OK. Jane and Patty lived near Route 66 as well.  In a brief detour from life in the Chicago area, Mom and Dad Callaghan took the expanding family to Oklahoma for a spell.  Little Janey joined the family in Oklahoma and has a certificate from then Governor Dewey Bartlett to certify that she is, indeed, an Okie.  As we pass through Oklahoma and the road flows beneath our feet, we’ll take a picture or two of our little Okie, Okee-do-kee?

What makes a girl frame a certificate from her birth and keep it on the wall in her office?  She’s a bit of a nut, sure.  But so darn fun.

Best friend to Patty.  Sister Extraordinaire.

Okay, what’s their secret?  On any given day these two sisters are sending each other texts recalling movies they saw together in the 80’s but that deserve to be recycled again and again for their juicy dialogues.  Maybe there was a short clip from a you tube video that became their anthem.  Out it comes.  Quotes from The Office.  Sound effects from a song we all have forgotten but not those two.

Family stories become Legends.  Aired publicly and aired often. For the enjoyment of all.

Last week was Callaghan Beach Week.  Sounds like it should be a reality show, right?  The fam rents a few adjacent condos on the island, and there you have it.  More stories for us to hear.  I popped over to the beach to meet up with the beauties.  Jane and Patty.  Jane and I bobbed in the ocean til I began to feel seasick.  We talked about some sort of Send-Off…our trip is in three weeks.  Patty’s husband, Guy, stopped over to lounge with us and so did Patty’s son Alex and his girlfriend.  Just good peeps.  I’ve missed the gang of six…our traveling squad.  Patty, Jane, Patti, Trudi, Jean.  There have been no Route 66 planning meetings for several weeks, but we have one coming up.  We stay in touch with hilarious group texts that are punctuated by Poop Emojis (I’m the blog master so obviously I’m called BM in all group correspondence!)

Today Patty has her fourth chemo dose of six.  One more dose a few days before we leave.  And the last will be after we return from California.  I think of her on these days.  She’s probably dozing as the chemo medication drips down its tube into her body.  Typically she is very exhausted on chemo day and also the next.  Sometimes it’s five or six days of feeling ill.  Sometimes just a day or two.  Not much eating.  No complaining.

If you ask, she says, “I’m okay.”

                                        definition of okay:  all right, proceeding normally, acceptable,

                          meeting standards, doing well or in good health, adequate but not exceptional,        

                                                                dependable, trustworthy, likable.

It’s about 600 miles from Chicago to Oklahoma.  First you drive through Missouri and then a short distance through Kansas.  Only eight miles of Route 66 are in Kansas (three towns)…and then you enter Oklahoma.

Actually Oklahoma is the state with the most miles on Route 66.  In Clinton, Oklahoma you find the Route 66 Museum.

And what of us, the Sixty Sixtahs, PV’s Roadtrippers, the Suburban Six?  Will we load up in the gift shop on Route 66 shot glasses and coffee mugs and snow globes featuring corvettes driving past beef cattle?  Will we hit a campground with a pool and a dodgy hotel and a marginal restaurant because we heard they have wine?  Will the wine be a little Oakey?  Okie?  OK  That’s enough.

It’s three weeks til we leave!

 

 

Fun Facts:

When was Route 66 commissioned?

         November 11, 1926

How did the road get its nickname, “The Mother Road?”

         John Steinbeck named it in his book The Grapes of Wrath.  “Route 66 is the mother road, the  

         road of flight.”

When was Route 66 decommissioned?

          June 27, 1985.  It was replaced by I-55 from Chicago to St. Louis, I-44 to Oklahoma City, I-  40 to Barstow, I-15 to San Bernardino, and I-10 around Los Angeles.      

And what do you know about Oklahoma?

         Well.  Per square mile Oklahoma has more tornadoes than every other state.  Originally this state was set aside for Indian Territory, but in 1889 the state was opened to settlers for the Oklahoma Land Rush.  Those who “jumped the gun” at the noon shotgun start land rush were called Sooners…thus the nickname “The Sooner State.”  Oklahoma’s state dance is the Square Dance, and the state beverage is Milk.