Only 24 Hours From Tulsa - Meeting a Route 66 Legend and Dinner with the Amish

[UKDEB]

Index of previous instalments

Friday, 30th July, 2010

We're awake bright and early for a hotly anticipated breakfast date with Michael Wallis. This gathering has been brokered by Sally Stewart, a volunteer mentor of many years at Alcott Elementary. She and her husband are neighbours of Michael and his wife at the historic Sophian Plaza in Uptown Tulsa, east of the Arkansas River. (A brief snapshot of its history is included in the Metro Tulsa instalment of Sunday, 25th July.)

A best-selling author and award-winning reporter, Michael is a historian and biographer of the American West who also has gained international notoriety as a speaker and voice talent. In 2006 Michael's distinctive voice was heard in Disney Pixar's Cars as the Sheriff of Radiator Springs. Michael reprised the role in Cars 2 released this summer (2011). And, as I've mentioned several times before in this trip report, it was Michael who led Jon Lasseter and his team on their pre-production scouting junkets of Route 66.

A storyteller who likes nothing better than transporting audiences across time and space, Michael has published seventeen books, including Route 66: The Mother Road, the book credited with sparking the resurgence of interest in the highway. This summer has seen him promoting his most recent labours of love; the biography of David Crockett, entitled David Crockett: The Lion of the West, and The Wild West: 365 Days; a day-by-day adventure that tells the stories of pioneers and cowboys, gold rushes and saloon shoot-outs in America's frontier. Here he is talking about the former on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

His work has been published in hundreds of national and international magazines and newspapers, including Time, Life, People, Smithsonian, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. Here's the complete bibliography.

Michael has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize and was also a nominee for the National Book Award. He has won many other prestigious honours, such as the Will Rogers Spirit Award, the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall & Western Heritage Museum, the Oklahoma Book Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book, and the Best Western Non-fiction Award from the Western Writers of America.

Michael was inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of America, the Oklahoma Professional Writer's Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame, the Tulsa Hall of Fame, and was the first inductee into the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame. He is co-founder of the Route 66 Alliance (a national alliance of the state associations). He received the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book as well as the Lynn Riggs Award and the first John Steinbeck Award.

We set off for the 5 & Diner shortly before 8:00am, armed with Cars merchandise and a couple of Sharpies. We arrive in good time and are shown to a corner booth which will be perfect for our get together.

Sally and Michael arrive shortly after and Michael is soon regaling us with tales of the highway. He's a wonderful raconteur, drawing us in with his mesmerising narrative and rich baritone delivery. One gets the feeling he could continue all day without running out of steam or material and we could certainly listen all day, but the hour and a half we have with him just seems to evaporate. He's been extremely generous with his time, particularly as he arrived back from a trip to New Mexico only yesterday evening.

[There was so much to take in that I've forgotten a lot of it. There were certainly tales of Sophian Plaza's chequered past and the high jinks of famous former residents. At one time, Paul McCartney was a regular guest at the rooftop parties which used to be common there. So, too, Babe Ruth and Tony Randall. There was something about Jeanne Triplehorn and something about window canapies being set ablaze by cigarettes discarded from higher floors, but I don't recall whether the two were related! I do know that he and his wife bought one of the apartments that make up their living quarters from Ms Triplehorn.

There was a funny little story about Paul Newman, Michael's co-star in Cars, relating to a scene where Newman's character, Doc and Michael's Sheriff share a risqué exchange. First of all, I need to recount the dialogue:

Lightning McQueen: [Bursts into Doc's Clinic] Hey, have you seen the Sheriff?
[Sees Sheriff on the hydraulic lift, his undercarriage exposed]
Lightning McQueen: Oh! Oh, my gosh!
Doc Hudson: What are you doin'?
Sheriff: Get a good peek, city boy?
Lightning McQueen: I-I just needed my daily gas ration from the Sheriff.
Doc Hudson: Well, wait for him at Flo's. Now, get out of here.
Lightning McQueen: I've been trying to get out of here for three days!
Sheriff: Hope you enjoyed the show!

Newman quipped to Michael, “You're the only male actor who can claim to have been in a nude scene with Paul Newman”. (I'm paraphrasing, I'm sure, but you get the gist.)

He filled us in on some of the plot details for Cars 2 (at the time, the voices had yet to be recorded) as well as some of the instructions Sheriff will be calling out to guests at the new Cars Land in Disneyland California. He made Matt and me chuckle by roaring at us both, “You're in a heap o' trouble”.

