Change of scenery ...

After several days of good ol' mom, baseball and apple pie Middle America wholesomeness, Route 66 revealed another side of life today as it cut through a dilapidated section of Tulsa, Oklahoma.


Instead of good ol' guys and gals steering riding lawn mowers around lush green lawns and smiling kids riding bicycles down the street, there were filthy, disheveled men holding cardboard signs on street corners, a plus-size young woman in a too-tight mini-skirt and high heels wearing too much makeup and smoking a cigarette standing near the roadway out in front of a rundown motel.  Lots of unsmiling faces on tired-looking people waiting at bus stops.

Kinda sad ...

I spent most of the day trying to outrun Tropical Storm Bill, with reports of heavy rain and flooding headed toward southeastern Oklahoma and beyond. It rained off and on, but mostly light showers, as I motored from Vinita, near the Kansas border across the state to El Reno, about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City. Then, I started to run out of gas -- me, not the car -- so I decided to stop as soon as I saw a barbecue place and a motel. I found both in El Reno, but the motel  across from the barbecue place did not have WiFi, so I had my barbecue sandwich, but no room for the night.

Not to worry, though, just a little farther down 66 was a nice, clean but cheap motel that does have the modern convenience of Internet access, so here I am.

Tomorrow, I'll slice through the Texas Panhandle and maybe even make it into New Mexico. Hopefully, I'll have a little more get-up and go, and I'll nail down a few good interviews to let  y'all get to know some more of the folks who live along Route 66.

Cheers, everybody.

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