If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way
Take the highway that’s the best
Get your kicks on Route 66

It winds from Chicago to LA
More than two thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66

Now you go through St. Louis
Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty
You see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don’t forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino

Won’t you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

A great song written by Bobby Troupe and performed by the likes of Nat King Cole, The Pied Pipers, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones, Manhattan Transfer, Brian Setzer, John Mayer.

She & Me decided to get our kicks on that famed cross-country route for our return to Florida. Today, Interstate 40 parallels or replaces Route 66 along much of the distance along our travel between Flagstaff and Oklahoma City. Driving up from the Phoenix desert floor to the high desert of Flagstaff and Northern Arizona, one is greeted by the snow-capped Humphreys Peak.

On the way to our first campsite we stopped to see the fascinating Meteor Crater. 3/4 mile across & 560 feet deep.

On that same trajectory is another location made famous in song, “Standin; on the corner in Winslow. Arizona. Such a fine sight to see. It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me.” Take It Easy by The Eagles.

Our first night out was at Holbrook, Arizona to see the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. It was a fascinating and incredibly beautiful 28-mile drive through the National Park.

An astonishing number and variety of sizes of petrified trees.

38 years ago she sat on a similar petrified log in this same park and cried for no apparent reason. Only later did we discover she was carrying our first child. Petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock (photo taken through a telescope).

These photos do not accurately show the depth and scale of the colors in the Painted Desert. Also in Holbrook is one of the seven original Wigwam Motels (only 3 remain).

Though Albuquerque is not mentioned in the song, it is a beautiful city worthy of musical tribute. Our campsite included a life-size steel replica of a stagecoach and team.

Historic Old Town at night.

HUGE breakfast burrito with pastor friend Nate Bush at the famous Duran Central Pharmacy. Yes, the pharmacy serves food 🙂 Love that delicious Hatch red chili sauce!

Next stop was Amarillo, Texas and one MUST get a steak in Texas…

As we entered Oklahoma we stopped in Clinton to see the Route 66 Museum…

Oklahoma has two can’t miss exhibits. The National Memorial of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing. This is a sobering and moving tribute to the 168 lives lost in the bombing. The building has been torn down and this memorial and plaza in it’s place. The associated museum is very thorough and accurately portrays the loss and devastation.

The memorial “gates” at each end of the reflecting pond say “9:01” and “9:03” representing the beauty & calm of the minute before the 9:02 explosion and the exact minute that recovery and healing began after the explosion.

168 chairs representing where each victim was sitting when the explosion hit.

This is the new Oklahoma Federal Building constructed across the street from the memorial

On a happier note, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage museum…

The painting below is 2-dimensional, but as you walk in front of it the cowboy’s and dog’s heads turn and follow you! There are many displays like the one below of Gene Autry who Me met many years ago while waiting tables in Cincinnati.

Turning south from Oklahoma we left Route 66 behind but hope to one day complete the entire length by driving the distance from Chicago to Oklahoma City and Flagstaff to Los Angeles.

Our inaugural full-time RV trip from Florida to California and back is coming to an end as we continue through Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama into Florida.