Most bizarre are the yarns about Texas millionaire Stanley Marsh 3 (that's three, not the third), sponsor of the roadside attraction Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo (a tribute to which features in Cars).

Michael, a recurrent visitor to Stanley's home, Toad Hall, paints a scene of chaos and pranks. Peacocks and guinea fowl run loose around the house. He likes to bury himself up to his neck amongst the Cadillacs, wearing a top hat, to scare visitors. He once kept a pig in his kitchen, but he fed it too many marshmallows and it died. He stuffed it with pinto beans and had it suspended from the ceiling. Just your regular everyday household, then…]

Sally Stewart is gracious and charming with a warmness and kindness of spirit that shines through. Striking and elegant, she epitomises good taste. We feel extraordinarily privileged to have met these two admirable and inspiring people and are sorry when the time comes to say goodbye.

Before leaving, Michael tells us to be sure to visit the small Route 66 Museum in the Harley-Davidson dealership next door. It houses the restored motorcycle on which he travelled the Mother Road and which nearly claimed his life, together with memorabilia which he and his wife, Suzanne, collected along the way.

The door is locked, so Susan enquires at the gift shop below. The person with the power to grant us access (we’ll call him The Keyholder) is busy with a customer, she’s told, but will be with us shortly. In the meantime, Susan purchases a couple of Harley/66 pins for our bags. (It’s been a while since I started these reports, so it’s probably worth reminding you that, at the start of the trip, Sister Sally gifted us bags which Mother and Mother’s helper, Darla, had made from old pairs of denim jeans. We’ve been toting them with us each day, gathering leaflets and attaching pins that we’ve collected along the way.)

After waiting 15 minutes or so, there’s no sign of The Keyholder, so Susan approaches an employee in the showroom. He disappears into a room at the back and within seconds someone is there to attend to us. He introduces himself as Jerry and takes us to the museum upstairs, happy to wait with us for as long as we want to spend there. He removes the cordon and “do not touch” signs from Michael’s bike, suggesting that we sit on it for photographs.

He and his wife are just back from an 18 day, 6,150 mile road trip through Canada and along the west coast. Matt chats with him whilst Susan and I peruse the memorabilia in the cabinets.

We’re joined by dealership owner Larry Wofford who apologises for the muddle due to some merchandise which is being stored there ahead of a sale (also the reason for the locked door). He spends some time chatting with us, telling us that he and his wife were married in England. Both men are affable and engaging. Larry insists on refunding Susan for the pins she’s purchased, so Jerry takes us back down to the store.

 

[UKDEB]

Our next port of call is Utica Square, the outdoor shopping village where we stopped briefly yesterday for Matt to buy some cigars. As soon as I clapped eyes on it, I knew I had to come back. Conceived in the early 1950s before the mall trend, it was one of the first shopping areas built away from downtown. The village-like design was developed to be inviting to the customer without alienating neighbouring residents. Considered risky at the time, it thrives today as one of Tulsa’s most treasured attractions. It’s a mix of high-end national chains and quality local merchants, built around a green where lots of events take place, from concerts to flower shows; art displays to farmers’ markets. Over 300 trees were planted in the mid 60s and the gardens are all beautifully manicured. I can’t help being struck by the similarities between this and the two brand-new lifestyle districts we encountered in Texas right at the start of the trip. I’d love to see something like this in the UK and there are certainly places where it could work.

We park up outside Williams-Sonoma and head inside.

I always enjoy browsing this store, but it doesn’t sell much which could practically be taken home to the UK. Matt treats himself to some margarita salt and a rimmer. (Insert your own joke here.) He then makes his way next door to Ted’s Pipe Shoppe where he has visions of partaking of a cigar and a tot of bourbon with some good ol’ boys.

Susan and I go for a stroll, stopping first at Miss Jackson’s. A Tulsa tradition for 100 years, Miss Jackson’s is an uber upscale ladies’ department store. We enter via the jewellery department where Gerald hands us his card before escorting us to the elevators. He sends us to the second floor where “Ladies Fashion is hosting a designers’ weekend and serving canapés and champagne”. The store is full of very smart and clearly very monied women. I feel uncomfortably out of place in my tourist attire, but the assistants, each of whom is every bit as glamourous as their clientele, are wisely non-judgmental, at least to our faces. Passing through the Fur Salon, one of them (clad head to toe in mink) tells me she can “do the coat on the stand at 50% off”. It is, apparently, “sixteen-five”, but “she knows she can do it for eight”. Oh well, in that case I’ll take two! We’re offered canapés – truly beautiful creations, not something thrown together by an employee who’s popped out to the local Publix – but we never see the champagne Gerald promised us.

