Day 16 – 3723 Miles

CHELSEA, OK to ELK CITY, OK – 306 Miles

Picture this. A humid yet cool morning with overcast skies. You fire up your bike and the heartbeat of the 45 degree twin courses through you. You climb on and pull out of the charming roadside motel onto the Route, just two bikes whizzing down a lonely stretch of highway, a freight train running along beside. Closing in on the engine, you lower onto the tank and accelerate, racing the train, and as you speed past, the train blows his horn and you wave. That’s how my day started and the smile hasn’t stopped.

The good mood started at the Chelsea Inn, a great spot to stay, clean, and run by a friendly couple who are passionate about the Route.The joy continued with breakfast at Meemaws Kitchen in Claremore Oklahoma with great food, kind people, and a fun conversation with a local couple who rode their motorcycle up the 101 in California.

On the way East, we missed Catoosa’a Blue Whale cause it was on the wrong side of the street so, of course, we stopped this time.

Built as an anniversary gift in the seventies, it ran as a water park until the eighties and is now another kitschy roadside attraction.

 Uhhh yeah… Interesting toilet configuration here… Have a chat and a pee?We avoided Tulsa on the way out, but since it was Sunday on the return, we followed the Mother Road through town and were pleasantly surprised. What a cool place! And no traffic. But we didn’t stop to take pictures. We had a destination in mind.

Our primary goal for the day was to make it to the Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum in Warwick Oklahoma and this time they were open! (we showed up first time on their one day off, Wednesday)

Not only is the pre-route 66 gas station beautiful (and a fantastic ride through the countryside to get there), it also holds a great selection of bikes, like this early twenties ABC, a horizontally opposed twin made by a British aircraft company, defunct by 1923. Never seen one of these before.

Jerry, one of the partners, shared lots of great ideas with us for the Motor Palace and was a terrific host. A highly recommended stop.

We detoured around Oklahoma City this time, and even though we were starving, pushed on. I must have missed a turn in Weatherford and made a bad call on the road ahead. It looked fun with lots of deep dips leading into the sunset and it WAS fun… Until it turned to gravel.

Even so, it was a beautiful way to watch the sun go down and it didn’t take too much to get us back on track.

And we got to see Bondorella’s pal at the White Dog!

We finally quit moving ahead in Elk City and sadly discovered no restaurants were open so ended up with a lukewarm (but tasty) fast food burger at Braums and a stay at the Flamingo Motel, not a bad motel (polyester bedspreads but clean although a little pricey for what it was).

Now it’s time to roll out of bed for another adventure-filled day!

Until tomorrow…

Later Gators!

And as always, click to read about life on the road from Brian’s perspective!