Oklahoma City to Tulsa: Tracing Memory and History on Route 66

August 2, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Palmetto Pioneers

I drove the rest of Route 66 from Hinton into Oklahoma City, but tonight, I need to be in Tulsa. Thunderstorms are a near-constant companion here—it stormed throughout last night. Still, tucked down in Red Rock Canyon in my tent, I felt surprisingly safe.

This stretch of the Mother Road winds along tree-lined country roads, without the open vistas I enjoyed yesterday. But the road itself is in better shape, better maintained—still carrying the hum of travelers and stories.

In Oklahoma City, I visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial, honoring the victims of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It’s a sobering place.

The memorial pays tribute to the 168 men, women, and children who lost their lives—many of them in the building’s daycare center. It’s hard to comprehend such cruelty.

The reflecting pool reminded me of the ones in New York, where the Twin Towers once stood—serene, symbolic, sacred. Two gates mark the time: one at 9:01 a.m. and the other at 9:03. The bombing occurred at 9:02.

Inside the museum, one of the most haunting exhibits is an actual audio recording of a nearby hearing (meeting) that started at 9:00 a.m.—a routine meeting of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. As the tape plays, you hear the sudden explosion, the chaos that follows, and someone in the dark, asking again and again: “Is everyone OK?”

The exhibits are powerful—items pulled from the rubble: a melted computer screen,

a warped mobile phone,

blinds twisted and torn like the ones I remember dangling from the trees near the Twin Towers in New York. These artifacts ground the tragedy in time, place, and personal memory.

After lunch, I got back on Route 66—or tried to. I got lost again. The Route 66 Navigation app is useful, but difficult to follow without a visible display. The rental car’s screen is practically unreadable during the day—dim and cloudy—making it nearly impossible to see directions. I ended up switching to Google Maps, typing in the next town on my route—Guthrie—and letting it guide me back.

I’m heading to Tulsa tonight. Here, along the eastern stretch of the route, I’m noticing people have put in more effort to preserve and restore what’s left of Route 66. Though the wide-open views are gone, this section feels more alive. The road is more traveled, the towns more viable, and the sense of pride in its legacy is strong.

There were several museums.

And a drive-in movie.

Antique shops. Check out those gas prices!

Tulsa had several displays of interest. The modern sign on this side of town was beautifully done.

They also restored some of the old signs and displayed them in a small park.

And restored a Citgo station. I left Tulsa the next morning to go home.

This is Phillips Petroleum territory, and Mr. Phillips would choose 66 as a marketing trademark—going 66 mph on Route 66! The signs are everywhere!

Oklahoma also has more miles of Route 66 than any other state. It is where Route 66 was dreamed and born

Here is a list of the sites I had planned for this four-day portion of Route 66 from Albuquerque to Tulsa. Of course, I did not get through all of them. Frankly, I needed this trip to be about three days longer. Because I rushed on the journey, I missed important sites, especially several museums.

Route 66 -Albuquerque to Tulsa

Day One

The old route from Santa Fe to Albuquerque is very scenic but lacks any sense of Route 66. They realigned it in 1937, which was almost 90 years ago. This part was only Route 66 for 10 years. Route 66 is 98 years old, established in 1927.
The old route from Santa Fe to Santa Rosa is Hwy 84, I-25, and Old Pecos Trail with little evidence of the pre-1937 Old Route 66
On the 1937 realignment, the road went through Clines Corners and Moriarity.
From Albuquerque to Amarillo on the 1937 realignment mostly follows I-40.
Moriarity
Clines Corners
Santa Rosa Comet II Drive-In is good; try their green chili stew.
Cuervo, ghost town
Amarillo, Cadillac Ranch, bring a can of spray paint
Newkirk, ghost town
Tucumcari, restored landmarks, murals, and neon signs, Watson’s BBQ, a couple blocks off 66, is good.
Glenrio, abandoned town
Adrian, midpoint, 1,139 miles each way Santa Monica to Chicago, Midpoint Café
Vega https://windaturback.com/2020/02/23/route-66-amarillo-to-santa-fe/ photos
Amarillo, Cadillac Ranch, bring a spray can

Day Two

Amarillo, VW Slug Bug Ranch, east of the city
Groom Cross, stations of the cross
Leaning Tower of TX
McLean, TX, Devil’s Rope Barbwire Museum
McLean, restored filling station built in 1927, Tudor-style architecture
Route 66 Museum
U Drop In Cafe, recreated in the Cars movie, no food
Erick, Oklahoma, Sand Hill Curiosity Shop, home of a man named Harley who was the inspiration for Mater
A scene from The Grapes of Wrath movie showed the Beckham County Courthouse in the background.
Elk City, National Route 66 Museum, more interactive exhibits with cars you can sit in, movies to watch, and even a fire station pole you can slide down. Outside, it has one of the largest Route 66 signs in the world as well.
The Clinton Route 66 Museum is the best on the entire route, and it sits in the town of Clinton. This museum costs to enter and has tons of exhibits as you make your way around the building. Some highlights were the photos of the route and the presentation that showed old footage people gave them from their Route 66 drives. Outside, there is a hot dog stand that was moved here, and that is cool to see in all its glory.
Lucille’s Roadhouse Restaurant; this new one is a stop for food.
Hydro, Old Lucille’s Roadhouse. This old service station was from 1929, and it is famous along Route 66. It wasn’t open, but it was cool to see from the outside.