Having done a full circuit of Ladies Fashions, I ask the two assistants book-ending the elevator doors about the whereabouts of the stairs. We’re directed around to the side. Clearly Miss Jackson never intended her customers to exert themselves in such a way as these are service stairs. I feel like a proper fool and wish we’d just taken the elevator. During our descent we bump into a surprised tray-toting young man who offers us dessert canapés. I hastily decline and, feeling decidedly ill-at-ease as we exit into the front lobby, suggest to Susan that we leave.

(The door on the right is the access to the service stairs)

More at home in Petty’s Fine Foods next door, I have a good browse and buy some filé for making authentic gumbo: something I’ve never come across at home. We do a circuit of the remaining shops, stopping at an independent gift shop where I buy an intricately embroidered Oklahoma tea towel. [It’s much too pretty to use, but I intend to create an Oklahoma display in one of the spare bedrooms and I'm sure I can do something creative with it.]

Back at Ted’s, we wait while Matt finishes his cigar. He’s had quite an eventful time, indulging in a good old chinwag with a proper cross-section of Tulsa society, including the US Attorney for Northern Tulsa, a couple who are professional marksmen, and Chantelle, the local transvestite who is today sporting an Egyptian outfit and showing off a gold lamé dress she’s bought for a function this evening. We chat with the owner and the couple who shoot competitively. It sounds as though the wife in particular is very good at it. They regale us with juicy stories about early Oklahoma.

Next we take a wander over to the Polo Grill where we sit at the bar for drinks. My ultra chilled Gainey Chardonnay (Santa Rita Hills, California) served in a Riedel glass really hits the spot. We’re skipping lunch today as we’ve an early dinner scheduled and we know it’s going to be hearty fare. We briefly question the decision as we realise this award-winning place is right up our street, but common sense prevails.

Polo Grill has been recognized for its achievements countless times on local, regional and national levels. The restaurant has received the Wine Spectator Award for nine consecutive years, garnering the honour Best Award of Excellence. AAA Travel Guide has awarded the restaurant a Four Diamond rating for eleven consecutive years. Additionally, Polo Grill is the only restaurant in Oklahoma to become an award-winning member of DiRoNA - Distinguished Restaurants of North America.

As proprietor/chef, Robert Merrifield has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation as one of the "Rising Stars of American Cuisine" and was invited to cook at the prestigious Beard House in New York City. Robert has been named as a "Celebrated Chef" by the National Pork Producers Council and was sent to Russia and China as a culinary goodwill ambassador. He has also been featured on the Food Network.

 

[UKDEB]

As I’ve mentioned previously, Tulsa has no fewer than fourteen historic districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places and one of the largest concentrations of Art Deco architecture in the US. Our intention this afternoon is to scope out a few more of them. We start in midtown, where we hunt down Westhope, the home Frank Lloyd Wright built for his cousin in 1929. Nestled in the thick of a residential neighbourhood, it would be easy to overlook and possibly tricky to find without a local guide. (Susan: take a bow.)

Next we head downtown where we’d originally planned to do a walking tour, but it’s far too hot for that, so we have to settle for a drive around. Our first stop is at the Boston Avenue Methodist Church. Again completed in 1929, it’s considered to be one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical Art Deco architecture in the United States and was hailed as the country’s first church designed in a strictly American style of architecture.

We then hop out of the car to browse Lyons Indian Store which is located in one end of the restored Art Deco Warehouse Market. It’s a fascinating place packed with American Indian memorabilia and artifacts. The Warehouse Market is a long, one-story building with terracotta adorned tower. The building’s entrance includes two medallions with blue backgrounds. One medallion displays a goddess holding a sheaf of wheat and a cornucopia. The other displays a god holding an oil derrick and train engine. The Warehouse Market, also known as "The Farmers’ Market" was a principal supplier of groceries in Tulsa during the 1930s.

We park up in the business district to grab some shots of its landmark buildings.

Back in the car we look for the Fire Alarm Building. Finding ourselves on the highway, we realise we’ve missed it, so instead go off in search of Will Rogers High School. Built in 1938 and typical of PWA (Public Works Administration) period Art Deco, the school was featured in a Time magazine article "outlining the high school pattern of the future" in which it was called "a model progressive high school" in "one of the most progressive school systems in the study."

