Ice Cream @ 9: 2014-11-12 An "OK" Time Along Route 66

It is SO cold in Oklahoma (OK). High of 32 today and low of 26. Brrr. I thought we were retired. We can't do anything about the weather, but we have complete control over our attitudes and we are continuing to explore Route 66 with gusto.

We are camped in Miami (pronounced Mi-a-Muh) and they have this wonderful old theatre in town, the Coleman Theatre.

The theatre is used for an amazing number of events; ballet, opera, musical acts, silent movies, theatre organ performances, Miami Little Theatre programs, and special movies. The lobby is beautiful.

The theatre was built in 1929 by George Coleman with money he made from mining lead and zinc in the area. This carpet is throughout the entire theatre. They found a small remnant under some boards upstairs and had it recreated.

We were given a tour by the proprietor that explored all the areas of this beautiful place.

This organ that originally was IN the theater was found in a Texas collector's storage building. He GAVE it back to them. AND he installed the organ and all of the pipes for free!

We got to go back stage to see the stars' dressing room.

From the balcony

What a gorgeous venue to hold a wedding reception. This is upstairs above the lobby.

Anyway, for such a small town this is really a jewel.

Lunch today was at Waylan's Ku Ku Burger. Great signage. There were lots of Route 66 pictures and stuff in this hamburger place.

We headed north out of town and found Mickey Mantle! He was born and played ball in Commerce, OK in 1949. His nickname was the Commerce Comet!

Here's his house and the barn that he hit balls against.

Back in 1922 before the Route was laid out, there were no standards about how the roads should be built. It was normal at the time to build the road in this area only 9' wide. The road still exists today. Only crazy Route 66 travelers use it.