Pops
Canon PowerShot S95
2013
Trip fatigue hit in Oklahoma. My sons felt it first. When we stopped for the night east of Tulsa on Wednesday, my youngest announced that he wouldn’t mind if we turned around for home in the morning. I felt for him, but we had one more day on the itinerary and (more importantly) nonrefundable hotel reservations near the Texas line. We pressed on. Thursday morning we stopped in Chandler to meet Jerry McClanahan at his home. He wrote the trip guide we were using – and on the Chandler page he listed his phone number and invtes travelers to call when they come to town! It was great to meet Jerry and see his Route 66 art; I even bought a print. But when we got back on the road I realized I felt it, too: the desire to be done.
As the miles passed I thought we’d never reach Oklahoma City. Then it swung into view as we rounded a curve: a 66-foot-tall soda-bottle sculpture. It was as welcome as an oasis in the desert, and we stopped. Pops is a gas station, convenience store, and diner that offers over 600 kinds of bottled sodas. It has to be the largest, most complete selection of carbonated, sweetened beverages in the world! Under the cantilevered canopy, the front windows are lined with pop bottles filled with every color of the rainbow. Inside, we paused for lunch, and my youngest boy excitedly assembled a custom six-pack of colorful sodas. I think he was glad we kept going one more day.