Day Three

The Pony Truss Bridge, known as the William H. Murray Bridge, is about 4,000 feet long, featuring multiple trusses and is the longest truss bridge on Route 66. It was hard to get a good photo, but it is fun to drive over.
El Reno, try one of their famous onion burgers. This is where two famous trails intersect: the Chisholm Trail and the Santa Fe Trail.
Yukon, OK, murals and the Yukon Mill & Flour Company
Lake Overholser Bridge, another famous bridge on the route
Originally constructed in 1930, the Milk Bottle Grocery building added the giant milk bottle to the top of the structure in the 1940s. By doing so, the ultimate photo-op on Route 66 came into existence.

Day Four

Here are 119 miles of open Route 66 road between the cities of Oklahoma City and Tulsa
Beginning at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, I made it a point to tour this.
Arcadia, at Pops 66 Soda Ranch–a 66-foot soda structure, full-service restaurant (breakfast?)
The Arcadia Round Barn has a charming gift shop.
Near Luther, the historic Threatt Filling Station is near the intersection of Route 66 and Pottawatomie Road, 3 miles east of Luther, Oklahoma. The station provided African Americans with a place to purchase food and fuel?
Chandler, OK—stop and walk through the Route 66 Interpretive Center for an even more in-depth look into the historic highway
Stroud and The Rock Cafe used rock unearthed during the paving of Route 66 to establish The Rock Cafe in Stroud, Oklahoma, in 1939. They added it to the National Register of Historic Places. The Cafe is at 114 S. Main Street in Stroud and remains an area icon.
Tulsa – the Route 66 Historical Village a perfect place to take in the history of Tulsa’s involvement in the oil, refining and transportation industries.
Tulsa, The Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza, at the east entrance of the historic Route 66 bridge near downtown Tulsa.. They named this Route 66 spot after Cyrus Avery, or “The Father of Route 66,” because he conceived Route 66, or the Main Street of America.
When you get to the plaza, the sculpture by artist Robert Summers depicts the Avery family riding west in a Motel T Ford and coming face-to-face with a horse-drawn carriage heading in the opposite direction—marking the significance of a changing of the times as the state entered the future of transportation.
Also at The Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza, is the Route 66 Rising sculpture that was dedicated just a few years ago.

Original Portland Cement Route 66 Roadbed

Glamping in Red Rock Canyon: Route 66 from Bridgeport to El Reno, Oklahoma

July 31, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

I spent a quiet morning in the canyon, but I planned to explore another stretch of Route 66. I hoped to hike some trails when I returned, but after the night’s rain, the clay paths were slick—and I’m too old to be slipping and sliding around.

Glamping truly suits me! My tent is air-conditioned, with a cozy bed, a microwave, and a refrigerator. I even have a resident owl who woke me in the night. This morning, I took it slow—slept in, enjoyed breakfast on the deck, and didn’t leave until around 11 a.m.

I headed north from the canyon toward the interstate and picked up Route 66, planning to drive the section from Bridgeport to El Reno. The scenery was pretty in its own way—tree-lined hills and valleys replacing the long, distant views of the plains—a different beauty.

One highlight was a striking bridge over the South Canadian River near Bridgeport, Oklahoma. Though it looked new, I learned it was the historic “Pony Bridge,” recently reconstructed. The bridge has 38 pony truss spans, which were removed, refurbished, and reattached to a modern deck before it reopened in May last year.

Aside from that, there was little evidence left of Route 66’s earlier days in this stretch. When I reached El Reno, I noticed an old Route 66 bridge had been preserved—but with high safety barriers that obscured the view. I couldn’t get a picture, but you can see what I mean in this blog post.

After lunch in El Reno, I took the scenic route back along smaller roads beneath the interstate. What views!

This area was truly beautiful—

rolling farmland, scattered windmills, and oil wells dotted the landscape.

One scene especially struck me: a modern wind turbine standing alongside an old one—a glimpse of past and present power sources.

I hurried back because it was about to storm, and I’m was in a bad part of tornado alley.

This park has been in operation since 1956, well before my family first visited in 1963.

