Route 66 Immortalized In Chandler Interpretive Center

"I think the term ‘Mother Road' is one of the big things, and then just the aspect that you've got so many historical things that people have talked about and are advertised."

So says Charles Frazier who works at the Route 66 Interpretive Center in Chandler, Oklahoma.

Route 66, immortalized in movie and song, runs right through Chandler. And this old armory is here to tell you about it.

Built by the WPA, it was dedicated in 1937 but abandoned by the national guard when they built a new one in the early 70s. There was even talk of tearing it down, until a local group made the effort to save it. Now it's a shrine to not only Chandler's military history, but to the nation's most famous road.

"We've had as many as 22 different foreign countries' people come through here," Frazier says.

They come to experience the nostalgia of another time--to get their kicks, you might say.

There are no less than three beds here in this exhibit. Why beds, you ask? Well, because you wouldn't want to do all that driving on the Mother Road without catchin' a few Zs along the way, would you?

These beds represent all the motels along route 66. And there are more reminders as well.

The sheets hangin' from the ceiling represents the clouds.

And you can watch 66 videos from a model "A", a Jeep, or a Ford Mustang.

And that name? "Interpretive Center" perhaps sounds a little highfalutin', but don't worry, the folks inside are as down to earth as, well, the road itself.