Today I’m riding in honor of BOB NEUMANN.
If you would like me to ride in tribute of your loved one, please email a photo to [email protected] or [email protected], include the person’s name and a brief note if you like, and send your contribution.
The entire $100 donation, is tax deductible and will go toward Alzheimer’s programs at Cedar Community.
Click here to submit your donation.
On a side note, today’s Kindness of Strangers Award goes to
Kimber from St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Clinton, OK.
“It’s not fun, I tell you, to lose your two best friends like that,” she said.
Kimber had an upbeat personality and spoke about keeping busy.
A secretary in the church office, Kimber had lived in Clinton her entire life.
Her husband was 15 years her senior. “I just gotta keep movin on,” she said. “What else can you do…. but, it hurts – there’s no foolin anybody about that.”
Black and white photos courtesy the Route 66 Museum.
Today Judy Steffes is riding in THANKS to all of her sponsors:
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One of my most favorite encounters so far has been with Harley in Erick, Oklahoma.
He was the owner of the shop, with was the former City Meat Market turned into a frequent tourist stop just off Route 66.
Harley was dressed in well-worn blue-and-white bib overalls. He was minus a shirt…probably cooler that way. Harley, 76, had his gray hair pulled back in a ponytail. His voice was gravelly and his personality eccentric.
I found him endearing, entertaining and lonely.
“Take as many photos as you want,” he said again as he flipped on the lights inside the store.
There are photos with Harley and his beloved wife Annabelle; the pair apparently drew more attention than the local museums.
“Now what are you doing on this bike trip,” said Harley. “You want a cold drink?”
I declined and Harley came back with a root beer and poured it in a frosty mug that looked like it could hold 64 ounces.
I explained the tour and then got distracted by a picture frame full of rattlesnake tails.
There were tambourines and markkas. “Let me sing a song for your dad,” said Harley as he strapped on his guitar. “Roll that video.”
And with that Harley belted out a dedication tune of Route 66 to Al Steffes.
Some people might have been scared. I thought it was wonderful.
After the song Harley said, “You want to come over and see my house? I call it the castle-slash-sanitarium.”
How could a gal resist!
I felt a little uneasy. I could see through Harley’s shtick … But I was nonetheless a little wary so I …..
STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT…. Did I go along with him or not?
About 7 miles after crossing into Oklahoma I pulled off the road to seek shelter for the sun at a gas station in Erick. Hiding behind a big stand of trees was a billboard for the Roger Miller Museum.
The museum was in the old Hood Drug Store. Back in the day it was run by Ed Hood who was uncle to Darla Hood from the Little Rascals.
The drug store had a soda fountain and was a popular teen hangout for the Erick High Schoolers. (They were the Bearcats)
Lots of vintage photos and stories about Miller who apparently was a handful while growing up.
Miller moved in with his aunt Armia and said it was “so dull you could watch the colors run.”
He also mentioned “the town was so small the town drunks had to take turns.”
In school Miller was one of 36 students. “Me and 36 Indians,” he said. “We had a high school dance and it rained 36 days straight.”
I thought the Miller Museum was fabulous until I drifted down the street and met Harley.
Rare to have shade trees along the Historic Route 66. Found this just east of Shamrock. I pedal in the cover of the trees even if it’s fleeting. Sun is intense with sparse cloud cover. Temps will near 100 but I finally have the wind at my back and that helps.
After taking the pictures I looked up an saw two cows staring at me. It was like a scenario from the Far Side.
In 1915 the city leaders in Shamrock contracted with the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works to fabricate the Shamrock water tower at a cost of $6,560.
In the early years travelers used it as a photo op to mark their progress through the Panhandle.
Travelers and locals alike used it as a gathering place as they watered their horses and wagon teams. The concrete troughs under the tower quickly became part of the social fabric of the community.
Many recall their teen years when the tower was the turnaround for the main drag in town.
A note of kindness to Pastor Billy in Sayre, Oklahoma who gave me a place to stay Saturday night after I drifted into town in the rain.
TheBiKeWriTer is a travel-by-the-seat-of-your-pants website. Few plans, lots of spontaneous adventure, great people, with a little bit of history and humor thrown in. Follow along.
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