Returning home on 11th Avenue (Old Route 66), I glance across at the Lyons Indian Store as we pass by and spot the rear of the Fire Alarm Building a few blocks away. With it in our sights, it’s relatively easy to find, but tucked away as it is in a dead-end street next to residential apartments and in the shadow of the Broken Arrow Expressway flyover, I imagine many before us have given up. Even Susan says she’s never happened across it in all her travels. Designed by Frederick V. Kershner, the building features terracotta frieze work that was based on the detailing of Kershner’s award-winning Mayan Temple Design. The building is noteworthy for its intricacy of design and its depictions of fire-related themes. The Fire Alarm building was important because it incorporated the best alarm system available during the early days of fire protection in the Midwest. Originally the city of Tulsa constructed the building to make it possible for all fire alarms to be reported to one central station. From there, the firemen at this building could alert the appropriate firehouse of the location of the fire. From its original inhabitation in 1934 to its vacancy in 1984, the building acted as the alarm reporting center for the city of Tulsa.

 

[UKDEB]

Back at home we have an hour before we need to set out for dinner at Earl and Lisa Miller’s farm in Mazie.

[Dinner with the Amish was an idea mooted by Susan in the very early planning stages of the trip and one we immediately lapped up. Several months before our visit, Susan visited the farm of Norman and Fannie Miller in Chouteau to enquire about details. She was aware that they like to book parties of at least 20, but Sister Sally who’s attended several of these dinners, told her that they’d be happy to attach us to another party. However, as the time got closer, Mrs Miller told Susan that she had yet to get any bookings for July and she couldn’t take a booking for just three people. Before calling Susan, though, she’d spoken with her daughter-in-law, Lisa and it turns out she was hosting two dinners during July. In the meantime, not sure that the dates in question would fit with our itinerary, Susan went about trying to rustle up 17 friends to make up a party of 20!]

For reasons I won’t bore you with (mainly because I’ve forgotten), our meal this evening is at the home of the younger Millers, but thanks to Susan’s efforts, as part of a vastly augmented group. We’ve already been acquainted with some members of our party; others we’ll be meeting for the first time. Susan’s neighbour, Michelle, will be following us on the 45 mile journey, along with daughters, Clarice and Gwen, and mother-in-law, Shirley. Husband Doug is an Air Traffic Controller and on duty this evening.

It takes us around an hour to reach the sprawling farm in the middle of the Oklahoma countryside.

Sally arrives shortly afterwards with her people carrier more than earning its title, followed by yet more friends from Muskogee. Pam we met on our very first day at Pete’s Place in Krebbs. Today she’s with partner, Jay and granddaughter, Kylee. Our other companions are Sandy, a veteran of dining with the Amish, and the Chitwoods – Mark, Shelly and daughter, Gabi. The Chitwoods are just back from Walt Disney World and a stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and I spend quite a bit of time over dinner chatting with them and browsing their photos.

When Susan had initially suggested dinner with the Amish in their home, I’d imagined the three of us sitting around the family table. In reality, although this dining room is in their (vast) farmhouse, it’s clearly set up as a commercial venture, with an industrial kitchen, air conditioning and long trestle tables. For me, it has the feel of a church hall. This younger generation of Millers is Amish Mennonite (rather than Old Order Amish who shun technology and dress traditionally). Sally has eaten several times with the older Millers who have no air-conditioning and no electric lights. They have gaslights.

The meal is served family style and is exceptionally good. We’ve chosen slow cooked turkey and beef (the other options being ham and pork). Accompaniments are green beans, dressing (stuffing to us), mashed potatoes, coleslaw and gravy, all of it in plentiful supply. I can’t take to the iced tea (which seems to be the soft drink of choice around these parts). Sweetened, it’s just plain disgusting; unsweetened it tastes odd. For dessert we’ve chosen cherry and coconut cream pies. I’ve never had coconut cream pie, but as a coconut lover, it sounds divine. In the event, I’m a little underwhelmed. The cherry pie, on the other hand, is a triumph – tart, ripe cherries and a melt-in-the-mouth almond shortcrust pastry. [Susan later discovers that their secret is to use all lard, no butter. Coincidentally, that’s how my mum always made hers and, growing up, nothing could touch it in my eyes.]

