Route 66: The Oklahoma City Area

For a road that's been considered the Mother Road since Steinbecks "Grapes Of Wrath" in 1939, she is poorly maintained in areas. While "big business" in Oklahoma City has been directed to BrickTown, and the Canal has been built, some of our other historical areas around the City are being neglected and forgotten; mainly Route 66.

There is a stretch of Route 66 that runs from Chandler to El Reno that Id like to welcome you to. Strips of the original Mother Road are broken up by big highways and developments, but the road is still easy to maneuver. It is very close to the beginning width in places...original bridges are narrower than the ones of today, you have to use extra caution. This stretch of Route 66 has a lot of surprise scenic views along the way also, but also some major potholes and puckered up pavement.

There are many colorful stops, people to meet and enjoy along the way. These are really my people, I sound "just like em", we like the same foods, and enjoy the same stories. This is an insiders' view of that strip of road.

*Chandler Oklahoma was formed in the 1891 Land Run, and later became an Oil Boom Town. Route 66 is part of the main street, and the town is mainly covered in brick roads. There are some steep hills that run through the area, and that red clay dirt hosts a lot of fauna and wildlife. This region is green with meadows and trees, After the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Bermuda grass from the area was used to reseed counties in western Oklahoma. Also, for a winter wonderland feeling, Chandlers Christmas parade can't be beat...For a small town, they really know how to welcome Santa, he's always on the firetruck, waving at kids, then socializing after. I saw him there when I was a little girl, my son saw him there, and next Christmas maybe my grandkids will see Santa there too!

Along the road is a series of Murals, a restored Phillips 66 gas station, P.J.'s Bar-b-que. West of town is the last remaining painted barn adverting Meramec Caverns (all the way in Missouri).