Book review: “Oklahoma Route 66” (second edition)

Longtime readers of Route 66 News know I’ve often cited Jim Ross’ “Oklahoma Route 66” guidebook when reporting on the Mother Road’s history or its obscure alignments in the Sooner State.

Though that volume was published back in 2001, it remains one of the most indispensable Route 66 guides. However, getting hold of a copy was becoming increasingly difficult. It had gone out of print, and I recently saw on Amazon.com that new copies were going for as high as $300.

Fortunately, Ross has just published a second, revised edition of “Oklahoma Route 66” (200 pages, soft cover, Ghost Town Press, $18.95).

Content-wise, it isn’t dramatically different from the first edition. All of the things that made the first book great — the impeccable research, a multitude of photographs, and Ross’ clean but engaging writing — are all there still.

However, the new version of “Oklahoma Route 66” contains an especially notable improvement that makes the book even more useful.

The big change is that instead of the black-and-white photographs seen in the first edition, many of the images now come in full color. This obviously gives “Oklahoma Route 66” a more appealing look:

But the color pages provide an even bigger benefit — Ross’ maps are now color-coded to indicate the varying alignments of Route 66 in Oklahoma. Here’s a close-up of one of those maps, showing the small town of Chelsea:

Green indicates the original 1926 path of Route 66. Red indicates the first realignment of the Mother Road. Blue signifies the second realignment. And it goes upward to orange, olive green, and dark brown.

The first edition’s maps were all printed in black-and-white. They were well-labeled, but congestion — especially in Oklahoma’s larger cities — sometimes made the maps hard to follow.

The color coding essentially eliminates this problem.

Going over the new volume, I appreciated again Ross uncovering Route 66’s numerous obscure paths. It reminded me that I still haven’t explored the old, obscure postal routes that served as Route 66 in the late 1920s in the western Oklahoma hamlets of Doxey and Delhi.

With that, buyers of “Oklahoma Route 66” should heed this warning — don’t be surprised if you spend at least a week exploring all of Route 66’s many facets in the state.

But one of my favorite parts of the new “Oklahoma Route 66” turns up in the preface, where Ross tries to say what Route 66 means to him. Part of the answer includes memories of family vacations in the 1950s, the “Route 66” television drama, and the call of the open road. But then:

The sentimental part of me would not stop there, however. A more soulful, contemplative response would tell a tale of communion, one that occurs in quiet moments — usually at dusk — and takes place strictly between myself and the expanse of highway before me. It is then that the spirits of the road sometimes permit me to feel their fleeting embrace and with it the collective power of every story ever recorded by the silent, sturdy roadway.

Perhaps a more accurate way to answer that question would be to say that, with Route 66, I feel a sense of place. That is a comfortable fit for me. I suspect the same could be said, to some level, of most 66ers, be they tourists, wanderers, or dreamers. That is what makes the lure irresistible for so many and what makes the Route 66 community a family in the truest sense.

Highly recommended. Absolutely essential.