Day 10: June 23, 2007
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Road Crew, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Road Crew, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK A group called the Road Crew, which includes e-group member Joe Loesch, opened the day musically. I had seen the video of one tune from their Songs from the Mother Road CD and liked it. These guys sounded pretty darned good so I ended up buying a copy of the CD. That guy with the big camera is Ron Harsh of Route 66 TV Online who contributed to the "That Ol' 66" video.
Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Then, as temperatures climbed, I walked around most of the 200 entry car show. There were big motorcycles & small motorcycles, big cars & and small cars, old hot rods & new hot rods,...
Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK Car Show, Route 66 Festival, Clinton, OK ...and then there was the Hawk. It's a 1958 Studebaker Golden Hawk and, yeah, it's got a super charger plus factory air conditioning and some of the classiest tail fins the '50s ever saw.
Lucille's Roadhouse, Weatherford, OK Lucille's Roadhouse, Weatherford, OK Lucille's Roadhouse, Weatherford, OK Lucille's Roadhouse, Weatherford, OK Lucille's Roadhouse had been closed when I was there Sunday and, especially since I continued to hear good things about it, I figured I best be giving it a try today. The Roadhouse was having its own mini-car show with some "for sale" vehicles owned by Fast Toys for Boys parked in front of the restaurant. I sat at the counter next to where Sheila Lindsey was eating lunch. Sheila and husband Bill Manage Lucille's. I didn't know that was Sheila's lunch next to me because the seat was empty when I walked in. She was up attending to some detail as she would continue to do while I chowed down on a great 'burger. Takes her about two hours to finish a meal, she said. But it's not because the place is understaffed or the employees are sluffing. It's just that the Lindsey's are that kind of managers. It probably takes Bill about two minutes to finish a meal since I'm fairly confident that his lunch today was the couple of bites he took from his wife's plate while they talked. The steak house part of the restaurant is only open in the evenings but Bill & Sheila invited me to explore the place. Looks like I've got another reason to come back. A place that turns out a hamburger this good and has management as caring and friendly as Lucille's, is almost certain to serve great steaks. And almost certain to become a successful Sixty-Six landmark, too.
Thomas Stafford Airport & Museum, Weatherford, OK Thomas Stafford Airport & Museum, Weatherford, OK Thomas Stafford Airport & Museum, Weatherford, OK Thomas Stafford Airport & Museum, Weatherford, OK While in Weatherford, I stopped by the Thomas P. Stafford Museum at the Thomas P. Stafford Airport. Only a railing separates entrances to museum and tarmac so be careful or you may go farther than you intended. Stafford's life and career are well presented along with general aviation history. Displays range from an excellent replicate of a Wright Flyer to the actual flight suit Stafford wore on Apollo 10.
White Dog Hill, Clinton, OK White Dog Hill, Clinton, OK White Dog Hill, Clinton, OK White Dog Hill, Clinton, OK White Dog Hill, Clinton, OK White Dog Hill, Clinton, OK I had taken the expressway to Weatherford but returned to form and headed back on the old route. I spotted the old truck then remembered that I had read something about a restaurant named White Dog that was doing something like a preview during the festival. This must be the place. The building was originally the Clinton Country Club with a 9-hole sand-greens golf course around it. The Country Club closed in 1959 and the building went through lives as rowdy bar and private residence before being abandoned in the early 1980s. But the fortress like building survived until Nelson King bought it a half-dozen years ago. It was going to be his home but the idea of a restaurant took hold and King has spent the last three years working toward that end. Jason Dodson, the restaurant's chef, joined him about a year ago and the place is set to open for real in about two weeks.

They are open during the festival but serving only drinks and deserts. My first thought was to just have a beer and take in the view, which I did. But I kept noticing a lemon pecan pie on the bill of fare posted here & there and finally sat down to try it. Excellent! There are dining areas on two floors and in the photo of the lower floor you can see the solid rock from which the stones were quarried to build the house. I spoke at length with Jason but did not meet Nelson. However, the source of the restaurant's name did come by to look me over.

Clinton, OK Clinton, OK Clinton, OK Clinton, OK At the edge of Clinton, I stopped at the Cheyenne Cultural Center but the door was locked. The door was unlocked and I was greeted warmly at the Mohawk Lodge Indian Store & Trading Post but I took no pictures inside. The store dates from 1892 and offers only genuine American Indian products. It should actually be called "Store & Trading Post & Museum".
Clinton, OK A day ending shot of three somewhat different members of the Sixty-Six community. Joy Avery, Cyrus Avery's granddaughter lives in Tulsa and embraces the roadies that travel the road. Ron Jones has more than 50 Route 66 icons tattooed on his body. He live a bit north of Tulsa in Bartlesville and he & Joy are great friends. Photographer Russell Olsen lives in California. He has completed two volumes of Route 66 Lost and Found and is working on a third. I've owned volume one since it was published, picked up volume two here, and am hoping volume three will be available at next year's national festival in Litchfield, Illinois.
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