Because the trails were still slippery, and I had no business climbing up on the rim, I returned to a spot I remembered vividly—where a concrete post still marked an old wagon trail. This was the same place where Daddy once hoisted me up on the canyon wall when there were no stairs. He climbed up behind me, and we walked along the canyon rim until we reached a point 40 feet above our camper.

Pam and Mama were still asleep, so Daddy and I dropped little pebbles on the roof until Mama opened the door and hollered, “WILLIAM!” She always knew who the instigator was.

We expected more thunderstorms tonight. I felt reasonably safe tucked in the canyon, though the idea of flooding gave me pause. My tent sat beside a small creek—or “crick,” as the locals pronounced it. After the rain, it turned to mud.

Still, glamping was lovely. Even the owl became a kind of companion. I drifted off to the sound of his call and, though the storms woke me briefly, he was cooing again early the next morning.

Here’s some more photos from inside the canyon.

Red Rock Canyon Revisited: A Nostalgic Journey on Route 66

July 29, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

The history of this road is long and much more than the ribbon of concrete it became later. Like the old roads in the east, it began as a series of paths, first created by animals and then followed by Native Americans.

Later, the European settlers made it their own and traveled it on horseback and with wagons. Unlike the eastern older roads, though, which usually ran north and south, this settlement road ran east to west.

It ran alongside rivers that also ran east to west, such as the Canadian River. Like the Fall Line road in the east, this path came down out of Chicago and made an arc. Later beside it, cities sprung up like St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, before it disappeared into the Old West and California.

This Wikipedia map shows how Route 66 moved across the country and the cities along it, but unfortunately, it shows it as a connection of interstates.

Oklahoma is the state of the Okies who left in droves on this road during the Depression, moving west to new opportunities. Over 15% of them left. The people I see here today, though, are the ones who stayed, who persevered. As I traveled the Mother Road, I tried to visualize its paved days—with motor courts, neon lights, Burma Shave signs, filling stations, cars and trucks loaded to their gills, and hitchhikers.

East of Oklahoma City, the land is forested and hilly, but west of the city, the rolling land opens to drier, grassier, and flatter plains. In between are unseen draws and ravines. One such is Red Rock Canyon, south of the Mother Road near Hinton, Oklahoma.

Red Rock Canyon used to be a state park.

In 1963, my father planned a two-week vacation around the Santa Fe Trail, lawmen, and outlaws. I was 9, and I’m 71 now, so it was over 60 years ago. The four of us made the road trip from Florida and had been in western Kansas in old Abeline. Beginning to turn back toward home, we wandered south into western Oklahoma.

After days of arid open plains, we stopped at a campground called Red Rock Canyon State Park, and everyone of us fell in love. We talked about it for years. We were awestruck by this canyon, and I wanted to come back and see if I felt the same way today. Now, I am the only surviving family member of the four. So here I am, spending two nights at the campground!

But why was this place so special? Last night, I didn’t realize the answer until I drove down into the canyon. I had wondered why we remembered this canyon with such love. The answer was—we were homesick!

Our part of Florida is a parkland of trees and canopied roads that would probably seem like claustrophobic tunnels to people who live on the plains. North Florida is lush and beautiful, similar to what I found in this canyon.

I’m staying for two days. I’m a little tired, so this will be a good rest. Notice the pictures of then and now, and yes, I love the canyon as much as I did back then.

Dad’s camera made the color photos, but they only bought black and white film for mine and Pam’s cameras. It was cheaper, and we were kids.

We camped in a Camp-O-Tel camper, which was a Florida-manufactured camper. Its founders were local friends of the family. This was our first trip in the new camper, and I remember complaining that this wasn’t as much fun as sleeping in a tent. It is a wonder they didn’t throw me out with a pup tent.

Our Camp-O-Tel Camper, manufactured in Monticello, Florida, by James Demott and Mack Wright.

In the canyon, though, this time I am glamping. I don’t think Mom or Dad lived long enough to know what glamping was. They both died almost 20 years ago, but I think my Mama would have loved this. The tent is even air-conditioned, and neither the truck nor camper above was.

A Cross, a Crisis, and a Canyon: Another Day on Route 66

July 28, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

You know the song? 🎶 Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam.🎶 Well, just east of Amarillo, there are homes on Route 66, but not a buffalo in sight.

There are windmills everywhere, but this is high plains, as flat as a pancake. You can see for two days.

As I get farther from the city, once again, I’m driving next to the interstate. It is a pleasant day. I woke up and it was 51° but it warmed up to a dry 65 degrees by the time I left my hotel. We are already in the 90s in Florida, and it is a steam bath there, so this Texas weather is nice!

At the exit to Groom, Texas, I got off the interstate because I could not miss the giant cross in the distance.

It is really worth a visit.

Not only is there a cross, but there are life-size statues of the stations of the cross.

