Just another hot yet productive day out here.  No tickets, mechanical, or health issues.  Lots and lots of miles.   The heat & monotony led me to consume  my first daytime coffee of the trip.  Definitely in the 90s today.  One bank clock said 99 but I don’t think it was that bad.  So much for the forecast of “cooler”.  The trend is for clouds in the morning that burn off around noon — then blue skies pretty much the rest of the day.  Got to remember to plan if I can with the bulk of the shots (biggest cities) from noon onwards.

First day of the trip that the dogs didn’t get to go swimming & wading at least once.  The only water I saw was a lake in Elk City with big signs about dogs on leash, no wading, all that.  So I chickened out.  And the dogs were majorly pissed that I didn’t stop.  They were staring right at the water.  Otherwise, the heat pretty much zaps them.  Nik runs for about 10 minutes and then, panting like mad, happily flops on the ground on his back so I can pour water over him.

The day started in Enid — lots of cities in Oklahoma that are new to me and this was one.  Here are a couple neat mid-century buildings with metal letters (stainless steel?  aluminum?):

A neat petrified wood & stone building, also in Enid.  I assume this was originally a house — now seems to be used by a refrigeration business:

This abandoned building in Pond Creek sure has a prefab Valentine diner look.  Valentine did build other structures – not just diners.  But I really don’t know about this one.  The only thing inside really at this point is a big industrial scale.  No signs that this was ever used for food.

OK — so I went to check out this building in Geary that the guys at the El Tipi in Shattuck (see last night’s post) mentioned.  Technically, exit 108 on I-40, so this is Calumet.  And they’re still building it.  Right now, a Shell station.  So we’ll see if this teepee really turns out to be class — or cheapie vinyl covering like the one in Shattuck.

On the other side of the highway is this place — the Indian Trading Post.  I went there to shoot the Indian Muffler Man that was moved there since I was here last.  I think I saw another one of these Indian Trading Post signs near Clinton — so maybe there’s a second location:

Lucille’s — a former gas station and cafe in Hydro — is a Route 66 landmark:

But this building, also on Route 66, east of Hydro gets no mention anywhere that I’ve found.  Although it’s a house now, surely it must have been used as a gas station, and maybe a cafe as well.  Might even have been built by the same person since the design is so similar:

Another mid-century bank with those letters — from Clinton:

A neat clock & temperature sign at City Hall in Canute.  The clock doesn’t work and the sign no longer revolves — although it does blow around a bit in the wind:

From Erick — the Cabana Motel is long gone but this sign remains.  The letters have pretty much all peeled off the corrugated plastic.  But the crown is still spiffy:

From Mangum — about eight well-worn stools in there — and I guess some tables in the back:
http://hamburgerinnmangum.com/history.html

Running out of light but I still got a couple more photos for you.  From Roosevelt — this tire guy is right next to the high school:

And lastly, the former Franroy Theatre in Snyder:

Tomorrow’s plans:  more smallish towns west and south of OKC.  The forecast, for what it’s worth, is for lots of rain this weekend.  So I’m going to try to schedule OKC before that — and then Tulsa after that.