We pulled out of Stockton State Park on November 1, beginning our trip back to New Mexico. Heading southwest from Stockton on I-44, our first overnight stop was Chandler, Oklahoma.
Chandler Oklahoma
Located along Historic Route 66, Chandler is about 45 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. Arriving at Oak Glen RV Park in the late afternoon, we left the RV hooked up as a part of our minimum overnight set up. After walking the dogs around the park, we drove our car into town, hoping to visit the Route 66 Interpretive Center and get a bite to eat.
Unfortunately, the center was closing for the day, so we continued into town. Parking in a lot at the corner of 7th and Manvel Ave (Rt. 66), we walked across the street to the historic Phillips 66 station.
Chandler, the midpoint city on Highway 66, was established in 1891. There are sixteen buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Chandler. During our short visit, we located several of the buildings.
The museum had closed for the day. However, Nightmare on Main Street was being held for the last time later that evening. When we were walking back to our car after dinner, the cast was going in, and they were setting up tables for ticket sales.
Several of the buildings in the above picture are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On the end is the Wolcott Building, built in 1903. The white building between the Wolcott Building and the Museum is the Oleson-Crane Building, built in 1901.
There are also several historic buildings in the 900 block of Manvel. The Boston Store, now home to the Country Kitchen, was built in 1900.
Located on the corner of 9th and Manvel Ave is the Cox Building. Currently occupied by the Land Office, it is not listed on the historic register. We are including it here because the corner store of the building indicated a date of 1896.
By this time, we were hungry and grabbed a quick dinner at Boomarang Diner. It is a 50’s style restaurant serving fresh cooked burgers and fries. After dinner, we walked back to our car and drove around a little. The large building at 515 Steele Avenue caught our attention.
All of the doors and windows were boarded. The building is the original Chander High School. Construction began in 1940 and took three years to complete. Opened in 1942, it closed to students in 1994. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. At that time it was used as the district administrative office, as well as the Chandler School District museum. It does not appear to be in use now, and I didn’t locate any information regarding the current status online.
Amarillo, Texas
We were back on the highway by 10:00 am Friday morning, November 2. Our next overnight stop was Oasis RV Park in Amarillo, Texas. We picked this park because it is only a
Located on the east I-40 frontage road, the Cadillac Ranch is one of those places you need to check out. It had been on our list for a while, but we had not been able to stop on our previous trips through Amarillo. We drove the short distance to the entrance and parked along the road with about eight other cars that had stopped to see the painted cadillacs. The ten cadillacs are buried nose deep in a field, surrounded by discarded spray paint cans.
Ten Cadillacs buried in a field celebrating the evolution of the tail fin from 1949 to 1963.
Visitor spray painting cadillac 
Tire caked in paint 
Muddy day at the ranch
It was muddy around the cars at the far end, and we couldn’t get too close to them. We found a discarded can of paint on the ground and made our mark on one of the cars near the front of the display. It was probably painted over within the hour.
The next morning we resumed our journey to New Mexico, arriving at the Stagecoach Stop RV Park in the early afternoon. We had stayed there for Andy’s last assignment in Rio Rancho and soon felt at home again.
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