There's a new gal in town - Stella Atom
What’s new on Route 66? Are there new attractions on America’s Mother Road? Actually the answer to that is a resounding yes. There are a number of people who have really taken this piece of nostalgia and embraced it and then added to it.
One of those people is Mary Beth Babcock. With an incredible bit of vision and imagination Mary Beth wanted to take a vintage gas station and turn it into a gift shop that had both imaginative items and locally-sourced art. Oh, and she wanted to have a 21-foot-tall giant outside it with a space helmet and a cowboy hat holding a big space gun.
Mary Beth Babcock from Buck Atom's Cosmic Curios
Now if this sounds like the fever dreams of a grade schooler, so be it, but Mary Beth nailed it and it’s now a place we’ve visited multiple times. That place is Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
With Buck Atom, the space cowboy, now a fixture in front of the shop Buck Atom’s has become a destination along Route 66 and is the embodiment of what made this journey so magical. Sure, Route 66 always had lots of places to stay or have your car worked on but there were also delightful curio shops, roadside attractions and places that were advertised for hundreds of miles before.
We’ve talked before about the American Giants, or Muffler Men, and Buck has been a favorite of ours for years. We even made the trip out to see the new American Giants Museum in Atlanta, Illinois.
Peggy says hello to the newest celebrity on Route 66 - Stella Atom
This time our return to Buck Atom’s was even more special as Buck now has a gal! Yep, Mary Beth commissioned Mark Cline to use the template for the Uniroyal Gal and create Stella Atom. Stella is a 19’ tall fiberglass beauty that is also holding a space gun but is decked out in a tidy red skirt with some fancy cowboy boots.
Stella was just added a few weeks ago and while we couldn’t be there for the arrival we were able to stop by today and meet her. And she is grand in her shiny outfit and spiffy space gun on the opposite side of Buck’s vintage gas station from Buck himself.
The thing is people like Mary Beth have really inspired what is happening now on Route 66. There is a new energy and renewed excitement on the mother road. We’ve been fortunate in that our travels have taken us back and forth to Indiana several times a year and we inevitably revisit some of our favorite stops.
What had been new and exciting for us is now something that we regularly look forward to. Once again we saw Uranus Fudge Factory, but didn’t stop this time. We also cruised by the Blue Whale of Catoosa. Even though it hasn’t been long since we saw it last, you can see evidence of more work being done by the city at the site.
Don’t forget the 100th anniversary of Route 66 is coming up and we hope to be part of the celebrations and adventures that organizers have planned. Oh, no worries, we’ll bring you along.
Today was a very very very long day of driving where we started reasonably early and concluded the day’s windshield time around 7:30. Don’t worry, we did get out and walk around about every 90 minutes.
We listen to a lot of podcasts on our drives and one of those talked about a traveler who was one of those people who loved to keep the miles ticking away with few stops. Unfortunately this RVer got a blood clot and passed away. This is not the first time we’ve heard this warning so we take it to heart. Literally. You can hear that podcast episode here.
So another night in an anonymous hotel on our way to Indiana with lots more miles on the Ram.
Mary Beth hasn’t just added Stella to Route 66. She also opened a second shop down the road from Buck’s that enables local artisans to share and sell their wares. While she was working on this project she found out that a local person had an original lumberjack giant in their basement and he is also going to take his rightful place on Route 66 soon.
Mary Beth’s shop is in the Meadow Gold district in Tulsa named for the famous neon sign that brightens the road to this day. The shop will be named after the giant - Meadow Gold Mack the Friendly Lumberjack. While we drove by a crew was preparing Mack’s new home overlooking the Mother Road.
We didn’t stop in to Meadow Gold Mack’s this time, but likely will on the way home. But it’s great to see new energy and historic pieces coming together to keep America’s Main Street alive and kicking and protected by lumberjacks and space cowboys and cowgirl.
