Route 66 on a shoestring!: Tulsa, Rain and The Glancy

Well, we
woke to rain. No problem. All our gear is waterproof and it sure wasn’t
the first ride in the rain for either of us!
We went downstairs to the lobby for the promised breakfast buffet. I’m not sure if they really didn’t want us to
eat any of the breakfast or if they were trying to protect us from eating too
much. The only plates available (as seen
in the pic below) were little saucers slightly larger than a donut! It was for the best as nothing there was very
good anyway so, it was a rather light breakfast.

We loaded up and headed through
downtown Tulsa, OK. There were deep
rivers of rainwater flowing through the streets but, luckily we never had to
put our feet down in any of them! Had we
more time and money, I would have liked to have stayed a while. There were many shops with a certain retro
and artistic feel like a cultural and musical community had centered itself
there. Unfortunately, due to the weather
I have no pics.

We rode through quite a bit of
steady rain. Nothing too heavy but, just
steady. We stopped for fuel at an island
along the interstate and the rain stopped while we were there fueling our bikes
and bodies.

We headed towards Oklahoma City and
crossed through several Native American territories. I recall Fox and Sac and Iowa. I know there were more but, my memory fails
me. We came through a small town with an
old smokehouse rolling smoke beside the road.
We wanted to take pictures but, something about the town felt as if we
weren’t welcome. We saw no one and no
signs of life other than the smokehouse but, something just didn’t feel right
and since we’ve both actually seen a few horror films, (Wrong turn,
Deliverance, The hills have eyes) we decided to move along post haste!

The sun had come out and the sky
turned into the opening scene of The Simpsons with those perfect little clouds
covering the entire visible sky to the horizon.
We passed a huge waterpark which I believe was Water-Zoo park but, not
100% sure on that.

We stopped at a Pilot truck stop for
a break and another biker pulled up. If
you’ve ever seen Raising Arizona, then you know The Biker From Hell. I think this guy was related. He was riding a chopped Vulcan 500 ( I think)
that had definitely seen better days. He
told us he was travelling from Georgia to California to meet up with an
Australian model he had met somehow and was now dating. He said he left GA with $3 in his pocket and
was polishing chrome and aluminum and other shiny bits on big rigs to fund his
trip. We were expecting the typical beg
for money but, he never did ask. Very
nice guy and very interesting! I can’t
remember if he left first or we did but, it was time to roll on again!

We went through the Cherokee Nation
which really surprised me as I’m from Cherokee country and didn’t realize they
had a presence so far west. Of course,
there were signs everywhere advertising the casinos and trading posts. As we left Cherokee lands, we entered into
Cheyenne (sp?) territory.

We rolled into Clinton and found one
of the original Route 66 motels. The
Glancy Motel/Motor Hotel was in the process of being restored by a gentleman of
what appeared to me to be Pakistani descent.
Mark, being the Route 66 fanatic that he is desperately wanted to stay
here so, I checked to see if there were any rooms available. There weren’t of course but, the owner said
he would work something out even if he had to give us his room! He said he had a regular customer who had a
room reserved but, he usually calls in before now and figured he wasn’t going
to make it so, he gave us his room. I
was a little uncomfortable with that situation but, took the room anyway.

The owner told us the Glancy was
scheduled to be torn down and he couldn’t let a piece of history like this
disappear so, he bought it. The owner
was a really nice and attentive host but, I have to say we have different views
on what restored is. I really don’t want
to speak badly of the guy because he was such a nice and cheerful fellow but,
as soon as we opened the door to the room, it smelled like old toilet
water! I’m not sure how he passed
electrical inspections or plumbing! The
bathroom still had the old in-wall electric heater but, it was
disconnected. The shower had been
re-tiled and at first glance it looked very nice but, upon further/closer
inspection it was very shoddy work. The
tub itself had been painted with some sort of plastic coating that was peeling
up and creating large bulges/bubbles in the floor of the tub! All in all, it was a very poor quality
room. However, that being said, for $50
it served our needs and I would probably stay there again.

We rode to a local steakhouse and I
managed to get a burger with fries and they actually cooked the fries to my
satisfaction! I can’t tell you how hard
it is to get restaurants to understand what “CRISPY” means!! If they aren’t at least lightly brown with a
bit of a crunch to them, I don’t want them!
I ordered FRIES not mashed potatoes!
Mark had a strawberry chicken salad that according to him was very
good! Not my type of food but, I’ll take
his word for it!

There were what appeared to be a
group of the workers who were restoring the motel grilling from the backs of
their trucks. Although we had a good
meal, the smell of what they were cooking told me they were the winners in the
dinner competition this night!

The view of the bikes from the room during the rain after unloading.