In this video, Lisa Miller is described as Fannie's daughter, rather than her daughter-in-law, and the narrator talks about their faces not being shown due to their religious beliefs, but this is at odds with what Susan was told. Lisa (speaking to Susan from her cell phone in her car) assured her that taking photos wouldn't a problem as they're Amish Mennonite. I'm guessing it's because some of those being filmed are Old Order Amish. In any event, it does depict the farm and the dining room where we ate and perfectly illustrates our experience.

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After dinner, the Chitwoods surprise us with gifts – a Sooners t-shirt for Matt and a Joe Rector print for me. Joe is Shelly’s uncle and an acclaimed American Indian artist. This time last week, American Indian art wasn’t even on my radar; now, after Gilcrease, Woolaroc and Philbrook, I have a genuine appreciation for it and they couldn’t have chosen anything more perfect. Of course, the fact that he’s Shelly’s uncle makes it even more special.

Joe Rector was born August 12th, 1935 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the heart of Indian country. He is of Cherokee ancestry. Joe started drawing at about the age of five. His first drawings were done by looking at comic book characters and drawing them. As a teenage artist he began to study all forms and styles of artwork on his own. Everything from commercial art and signs to fine art of various types, western art being his favorite.

Having a great interest in physical fitness, Joe became a champion weightlifter, setting several state records, two national and one world record. He developed an appreciation for great strength and body development. Incorporating this appreciation into his artwork has brought about portrayals of the American Indian and other Western characters that show the great strength of the active, robust early American. A Rector "character" painting gives the impression of strength and power but still has the grace and beauty of lines that was portrayed by some of the "Old Masters" such as Michelangelo.

Joe is listed on the State of Oklahoma's website as one of their "Famous Oklahomans". He was also recognized as one of the top "Movers And Shakers" in the book written by Victoria Lee celebrating Tulsa, Oklahoma's centennial.

My Joe Rector. Isn’t it exquisite?

We spend some time out on the verandah, chatting and taking in this spectacular setting, as the sun goes down. All too soon it’s time to head home to Tulsa and Muskogee respectively. It’s here we have to say our goodbyes to Sally as it’s unlikely that we’ll get to see her again. I hope we will.

We’re home in good time tonight – 10pm – but we have lots to talk about and it’s midnight before we call it a day.

 

[florida sun]

As always fabulous Deb, I always feel as though I have been educated along the way as well as entertained when reading your reports and as Ive said before on more than one occassion its like reading a great book, and for the life of me I still dont know why you dont write for a living. Bravo

 

[Latte Lover]

Fab report, as usual, Deb. I love reading all the historical details. You really have met some interesting and inspiring people.

 

[irongirlof12]

I am facinated. By the detail in your reports. I love the architech photos and fully appreciate the tour of these facinating buildings,Susan lives in a wonderful part of the world and how lucky for you to be friends with her and get to visit sure great people

 

[SusanEllen]

Most DIS trip reports are, of course, about a Disney vacation and DIS readers are so versed in things Disney that the writer of the report can use code (WDW, BTMR, DLRP) knowing that they will be understood. Debbie has not had that luxury as she's been writing about visiting Oklahoma, a place so foreign to most of her readers that it requires her to include mini-tutorials on people, places, art, architecture, and history. I think she has done a masterful job of inserting this information into the narrative of her report, managing to make those bits seem as entertaining as the description of the things we did. The only thing I have to add to this segment are a few photos that Debbie asked me to attach. All but one were taken June, 2011 at Disney California Adventure showing the massive addition to that fledgling park, the newest of all US Disney parks. Cars Land is being built on the last remaining bit of undeveloped Disneyland land (in the original Disneyland parking lot/car park). It is slated to open in the summer of 2012.

First here's how Disney California Adventure looked in 2008 from my window on the 14th floor of the Paradise Pier Hotel. You can clearly see back stage in the upper right corner, an employee parking lot.

Here's the same view from my window on the 13th floor of Paradise Pier this past summer. Not only can we see that Cars Land construction has filled the old parking lot, we can see some of the major renovations that have been completed in the billion and half dollar DCA re-do (after only 10 years!!).

Here are some shots from the exhibit about the Cars Land project.

The construction fence is gigantic and the Imagineers, never missing a beat, used the blank walls to create some excitement about the upcoming Land. The space is covered top to bottom by replicas of the kind of postcards tourist have bought at countless little stops along Route 66 for decades.

And looming above the fence we can see the Cadillac Range being sculpted by the Imagineers.