I have seen the stations of the cross depicted most of my life on paper or on the walls of churches or in stained glass, but nothing touched me like this. I’m 71 years old, and I got emotional seeing these life-sized sculptures.

About 10 miles from Groom, TX and the cross, I was on Route 66 and realized that I was almost out of gas. I broke my number one rule when following old trails, I always buy gas before leaving each morning, because the areas I go into have long stretches with no gas stations. It has been so long since I’ve followed a trail on my own, like this, that I forgot my rule.

I was between Alanrede and McLean, Texas and trying to get to McLean where Google says there are some gas stations. There was one in Alanrede and Google said it was open, but it looked like the picture below. Obviously, it has been closed for a long time. Oh well! It’s something I would’ve stopped to take a picture of anyway.

So I kept driving east on Route 66 with the interstate right beside me until horror of horrors I ran into a dead end with road construction. My gas indicator says below empty. I cannot continue and I can see McLean, Texas in the distance. So what was a girl to do?

I guess I broke the law. I backtracked and drove through a shallow, wide ditch to get onto the interstate. I’m lucky because Texas does not have fences that run down the sides of their interstate like we do in Florida.

Then I got off the interstate a quarter-mile later at the McLean exit and got my gas. Cattle operations built McLean.

Hungry, I found a restaurant (the interior shot could be in Florida). It was in McLean, TX on Route 66. At the table next to me was a man and his mother, who were from Florida. He was moving her to his sister’s home in Arizona.

When I got back on the interstate, I realized I was running low on time, so I quit getting off the interstate and I drove like a bat out of hell to my destination for the evening, a former state park near Hinton, OK.

Oklahoma has done a better job of repairing the old Mother Road and keeping it open. I got off the interstate one more time at Shamrock to see a few things and then I got to Hinton, Oklahoma, home of Red Rock Canyon, where I stayed the night.

Shamrock, TX – service station used as a prototype for the “Cars” movie.

I guess the rest of Britten is gone.

By the way, I camped at Red Rock Canyon south of Hinton for two days. My stop here was nostalgic. The last time I was here with in the 1960s as a child with my parents. I’ll share more in my next Route 66 blog post!

Following Old Trails: From Albuquerque to Amarillo on Route 66

July 24, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

This is another blog post in my Following Old Trails section of the blog.

I recently traveled west for a family reunion. One of my characters in the second book of my “Palmetto Pioneers” series moved to Texas in the 1870s, and his offspring was having a family reunion near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Anyway, a flood canceled the reunion, but I had already made my flight arrangements and lodging reservations. So, I made the trip anyway and followed an old trail—or road in this case.

About 19 years ago, my youngest daughter and I did a significant section of Route 66 from Santa Monica in California to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a great two-week vacation, and we had planned to do another section of the road later—plans that never came to fruition.

So, I did another section of it from Albuquerque to Tulsa in the first week of June. Here are some scenes from my first day, which was Albuquerque to Amarillo, TX.

By the way, originally Route 66 followed the Old Santa Fe Trail, which ended in Santa Fe, New Mexico; but they re-routed and bypassed Santa Fe in the 1930s. I had already traveled the Santa Fe portion of Route 66 many years ago; therefore, on this trip I followed the bypassed, straighter, and more direct section.

Albuquerque was getting ready to celebrate the 100th birthday of the road, and I took a few pictures before leaving the city. The Mother Road came to Albuquerque in 1926. There were banners on the road,

and people had restored some of the old signs, even though the properties were long gone.

From our earlier trip in the early 2000s to now, there was not much left of the old stores, motels, and sites. But there were a few.

Check out this bus stop!

Once you leave the city on Route 66, the road becomes State Road 333.

There’s hardly anything man-made left ,

but the views and the vistas are exceptional.

This is a pretty part of New Mexico. Imagine what the earliest people who used this road, especially those moving west, thought about these views.

Route 66 is also called the Mother Road. Through many states, it runs alongside I-40.

Frequently, Route 66 was on higher ground here, running along the top of a ridge. They had been getting rain, so everything was green. However, between Moriarity and Santa Rosa, they buried the road beneath Interstate 40. I got off when there was a town.

One of the former Harvey girls ran the Blue Swallow Inn in Tucumcari, NM. “The Harvey Girls, sometimes known as the women who ‘civilized’ the Wild West, were young Americans (well-groomed, well-behaved, single, 8th-grade educated, and white) who left family and friends to head west as waitresses for the Fred Harvey restaurants,” writes Alison Owings. Mr. Harvey owned a chain of restaurants beginning in the late 1800s, and his women became legendary as independent women. There is a Judy Garland movie about them called “The Harvey Girls.”

Some places have done Route 66 art to commemorate the road. This monument to “The Mother Road” is in Tucumcari. Notice its tailfins, commemorating the golden age of American automobiles.

