Amazing America:

Route 66 from St. Louis to Oklahoma City

De: Stan Paregien

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

This book is a trip down nostalgia lane. When spending a few months with our son in Waterloo, Illinois, we had two friends approach us about leading them on a little trip. That idea was to drive to and by the famous old haunts of America's Highway, old Route 66. In our case, we would start with them in St. Louis and see the sights all across Missouri. Then we would detour, as ol' Route 66 did, up and through both Galena and Baxter Springs, Kansas, then south to enter Oklahoma at Vinita.

Now, these close friends of ours -- Michael and Penny Letichevsky -- had never seen much of Oklahoma. So our main mission was to show them the beauty and the history of our home state. So in the four or so days we had, we toured the fabulous "Brick Town" area of OKC. Then we saw the elegant memorial related to that awful bombing on April 19, 1995 of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. It was built in memory of the 168 people who were killed and the 680 others who were wounded that day, as well as a tribute to the emergency medical workers, the law enforcement people from several agencies, the various military branches who sent help, and others.

While in OKC, we also gave a multi-hour tour to our friends of the spectacular National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum. Later, we toured many of the homes in the near northside of OKC that are in the "Historic District." Many of them were built by the rich folks, mainly oil people, in the 1920s and 1930s.

On another day, we visited the majestic Oklahoma State Capitol Building and grounds. Where a number of oil wells still operate. Then we were off to Edmond (through which the old Route 66 passed) to show off some of our favorite places, such as Hafner Park. Along the way we also spent several hours in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It was the very first location of our State Capitol when the state was admitted to the Union in 1907. We ate lunch at the Boomarang Cafe (1950s style), then tour the beautiful downtown, including the historic homes and the Masonic Temple. We spent a couple of delightful hours visiting the Oklahoma Territorial Museum & Carnegie Library.

All in all, we had a wonderful time with our frequent travel buddies Michael & Penny. They were impressed with the diversity of the different towns we saw along the way. And they especially liked the friendly, open attitudes of the people we met. Nothing could have been better, . . . except for the weather. It was a steamy 100 degrees (or more) every single day. When we returned, we had wonderful memories of our trip along Route 66. And we hope you enjoy reading about it.