Today I went to the Tulsa Zoo, Route 66 Harley Davidson, and I drove along historic Route 66 around Tulsa.

The Zoo – I hit the Tusla Zoo early hoping that the heat wouldn’t be too terrible. I was wrong. While I got some of my favorite shots of the day in the Wings of Wonder exhibit I sweat buckets. The Tulsa Zoo is a pretty nice zoo with a lot of different animals and you can tell that they are really trying to have a good zoo. There are new exhibits beginning all the time and I happened to be there during the time when they had Wings of Wonder. Butterflies and moths were all over the zoo but mainly contained within a greenhouse like enclosure. There were adult butterflies and moths, and there were some that were hatching from their cocoons. I talked with the person who was monitoring the greenhouse and he showed me some of the ones I hadn’t seen and he explained that as new butterflies emerge from their cocoons they let their wings dry and then take flight within the enclosure. The enclosure has many flowers and things that butterflies like including rotting fruit.

The hardest part about the job of keeping watch over the butterflies is of course, the people. Specifically children and parents who think it is okay to try and catch the butterflies. I saw some good examples of horrible kids and bad parents but I also saw some good parents and good kids learning about the animals in the zoo. There was one lady and her litter of kids, must have been six of them from 8 years old to 4 years old that were out of control. I watched a live animal presentation where this guy Otto taught the kids about snakes and even had a ball python to show the kids. I just sat in the room wondering when one of the kids was going to finally make poor Otto snap. But he had more patience than I do and he weathered the maelstrom of unruly brats with ease.

It was a hot day and many of the animals were inside but I did get to see quite a few of the animals that were around. The temperature got to be 100 degrees today and I even saw my thermometer in the car hit 104. The zoo was good about having enclosures with rest areas so the animals could beat the heat. I didn’t see the polar bears however and I was sad I missed them. I thought that they would have been swimming in their pool.

Route 66 Harley Davidson – Capitalizing on the nostalgia of the legendary Route 66 – The Mother Road – makes this Harley shop worth the trip. Today’s Photo-A-Day is of a metal buffalo with American flag theme flames painted on it that stands outside of the Harley shop. Inside they have all the latest Harley gear and attached to it is a dinner and a soda shop. This was one great shop.

Historic Route 66 – I would have loved to have traveled these roads in the 20s and 30s before the cities were huge and built up. The route 66 I saw today around the city was sad and depressing. I started my journey at the Harley shop, which actually isn’t on Route 66 but is up the road from the highway and Route 66. I took highway 44 and 66 to get to a part of historic Route 66. I was hungry and thought I would try and find some Road Food along Route 66. But as I went along I was still on a major highway, finally a sign that directed me off the highway and onto historic route 66. I almost gave up hope and stopped at Taco Bell for lunch but I pushed hunger aside and continued up Historic Route 66 a ways.

I went for about a mile or two and what I saw was pretty depressing, everything was pretty well run down. Highways have taken all the glory from Route 66. So I turned around and headed back to the highway. I was rolling along enjoying my ride when I made a split second decision to pull into Mojo’s BBQ joint. I thought what the heck I like BBQ I’ll give it a try. Mojos is in Catoosa, Oklahoma and is on the site of the Catoosa D-X filling station.

The décor is a fifties and sixties blues house, or at least an attempt at one. There is a stage for live music but the waitress informed me that they don’t have live music there. The food was excellent. I had the rib dinner with cole slaw and corn on the cob. The dinner came with Texas toast and a pepper and pickle and red onion. I ate the pickle and skipped the pepper and onion. The ribs were huge and the meat fell right off the bone. The BBQ sauce was perfection and the cole slaw and corn on the cob hit the spot. I washed it down with a big glass of lemonade and I’ve been enjoying the memory of that meal ever since.

What makes me mad is that I was the only person in the whole place. Here was a restaurant that took pride in their food and served it with a smile just a two-minute drive from a major highway. I also saw no signs for Mojo’s on the highway and I think that some advertising would do that place some good. I’m glad my Chalupa craving did not get the better of me and I stopped at Mojo’s.

Historic Route 66: I drove back towards Tulsa on the historic road and I realized that other and Mojo’s there wasn’t much for me to see. Maybe on another stretch of Route 66 I might find more of interest. I should have looked at this website before going on my trip. Route 66 Caravan.

One thing I did notice around Tulsa was the abundance of decorated Penguins. There must have been a “Penguins on Parade” art exhibit in the City of Tulsa. I must find out more about this. I have pictures of two from the Zoo. I saw two others as I drove around but didn’t stop to take their pictures.

Tonight I went to Smokey Bones with another demonstrator and the sales guy. We had a good time, I had a buffalo burger and cole slaw. I really like cole slaw. And we had skillet corn bread, the one thing missing from lunch, although lunch was pretty special.