I stopped at the Silver Moon Cafe, established in 1959, for lunch in Santa Rosa. Great Mexican-American food. I had their Indian Tacos.

A popular place for travelers to stop was the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, an 81-foot deep artesian well. Its crystal clear waters have a constant temperature of 62 degrees.

Before I got to Texas, the road ended, and I had to get on the interstate. There are stretches of the road in New Mexico, just before I got to the Texas state line, where the locals said that they were better off with an interstate because this stretch was so dangerous. I noticed one time that what was left of the roadbed went up the side of a draw, and it occurred to me that only a car that could climb like a mountain goat could’ve made it. The roadbed was gone, and there was nothing but a rocky dirt road going up.

This part of the road near the state line reminded me of the old Road Runner cartoons. I kept looking for one or at least a coyote, but saw neither, except for this sign.

When I got to Texas, everything flattened out. These were the plains of Texas, and I was in Comanche territory. This was also where the big herds of buffalo roamed.

Route 66 moved across the state like a rifle shot, and mostly it was right next to the interstate, but Texas did not do a very good job of maintaining this road. I think it is used only by ranchers. And their ranches were few and far between.

Gone were the vistas from the Mother Road where it ran higher than the interstate. Instead, in Texas, it ran directly beside the interstate. On my left as I traveled east, my view was of Interstate 40. This part of Route 66 was not my favorite. Only where the road intersects with towns, can you see anything left of what the road used to be. Route 66 was famous for sites that displayed unusual sights to get people to stop. Even today, they still use this strategy.

Also, Texas chopped up the Mother Road into fragments, crossing the panhandle. Here are little towns, long passed by the interstate, called Glenrio, Adrian, and Vega. Adrian was at the midpoint of Route 66. A sign said it was 1,139 miles to Chicago and 1,139 miles to Los Angeles.

I got to Amarillo in time to have dinner with one of my Andrew’s cousins. Her second great-grandfather is Henry Andrews in the book, and Henry was two years older than my second great-grandmother, Laura, who is also in the book. Henry named one of his daughters Laura.

Andrews Cousins, Palmetto Pioneer Descendants

I stayed at a Route 66 hotel called the Big Texan.

And we had dinner at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, next door. This motel and restaurant made it because they left the Mother Road and rebuilt their operation next to the interstate in the late 1970s. The restaurant gained renown for its free 72-ounce steak. If you can eat it in one sitting, there is no charge.

Just as we left, a man was trying to eat one. Neither of us wanted to see him get sick.

The Footsteps of St. Paul in Thessalonica and Berea

June 18, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

I discovered I did not post this part of my trip to Greece and Turkey. In our “In the Footsteps of Paul” series, my daughter and I also traveled to Thessalonika and Berea. We were not alone, though. On this week-long Collette tour, we joined a larger group from San Angelo, TX, from a Catholic diocese there. We were the only protestants in the group, but they treated us with open arms. They were a fun group of people.

To retrace the steps of St. Paul in Thessaloniki, you can visit several key sites. The Vlatadon Monastery is believed to be built on the site where St. Paul preached here. Near the monastery, a spring is a pilgrimage site, connected with the tradition that Paul escaped through a nearby city gate. There is also the city’s Roman Forum, the ruins of the ancient city market where St. Paul would have been present during his ministry here.

In Acts, we know Timothy stayed in Thessalonica, probably on instructions from Paul, while the Apostle and his companion Silas made their way to the town of Beroea, about forty miles to the west.

Now those (in Beroea) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with all readiness of mind and examined the Scriptures (the Old Testament) daily to see if these things were so. As a result, a great number of them believed, including not a few of the honorable (upper class) Greek women and men (Acts 17:11 – 12)

The first convert of Beroea was Sosipatros, who is a saint in the Greek Orthodox Church. Sosipatros is called Sopater in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. Paul was with him in Corinth when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans, as his name, spelt Sosipater, appears in that letter.

In Berea today you can see The Altar of the Apostle Paul, a modern monument the Bereans erected to remind them of Paul’s visit to their city nearly 2,000 years ago. This “Triptych monument” includes three steps (in the center) believed to be from the ancient synagogue where Paul taught, and it depicts scenes related to Paul’s work in Berea, such as the Macedonian man vision and his address to the Bereans which was from the Bema in Beroea, a type of raised platform.

The Alter of the Apostle Paul. Notice the Iconography.

We also learned a lot about the Greek Orthodox and what makes them different from the Catholics and Protestants. One major difference is they refrain from using figurines, but use iconography. We visited a state-funded place where they still teach this and observed a demonstration.

