Back on the Road Again

We are back on the Road again thanks to Cecil & Sons Discount Tires. Not only did they get a Michelin Pilot PS2 tire and get it on my car in a timely manner, they called Michelin, explained the problem, new tire with only 1200 miles on it and a nasty nail ripping it up. He thought they might give me a goodwill discount......they did......100%. They got my $225 tire for free!!!! If you ever need help in Tulsa they are great. Here is their website http://www.cecilandsons.com/ . Here is a picture of Ken and Rick. They were great!

After all of the hard work and problems we decided that Baby needed a car wash. She was dusty and hot! Here is me hand washing her with tender loving care.

We did not leave Tulsa until 2pm, we had hoped to find a hotel in Oklahoma City, go to somewhere to do our laundry. We found a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Edmondson. It is new, they have not been open long, imagine our surprise to find our they are equipped with a washer and dryer. Life is good, tomorrow we will have clean clothes again!! YEA!

We found a brand new GIANT today. It is a giant Soda Bottle, not listed in our Route 66 guide book. It is at this place called POPS. They have hundreds of different kinds of sodas. Flavors and brands never heard of before.

Of course, just as we were getting to the end of our Route for the day we found this beautiful lake to take a few moments to pause and reflect on how blessed we have been on this trip and to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Oklahoma.

Getting our Kicks on Route 66,

Hazel M. Walker

Queen of the Road

Day 8: Women Road Warriors from Indy Do Battle in Tulsa

Well, by now you know about the flat tire, but let me tell you about the adventure that goes with it...and continues. To preface:
1. Our maps and EZ 66 Travel Guide are in the car...which is at the tire place. All my great little notes are on the guide.
2. Somewhere in the back of Baby was some fudge. I'm sure by now we have fudge sludge in the back of Baby. Dwayne, you are going to have your work cut out for you when we get home.
3. We were hoping to make up some time yesterday, so didn't get the Flat Boys out of the car for photo opps. Didn't plan on stopping much.

So now, on with the story.

When we noticed that the tire was flat, we pulled into a QuickTrip convenience store/gas station. Once we discovered that air wouldn't stay in the tire, I whipped out my trusty AAA card and asked Officer Leddbetter if he wanted to be our Knight in Shining Armor. Fortunately, he was up for it, and made the call to AAA himself.

Now, things get jiggy, and I'm going to do a bit of venting. You may want to just skip on down to the next paragraph or two.

Once the car situation was under control, I pulled out our Fairfield Travel Directory to get us a room. Officer Leddbetter told us we might have a problem as the PGA was in Tulsa, and the town was pretty full. We have been staying in Fairfields for the majority of the trip and have been very pleased with the accommodations and staff at each one. So, no problem, right? WRONG!
1. The room rates here are triple to what we have been paying....PGA
2. They would not give us the AAA discount...PGA
3. Our car probably won't be finished by the 12:00 check-out time and we can't stay another evening...PGA.
4. The address in the guide for this specific facility says 3214 SW. 79th St., but after going to the Fairfield on 79th (thanks James. I've never had such a party riding in a tow truck before!) we found out that this facility isn't really there. We, of course went to 2 other Fairfields to find this out.
5. Needless to say, I ran out of good humor by the time we found the correct place and let the desk clerk that raising room rates for stupid golfers was nothing more than price gouging, and I'd let somebody's Attorney General know how unhappy I was. Well, it sounded good at the time.

On our way out to dinner, I sincerely apologized to Denise, and thanked her for letting me act like a raving mad woman. She was great, but I still think this whole "sucks to be you" attitude just...well...SUCKS!

I gotta tell you though, "it's an ill wind that blows no good" and we did have a great time. Here's a mental image for you...James, Hazel, Penny, luggage and laptop in the cab of an AAA flat bed tow truck! James turned a bad situation into a really great memory. He's about the funniest guy I've met and truly represented the folks in Tulsa at their best.

