One of Elk City’s most noticeable features is the 179-foot tall oil derrick, that sits just a block south of downtown’s Main Street. The derrick is in the parking lot of the Anadarko Basin Museum, housed in the old Casa Grande Hotel. The museum is only open by appointment, though, so if you’re determined to turn this into an educational field trip, you’ll have to plan ahead.
Route 66 is mostly frontage road between Clinton and Elk City, and again between Elk City and Sayre. Through downtown Elk City, the route is easy: just follow the I-40 Business Loop.
I stopped for a minute to walk downtown, not so much to take a picture of the landmark derrick, but rather…
… to try to figure out why, in a window nearby, Godzilla is apparently attacking a Route 66 shield. If anyone can explain that one, I’d love to hear it.
The rest of Elk City’s downtown is somewhat uneventful. Or, maybe it was just me. After all, at this point, I had walked through at least a couple dozen small-town downtowns, and they were all starting to run together.
Note: This trip was first published in 2008.
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