Demonstrating Iconography (how it is done and what they use)

In the Footsteps of Paul to Phillipi

May 7, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

Today, we traveled from Thessalonika to Phillipi, where St. Paul first planted the seeds of Christianity in Europe. We are on a highway that looks similar to our US interstates. It is the Via Egnatia, which was built on the Roman road used by St. Paul to travel between Phillipi and Thessalonika.

When modern-day Greeks built this road, they uncovered cobblestones and mile markers used by the Romans. Initially, the Romans built it as a military road.

So we are on our way to the ruins of Phillipi. We are driving east across the region called Macedonia (Macedonika) birthplace of Alexander the Great. This is not to be confused with the country North Macedonia,which is a Balkan country made up of Slavic people.

The suffix ika added to a place or noun means lesser, such as a smaller city or lesser area, such as a region.

We first went to the ruins of Phillipi, the first community of Christians in Europe. And the conversion and baptism of Lydia, the first European baptized.

They named Phillipi after King Phillip, who restored internal peace to his country and, by 339 BC, had gained control over all of Greece through military and diplomatic means, thus laying the foundations for its expansion under his son Alexander the Great.

People know this mountainous region for its gold. After the Ottoman conquest, people abandoned the city in the 14th century AD.

At the ruins of Phillipi, we saw the place where Paul and Silas were imprisoned, and we saw the ruins of an early basilica, a Christian church in Philippi, showing later evidence of the seeds that he planted west for Christianity.

Saint Paul, it appears, was the Johnny Appleseed of Christianity for Europe.

This imprisonment was for a short time. According to the Bible, they prayed, and an earthquake freed them. The guard feared their release, so he was going to kill himself, but Paul and Silas told him, “Don’t harm yourself. We are here.“

Then they informed him they were Roman citizens and that Roman law had led to their illegal imprisonment. In the end, they were let go, and they went back to the home of Lydia.

We visited the prison where guards held them.

We also visited another round Christian basilica; they built it for a martyr or someone special to the church. It has amazing mosaics on its floors. There is also a mosaic with an inscription, which says that a certain bishop in memory of Saint Paul built the church. They know this Bishop lived in the fourth century A.D. It is the earliest known church dedicated to Paul.

We left the ruins and not too far away; we visited the place where Lydia was baptized. She was the first European baptized by Paul. The Book of Acts describes Paul’s encounter with Lydia. The stream where it happened is a cold mountain stream. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous.

They built a church at the site and there is a small amphitheater by the stream for local baptisms.

On our way back to Thessaloniki, we stopped in the port city of Neapolis, now known as Kavala. This is where Paul first set foot in Europe. It is an old city where the ruins of a city wall and Roman aqueduct still stand.

This is also where there is an original section of the Via Egnatia, the Roman road mentioned earlier, that still exists. He used this road to travel to Phillipi.

The Footsteps of Paul in Ephesus

May 4, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Uncategorized

When Paul came to Ephesus, he came from Corinth. He may have come because the city was ripe for spreading the gospel.

Here, the Temple of Artemis (also called Diana by the Romans) was at the height of its fame. Thousands of pagans came here to worship every year in May.

The temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, many times larger than the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It had 120 columns. Today, one can only see a part of one column standing. Today, a bog of silt covers the temple ruins.

The ruins of Ephesus, a mile away, were a wealthy city and a major trading port in Asia Minor, now Turkey. Marble paved its streets.

Today, if one were alone, Ephesus would have a surreal, haunted look. But I am not alone. There are people everywhere. Archaeological digs have uncovered about 20% of the overall city.

Paul arrived in the city during his third mission. He had come across Asia Minor from Antioch in Syria to Anatolia, now known as Turkey. Taurus, his birthplace, was also in Anatolia. Today, by Turkey’s citizens, he is Turkish.

These three arches below frame the main gates coming into the city, so Paul definitely walked through these arches.

And he also walked on this main street.

He taught in the Ephesus synagogue for three months, but the same opposition that had driven him from Pisidian Antioch, from Iconium, from Philippi, from Berea and from Corinth, soon contrived to close the doors of the synagogue against him here, too. It was the same story over again: the Jewish authorities worried when he converted many of their flock. They would not accept the Gospel of Christ.

Despite his hardship, though, Paul seems to have prospered in Ephesus. When the usual opposition of the Jews was moving towards a breach of the peace, he quietly left them and took his preaching to a lecture-hall of a teacher named Tyrannus.

There he opened his doors to Jews and Greeks alike, to any man or woman who cared to listen. He stayed longer in Ephesus than in any other place, except for Rome. His teaching in the hall of Tyrannus continued for two years, and during that time he came into inevitable conflict.

While here, he learned of the trouble in the Church at Corinth, which inspired his First Epistle to the Corinthians.

At the end of his mission here, there occurred a singularly dramatic event which ended his ministry in the city. He had intended to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, until the end of May.

