Five of the eight Schwantes boys and our sister (Where'd Ann go when we took this pic?) made it to Tulsa for our oldest brother's wedding on May 8th, 1999. Here we are just before "Muthuh" took off with Kim in tow to Oklahoma City via Route 66.

OK, so I eat my words about Old Route 66 being a boring trip. West of Tulsa it is actually a pretty neat ride. Several of the old buildings and much of the old road is still there. Not much of the old road is actually used anymore between Tulsa and OKC, but quite often it is there as a side or service road. We finally ran into some bikers here...a LOT of Bikers. It seems the local dealership was conducting a poker run for charity. Poker Rund=s are where you ride to 5 different spots (Yeah, usually they're bars) and pick a playing card. At the end of the ride, the biker with the best hand wins - usually a couple hundred bucks.

Near the town of Stroud, the recent tornado damage is visible everywhere. Here, a storage building is nearly destroyed. We won't see the really severe stuff til tomorrow on our day trip around OKC.

We stopped off for a root beer at the old ROCK CAFE in Stroud. This diner has been around since the original Route 66 days. The drive was really quite scenic and pleasant except for the heat - it was in the upper 80's and a cloudless day. We also stopped at "Hillbillee's" before we got to Oklahoma City later that Evening.