Oklahoma

The state crosses the state starting in the northern part, going down to the southern part, making this section about 602 kilometers long. The road was officially opened December 7, 1926 until it was officially replaced and renamed with the Interstate-40 (I-40) and the I-44 in 1985.

In the early 30’s the Dirty Thirties started, which it basically was a period of really hard dust storms that slowly started ruining the agriculture in some states of the U.S and part of Canada. Oklahoma was one of them, and the drought waves that came with this horrible phenomenon made many families with farms have to move to different states to seek for a better life that they could just not find in this part of the country. That is where Route 66 takes prominence due to the amount of families that decided to take their journey to a better place by using this road.

So as we can see, this part of the Mother Road had much importance during all this terrible years that squandered many families lives.

Being one of the states with more drivable kilometers of the whole route, it is one of the parts where you need to be more focused.

Dairy King Commerce

It is located on the west side of Main Street, in the city of Commerce. It was built with the porpoise of being a gas station owing to the great amount of drivers passing by every single day. Unfortunately, when Route 66 was replaced with new and better highways, this business was doomed to fail.

But to keep the place alive so as to preserve the spirit of the route, they reconverted the place into a fast food place which nowadays offers hamburgers, ice cream and Route 66 shaped cookies. The main way to be able to tell you are in front of the place is by looking at its neon light ice cream cone in the front of the building.

Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park

In Foyil we find a really important attraction of Route 66, the Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park, where we find the World’s largest totem pole. The park was constructed by Ed Galloway, a manual arts teacher, who after working for more than 20 years decided to move to the little town of Foyil, were he began planning the construction of the park and the totem pole.

He started with the construction of the totem pole in 1937 and he did not finish it until 1948. He used materials such as steel, cement, sand and rock. His masterpiece ended up measuring 27 meters long and 9 meters wide. Although it is said to be a monument to Native Americans, he claimed he only decided to build it owing to the boredom he felt, not as a way to pay tribute to Indians.

It is for sure a MUST on your trip!