And the end is obvious. This month held the Artemisia, the annual festival of Diana of the Ephesians, filling the city with strangers from every part of the Aegean and the Mediterranean. What better opportunity could a missionary have had of reaching many countries in one sermon?

Paul preached the Gospel of Christ and told all men to forsake false gods (ie. idols). These teachings became an unconscious tribute to the power of his preaching when the riot of Diana’s silversmiths occurred. Their one thought was to drive Paul from the city, or to imprison him, in order that he should not spoil their trade at the forthcoming festival. Their trade was to sell idols to the festival crowds.

The several-hours-long riot, which took place in the theater, worried both the Jewish authorities and the city’s authorities before a city leader quelled it.

It would have been pointless for Paul to have remained in Ephesus after this spontaneous outburst of fury. Persuaded, no doubt, by his friends, the Asiarchs, wealthy and powerful Asians, he said goodbye to the city which had sheltered him for nearly three of the most triumphant and momentous years in the history of Christianity and his missionary life.

I stood on a street of Ephesus imagining this theater scene, shining in its glory and thronged with excited crowds, shouting over and over, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Paul stayed out of sight and left for better ground in which to spread the seeds of Christianity.

Scholars accept that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians from Rome near the end of his life while awaiting his trial before Caesar. He wrote the following letters: the Epistle to the Colossians, the Epistle to the Phillimon, and the Epistle to the Philippians. However, some theories challenge the Rome theory, suggesting that Paul was imprisoned in Ephesus and wrote the letters from here.

Paul was not the only apostle to come here. There were others. St. John the Divine lived and died at Ephesus and Christian tradition says he brought Mary, the mother of Jesus, here for her safety. According to a bedridden German nun’s vision, this below is Mary’s home.

Following In the Footsteps of St. Paul to Corinth

May 1, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Uncategorized

If you’ve read much of this blog, you are probably familiar with my “Following Old Trails” section. I’ve blogged from several locations on trails all over America—from a cattle drive in Florida to the Lewis and Clark Trail across America’s west and many more.

Today, I am in Greece following some of the missionary travels of St. Paul the Apostle. Mostly over the next few days, I’ll describe his Grecian sojourn, but we’ll also spend one day in Ephesus in Turkey and another in Crete.

Our journey today began in Athens (no Bryce, not Athens, Georgia.) We drove by bus from Athens to the ancient city of Corinth, which is not in the same location as current-day Corinth. We traveled on the Lechaeum Road, an ancient highway paved with marble, which was used for those traveling by land between Athens and Corinth. Today, it is a modern asphalt road with views of Greece’s seaside and mountains.

In Paul’s day, he probably made the trip by ship, but this road was there. If he went by ship, they probably had to portage the four plus miles between the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea and the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. The canal was not there in his time, even though the cutting of it first began in 7 B.C.

Screenshot of Wikipedia’s Map of the Corinth Canal Area

We stopped to see the 84-foot-wide Corinth Canal. Completed in 1893, it cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and “separates” the Peloponnese peninsula from the rest of the Greek mainland. The two-hundred-mile detour initially forced ships sailing between those seas to portage; later, however, ships used the canal.

Whether Paul went to Corinth by sea or land, we know he passed through this area either by the road or by the Diolkos, a paved trackway built by the Romans for portaging ships.

Afterward, we drove straight to the ruins. This is the ancient city of Corinth, where Paul came to preach the good news. Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC. The Romans demolished Corinth in 146 BC and built a new city in its place in 44 BC, so when Paul came, it was still a fairly new city.

The New Testament mentions Corinth many times, largely in connection with Paul the Apostle’s mission there. He first visited the city in AD 49 or 50, and he lived here for eighteen months.

He came here after his attempts to preach to the intellectually motivated Athenians proved unsuccessful. Athens was an academic city of critical thinkers who criticized much but did not do much otherwise.

The wealthy and more important Corinth was renowned for its pagan rituals, especially the temple of Aphrodite and its thousand temple prostitutes. People knew of its vices, and isn’t it interesting that God chose it to become an important place for the spread of Christianity?

On another note, unluckily, we arrived on May 1, a day set aside so all Greece’s workers can take a “strike day.” The park was closed, but we could get some great photos from the viewing platforms.

The first is a temple that always survived, even the Roman conquest, when they destroyed the city. They made each of these columns from one large piece of marble, each weighing over 23 tons. They couldn’t tear them down. Also notice that they are Doric columns. We could see no Corinthian columns anywhere in the city.

In the next photo, this is the main Roman road coming into the city. By the way, Julius Caesar was the one who rebuilt the city after an earlier ruler destroyed it. Imagine, Paul walked down this road many times during the year and a half he first lived here.

Paul probably preached in several places here, including this theater, which seated 15,000. Tradition says he preached here.

