to the Route 66 Museum. We arrived too late for a tour. Bought a few trinkets in the gift shop and then went across the street to the Route 66 Restaurant. We had an early supper that was delicious. We got lots of food for our money. We headed back to camp.

The next day we headed towards Oklahoma City for a lunch meeting with Jim Ross. We met Jim at the County Line restaurant on the north east side of town, just off of 66. A great place with good food and a colorful history. We got to eat in a separate room that used to be a private card playing room back in the days when the place used to be a roadhouse. We had a most enjoyable visit with Jim. We really look forward to his new book on OK Route 66.

Jim Ross’ house on an old alignment of Route 66 near Arcadia, Oklahoma. Cheryl had ordered his latest book and it arrived after her death. Thanks Jim for caring.

After lunch we headed towards Edmond, which doesn’t have much left from the old days, and then on to Arcadia. It’s been a few years since we have been inside the Round Barn and that is our destination. We visited for some time with Butch who seems to always be there. He’s quite a character and fun to talk to.

We then went out to an old original section and took photos of a house that looks like an old Phillips 66 station. Really cool! We love this stretch of road. We would love to have a house here. Maybe the owner will sell to us one day. ;) We traveled further east and checked out an abandoned section that is privately owned, and has a large sign up to tell you about it. It’s a nice stretch. There’s even a web site for it: www.myroute66.com. Can’t wait to be able to get online and check it out. We continued on to Wellston, a nice little town. Wanted to beat the rush hour traffic so headed back to camp. Tomorrow we move further west.

We’re making our camp at the Windmill RV Park in McLean TX. We’re meeting some old friends for dinner at the Red River Steak House here. Our friends are Delbert and Ruth Trew, curators of the Devil’s Rope and Route 66 Museum here. We always enjoy our visits with them. Delbert has so many great stories to tell, he’s a joy to listen to. Ruth is interesting too, she’s just a little softer spoken. ;) We had a great dinner and then came back to our place for more visiting. The steak house was packed and it was very noisy. I see why they added the extra seating. It’s great to see a business do so good on the Mother Road.

We had planned to drive back to Clinton to the museum but ended up out at the Trew Ranch, a museum in its own way. And I’d much rather talk to people that have lived so close to Route 66 for some time anyway. People are what bring the road to life. The Trews have a great place and their company is always welcome. We had a good time. We went to a late lunch at JB’s Café in Alanreed. It was good food. It was a great day. Tomorrow we are moving on to Amarillo where we will spend Christmas and ride out the snow storm that is supposed to hit. We’ve found a place that has instant phone service at the site. Yippee!

Alanreed, Texas Ruth Trew took this photo of us at their ranch. The Trew’s put together the “Texas Route 66 Association” newsletter and dedicated an issue to Cheryl Thanks.

We landed at the Overnite RV Park on Christmas Eve day. All day we drove through a wet fog. We couldn’t even see the world’s largest cross until we were almost upon it. We went to supper at the Big Texan. It was decorated really pretty for Christmas. We had hoped to see Becky Ransom but she’s gone home for the holidays. Nobody tried to eat the free 72 ounce steak while we were there. The food was great as usual. That night everything froze and we ended up with a white Christmas even though it wasn’t from snow. We got the snow starting that night. We ended up with a total of 20.2” that fell at a rate of 2” every hour. Needless to say, we didn’t go anywhere for a few days.

Thursday we decided to head west since we had had one day of no more snow. What a mistake that was. The roads were still treacherous and icy. We saw many vehicles that had spun off the road and several 18 wheelers. It was a white knuckle event that I handled really well. If I must say so myself. We found ourselves wishing we had waited one more day to travel. Earl got the nice dry road. We decided to stop at Santa Rosa NM. A KOA with instant phone hookups at the site. We sure like this new convenience. We did enjoy pointing out which side of the road Route 66 was on as we traveled the Interstate. After we got set up and rested a few we headed out for supper. We went to Joseph’s for Mexican food and margaritas. Both were really good. They have a pretty good gift shop there now as well. We will try to make Gallup tomorrow. Gotta stay ahead of the storms now.

We left Santa Rosa and headed west. The wide open spaces are wonderful. The lava rock and the desert look good with a touch of snow. We stopped for a lunch break at Rio Puerco just west of Albuquerque. Most of the old buildings have been razed. There is a new Bowlins Trading Post here now. The old steel truss bridge has been spared and remains standing. An old guy that was sweeping the gas pumping area said that it had been closed about three weeks ago. You can still walk across it. We’re glad to see this bridge still there. As we passed through Grants I was surprised to see that they now have a Walmart. Progress. We made camp at the KOA in Gallup. Walked over to the Ranch Kitchen for the best Navajo Tacos we’ve tasted. It ends up being 6 degrees in the morning. Brrrr!

After a little thawing we get back on the road heading west still. We were really missing all the great sections through this area, some are wonderful for cruising. Coming into to Holbrook AZ we started seeing dinosaurs along the road. All part of the advertising to get you to stop and check out the new dinosaur park there. It was fun to see an old form of luring the tourist in to see an attraction back in use. Before getting into Winslow we were saddened to see that the old bridge that is off of Hibberd Road is completely closed now. When we were through here a couple of years ago you could still drive out to the bridge and then come back the way you came. The bridge has been removed and also some of the roadbed. This bridge was used in the movie “Forrest Gump” during the running scenes. What a shame. It was also sad to pass by the closed Meteor City and Twin Arrows. The further west we go, the less snow there is. All of a sudden there was a great sense of relief; we were in the pine trees. It was such a feeling, a return to home. If things go our way we will live in the Flagstaff/Williams area one of these days. We are making camp at the Railside RV Park in Williams. More instant phone service sites. ;) We will be here for a couple of days before we continue on. It’s great, we have no snow and daytime temperatures are in the 5Os. I can actually open the windows and let some fresh air in.

After we got settled in we made a dash over to Twisters before they close. The wallet I have been looking for was purchased here. Guess what? They don’t have them any more? :( I’m so bummed. But I’ll keep looking. They’ve got to be out there somewhere. We met some friends (Bob Moore, Jessi Taylor and her fiancée, Rob) for supper at Rosa’s Cantina. They have moved to Grand Canyon Blvd to the old bowling alley building. Lots more room. The food seems to have gotten better than the last time we ate there too. Had a great visit with our friends.

Next day we went over to the new radio station in town, KRTE (the Route). We got a tour of the room that puts out all the music by Bob Moore. Really amazing how this all works. It’s all run by computers. Pretty cool. They can program things to run a week in advance. Guess I thought I was going to see the old time DJ booth, not a disappointment though. Learn something new every day. Had a good visit with Bob, very informative. He also pointed out an abandoned section of road that we didn’t know was there, it can be seen from the station. We’ll have to go do some exploring. It’s a good day for some domestic stuff that needs to be done, groceries, house cleaning and washing the Vette. A good way to kill a day before the BIG night, New Year’s Eve. We met friends for a great supper at Rod’s Steak House. They had prime rib and lobster for $30 a couple. Very good. We finished out the evening watching Dick Clark. A nice way to end a year.