Kick Your Kicks on Route 66

Day 82 of Photo Inspirations — Get your Kicks on Route 66!
I love Tulsa, and the more I have taken the time to “seize the moments” this year, the more I discover about this great city.  Tourists come here to take advantage of what we have, and this year I’m stopping long enough to also embrace what’s here.  Unless we determine to “stop and smell the roses” around us — we’ll miss out on so many opportunities to learn about what got us here.  

I took these photos at the Route 66 Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza located on Southwest Boulevard at Riverside Drive in Tulsa.  This is the “East Meets West” statue at the Route 66 Memorial Bridge that was installed in October 2012.  I can’t even believe 2-1/2 years have gone by and this is the first time I saw it.   The statute is of Cyrus Avery, the “Father of Route 66,” climbing out of his car to help a farmer whose horses have been startled by the vehicle.  It shows Avery’s wife turning to check on their daughter and her obviously terrified cat.  The Centennial Plaza, with the flags of the eight states of Route 66, and the Route 66 logo and skywalk were complete in July 2008.   Are you kidding me?  I’ve NEVER taken the time to be at this plaza — what in the world was I thinking?  Fact is I WASN’T thinking…..I was too busy DOING!  I’m a human BEING — NOT a human DOING!!

Now, I know who Cyrus Stevens Avery was and the credit he gets for being the “Father of Route 66”. He created the route while being a member of the federal board appointed to create the Federal Highway System, then pushed for the establishment of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to pave and promote the highway.

In 1907, Avery and his wife and family moved to Tulsa.  Avery realized that an interstate system of highways would help his adopted city and state prosper.  He became instrumental in pushing for a federal level of good roads. In 1925, the United States Secretary of Agriculture appointed him to the Joint Board of Interstate Highways, which was to designate the new federal highways and mark them.

After the highways were routed, the group decided not to name the highways, but instead to follow the pattern of numbering the highways.  The current east-west routes would be even numbers, and the north-south would be odd.   Route 66, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles.   It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” and the Route 66 television show in the 1960s.

In 1927, Avery pushed for the creation of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to promote paving U.S. 66 and promote travel on the highway.  (That amazes me — they were calling it a highway system when there were only dirt roads.)

Avery died in California on July 2, 1963, and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Tulsa.   Avery Drive, a street in southwest Tulsa, was named for him.  In 1997, the National Historic Route 66 Federation established a Cyrus Avery Award, which has been presented variously to individuals for outstanding creativity in depicting Route 66, and to organizations for noteworthy preservation projects.

And, now you know where “Route 66” came from!  Stop by and see us sometime — so you can grab hold of a little history!    YOU’RE WELCOME!