Then we met Garret at Ruby Tuesdays and discovered that he paid more for his room at Comfort Inn that we did here. AND, he doesn't have a desk or even a chair! Just a bed. Garrett is the Field Service Manager for APC Global (hope I got that right), and after listening to Hazel and I chatter for awhile, he introduced himself and we had a lovely time solving the problems of the world over Mojitos and Buds! Mrs. Nunemaker, your husband is a great guy, and has certainly made this rough spot in the road much more pleasant. Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your new little boy!

During the whole "so, what do you do" conversation, Hazel explained BNI. The Road Warrior networking techniques are in full swing! Garret is looking for HVAC and ACE Power People in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Baton Rouge (Tim Paulin, you will be getting a call), so we'll make some calls for him, and help him out.

Woo Hoo!!! We caught the Italians!!!! sort of. As we were entertaining the bar patrons, a group stepped up to order drinks, and I noticed the accent. Trying to be a gracious representative of the US (OK, I was on my 2nd Mojito), I smiled my best Indiana smile and asked the really hot young man, "Are you the Italians?" I love that look you get when your listener doesn't really understand what the heck you are talking about. In his wonderful accent, he replied that yes, he was Italian and did I know him?

Why yes, sort of, I replied. You could tell he was searching his mental database to try to remember me, so I had to explain that we have seen their names in the guest books at several of the stops we have made. It was also our goal yesterday to "catch the Italians." Poor guy, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have clue what I was talking about, but he was very polite and gave me a hug anyway.

Well, it's getting close to check-out time so I need to put things together and go hang out in the lobby until the car is ready.

~Penny
Woman Road Warrior

A Flat What?

What a DAY!! We completed 3 states, MO, Kansas, and now we are in OK......We got started and we kinda had a plan, we were going to get to our hotel early today and then leave early next morning.

As we are headed down highway 66 in Oklahoma we were detoured. We kept going in circles, finally we stopped and asked the construction guys what was the best way to get where we wanted to go. He was laughing since he had detoured us already and we were back, but here is what he ask Penny........."How do you feel about going down a dirt road?" Penny's response....."Well how dirt is it?" He broke into laughter and said, "Dirt dirt!" Anyway we took the "Dirt" road, only to be trapped by a train, that decided to STOP and park on the track, for one hour, while other trains zoomed pass the other direction. Penny go out of our car to talk to the "Cowboy" in the Pick up tuck in front of us. She ask him if there was an alternate root. He stated that once the train decided to move we were exactly where we needed to be. In fact that Dirt road that we drove on was the "Original" one lane Route 66. We sat in the car waiting, all of a sudden we saw a guy under the train car on the track. It was a young guy coming to our side to ask us questions. Someone actually crawled under the train. How crazy is that.

What we did find out was that this town had CLOSED all of its bridges due to the collapse of the one in Minnesota so we had no other alternative but to wait. The train was finally gone. Off we go....the biggest McDonald's in the World, the giant totem pole, and we talked to some great people on a bridge....penny met a stray cat and a stray dog, no they are not coming home with us.

Finally we get to Tulsa, we are going to call it a night here, do laundry, and start early next day. NOT.......BABY decides to throw a shoe, FLAT TIRE! A wonderful police officer called Triple A for us and waited until they showed up. His name was Officer Ledbetter....one of the nicest police officers I have ever met, well except for Officer Eric K in Greenwood. We are going to send a note to the Tulsa police regarding Officer Ledbetter....he was wonderful.

Our AAA guy showed up, his name is James, what a hoot.....James is 23 loves cars and was so completely helpful. Loaded up Baby on a Flat Bed, took us to the car place then took us to our hotel.....only after we gave him the WRONG hotel.

OH, did I mention that the PGA Championships are happening here in TULSA....no hotel rooms to be found. We found one, the rooms we have been paying $79 for was not $225. But it is our room.

Once we got to our room we went Ruby Tuesdays, did I tell you that the PGA Championships are here? So you can imagin how crowded it was....so we went to the BAR where we had a great time drinking Mojitos. Lots of them....good thing we were walking. We met Garret there, he was a blast, NOT there for the PGA.

Over all, it was a great day. NOW I have to find out when BABY will be back and we can start on the road again.

STAY TUNED................

Hazel M. Walker

Queen of the Road

Route 66