I don’t usually expect much when I get out here in the middle of nowhere (I guess this isn’t really the “middle of nowhere”, but whatever), but this old lady blew me away. This is the majesty that a courthouse should exude. It is possible that I’m primed for it having just come from Chandler, but why is it that the smallest towns seem to have the most excellent courthouses?
I don’t know that I would have made much mention of the police memorial right beside if it was not for the fact that they’re flying a Blue Stripe Flag. While I support the stated (ultimately theoretical) police mission, you cannot (at least without a healthy dose of disingenuity) deny that police (and many other branches of law enforcement) have done some really crappy things in the furtherance of that in a lot of places. Add to that the cooption of the Blue Stripe symbol by groups that have been demonstrating themselves to be racist, seditionist, and even insurrectionist, and I come away feeling that I really don’t need to see another blue stripe ever again. I won’t go so far as to say it’s a racist symbol because I do believe some people earnestly support law enforcement with no other ill intent, and most law enforcement officers try to protect people and make their regions a better place, but I also believe that a lot of people who yell and scream about “law and order” and “back[ing] the blue” are doing so to intentionally oppose and undermine others trying to undo racism in policing. I don’t live here in Sapulpa, though. I can only hope that this flag flies with the best of intentions, not the worst. Besides, I had more time to put in on Route 66!
I ended up spending more time in the county than I had originally planned. I ended up finding a turn off with multiple cache types along it so I decided to grab a few while I was here. The first one was a virtual at an old abandoned drive-in. Part of the logging requirements was taking a photo at the bridge you had to cross to get there. As fate (or rather the CO) would have it, there’s an earthcache at the bridge. I took a little time learning about brickmaking and the soils that make Oklahoma famous for it. I believe that makes for my first earthcache in the state. But neither of these would qualify for the Oklahoma 77, so I needed to pick at least one more…
…hence a stop at the Heart of Route 66 Auto Museum. You literally can’t miss that giant gas pump as you’re driving along. Of course, I couldn’t not note the irony of the Tesla chargers right at the foot of it, either. I looked around the outside and quickly stumbled upon…
…an ammo can containing a letterbox! Letterboxes don’t get a lot of love from me, not because they don’t deserve it, but because I’m usually more interested in grabbing the simplest, quickest cache I can find so I can get on down the road. Most of the time, that’s going to be a traditional, in many cases an LPC, though that is by no means always the case. This is physical so it qualifies and that’s what matters. Thanks to the underlauded letterbox, I was able to make my claim for the county, and continue on. As mentioned before, I’m not entirely sure if Sapulpa qualifies as “middle of nowhere” because it actually sits on the outskirts of…
Geocaching While Black 
Love it! I might be able to get the spouse on a geocaching adventure that includes Route 66. Maybe in a few years.
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