In this next photo, in the distance, you can see a raised platform with white statues on it. This is the Bema where they held Paul’s trial. This large elevated rostrum is where the city’s officials addressed the public. He was on trial after teaching the word of God and baptizing believers, which angered the city’s Jewish leaders. Thus, Paul turned to speaking to the Gentiles afterwards.

The Bible and tradition tell us that Paul visited Corinth twice more, and the church he started here would do much to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ across the world.

How to do a solar eclipse!

July 24, 2023 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

Goodness. Tonight, I searched for an earlier post on a solar eclipse we witnessed while traveling in Idaho several years ago. I discovered that it was a post I never posted. So, with some updating, it is below.

We in the United States will soon have two opportunities to witness two more solar eclipses within the next year. More on that below.

On August 20th of 2017, Chuck and I had two goals for that day and the next–to see a solar eclipse and to drive to Missoula, Montana. But we had also been following the trail of Lewis and Clark. Though theirs was a water trail we followed it by searching for their camps. We were on their return from the great Pacific.

At this point in the trail, Lewis and Clark were stuck near Kamiah, Idaho in a month-long camp waiting for the snow to melt on the Lolo Pass Trail. Like Lewis and Clark, we were stuck, too. A great forest fire blocked our way back to Missoula on the Lewis and Clark Scenic Byway through Lolo Pass.

We found ourselves in a pickle. We wanted to travel a little farther south to see the solar eclipse on August 21, the next day; but south of Missoula was the fire. Because this vast wilderness area lacked roads, to travel south to the eclipse, we would have had to drive another couple of days. We were flying out of Missoula on the 22nd. We didn’t have another couple of days.

So where could we go to watch the eclipse and still make it to Missoula in time for our flight the day after the eclipse? Turns out we had to go north, away from the best place to see the eclipse, but there were no places to stay between Kamiah and Couer d-Alene, the closest city with lodging.

So we spent our day traveling the blue highways north. We were off the Lewis and Clark Trail to see the eclipse.

In Couer d-Alene, we stayed in a local hotel. We had both been there before, many years earlier. Chuck had attended an environmental conference there, back in the 1970s, that would be BC, before Cindy. The city had a lovely downtown with entertainment around a large lake. We spent a nice evening there.

Cindy on a Dock at the Lake

The next morning, for the eclipse, we had our special-purpose solar filters, which I had bought online beforehand. Thankfully, the online vendor sent several more than we needed. We were able to share with some of the hotel’s employees who were unaware of what was happening.

Chuck Looking at the Eclipse

We hung out around the pool where there were no trees to block our view. What we saw was a partial eclipse, though, because we were so far north. Still, we were excited by what we saw. It was a great day anyway.

That afternoon, we left for Missoula. Lewis and Clark, after a month’s wait, began their journey over the Bitterroots in mid-June and arrived at Hot Lolo Springs near today’s Missoula by the end of June. They made it.

We did, too. We got to Missoula by 3 pm the same day. The city was covered with smoke from the Lolo fire just about fifteen miles down US 30 West. We checked into a hotel and waited for our flight home the following morning.

At Lolo Pass, though, Lewis took a small party overland to the great falls and then up the Marias River. Clark took another small group and crossed through the Bitterroot Valley, across the great divide and to explore the Yellowstone. Their plans were to meet at the mouth of the Yellowstone on the Missouri River. This they did on August 13, 1806, over a month later.

After some councils with the Missouri River neighboring Indian nations, the expedition continued downstream covering 50 to 60 miles a day with the current. They arrived in St, Louis by the third week of September.

They brought with them a Mandan Chief Sheheke and his family. Can you imagine that scene when the world of the Mandan Indians came to St. Louis with its stores of foodstuffs, calico piled high, shirts, handkerchiefs, and beads?

The next morning, Chuck and I boarded a 5:40 am flight back to Florida arriving by 6 pm the same day.

Two eclipses coming soon!

There are two more solar eclipses coming soon. The first will be on October 14, 2023, and the second on April 8, 2024. Both will cross the United States. If you wish to see them, make plans to be in the areas where they can be seen best.

Below are two NASA links for each eclipse. Each shows its path.

October 14, 2023 Eclipse April 8, 2024 Eclipse

Also, here is a link for what you should do and expect to do. Wearing protective eyewear is vital. The National Park Service gives instructions. Only use special-purpose solar filters. It is not safe to use homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones.

Make sure your solar filters have ISO 12312-2:2015 certification, as well as the manufacturer’s name and address printed on them. Do not use ones made before 2015. With all the substandard Chinese products now sold in the US, this new certification will be vital. Don’t take chances with your eyes.

Below is the link on how to view the eclipse safely. It also explains the different types of solar eclipses, how to plan ahead, and how to use the eclipse filters correctly. Just click on the link below.

National Park Service, Eclipse Planning & Safety

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