Route 66 Oklahoma - The Mother Road and POPS.

ROUTE 66 - The Mother Road

This road extends all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, and the historic buildings and interesting spots to stop over at, are incredible.  Fortunately for me, Route 66 goes through parts of Tulsa and south through Oklahoma City, on it's way west, so I have been fortunate in finding some quaint places along the way, to take photos of.

I found myself taking one of the exits off the I-40S, and was soon bouncing along the winding road, which ran parallel to the main highway.  I had interesting things to take photos of on both sides of Route 66 - I was in Photographer's Heaven.

I couldn't wait to see what I would find over the next hill or around the corner.  It was a trip taken during the week, so the roads were quiet, and the weather was picture perfect.

These little houses - straight out of a history book.  It is as if time had stopped for a moment.  I couldn't help but wonder if these are still working farms.   Moving further south, I finally came across this place that I have been wanting to take photos of for over six years and the main reason for undertaking this day trip.   POPS, a gas station/soda shop unlike any other.

This ultra modern gas station, with gas pumps that look like something that was off loaded from a spaceship, a very colourful, gift shop with a small restaurant, that served up delicious hamburgers and sandwiches.   And of course, the 66 ft soda bottle, which changes colours at night.  A bright beacon of uniqueness on this historic road. 

 When we arrived there, it was busy and packed with tourists buying sodas, souvenirs and food.  There are over  400 different flavours to choose from, some of them are pretty weird, and I am not sure if I'd want to taste any of those.  But the people were packing in the bottles into six pack carriers and spending money on bright coloured caps, t-shirts and souvenirs, displaying the Pops logo on them.

After walking around the store for about 45 minutes, we bought a few souvenirs and then decided to find a table and order something off the menu.   We ordered the Friday special - the Buffalo Burger with fries

and the BLT sandwich

Both were large portions, inexpensive, and d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!!!!

We were very pleasantly surprised at everything that we saw at Pops.  The clothing was reasonably priced, but the sodas were over $2 a piece, which I thought was a little high.  Maybe that's because a lot of them are unusual soda flavours such as Buffalo Wing and some sodas with some rather unusual names.

Pops provided many opportunities for photos, which made me very happy that the trip along Route 66 had turned out to be worth it.  So often, I've been disappointed in so called places of interest in Oklahoma, but this trip is something that I would recommend and undertake again.  I'd like to go back there at night to take photos of the soda bottle when it changes to a variety of colours.

In the next segment about Route 66, I'll add photos of the drive back home and what I found at an outdoor museum along the way.