Route 66, Bridge Over the North Canadian River - by JimRode

Where

FridayNightArt in Oklahoma

The Art

The Mother Road as it was called was first strung together as soon as Henry Ford realized that his cars were good enough for people to safely drive them to the nearest town. Motor vacations were born. More roads, better roads became a no brainer. With overnight trips came the need for highway hotels...thus came "Motels". 

Henry Ford invented charcoal briquettes for people to take road trips and camp out. A bag was included with each car coming out of the factory.

A guy named Edward Kingford helped Ford secure a strip of forest for a wood supply to Henry's cars. Early cars had a lot of wood including the floors. Ford wondered if there was an effective use for the wood chips and sawdust left over. As an avid camper, Ford soon invented briquettes. He would use them on camping trips with his friends Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. The briquettes were a Ford brand at first, but soon Henry gave his friend Kingsford the headline brand name. They are still sold today under the Kingsford name.

Ford was instrumental in the push to bind America together with better roads.

The 1920 Lake Overholser Bridge helped bridge Route 66 together over the North Canadian River and the Lake Overholser reservoir for Oklahoma City. It's bed is 20 feet wide. Subtract a couple feet on each side for safety, and you've got 16 feet left over for two cars to pass each other. That might be okay in the 1920s and 30s, but eventually cars got to be 7-8 feet wide. That's a problem. Eventually, a modern and wider bridge was build nearby.

You can still travel the bridge...no trucks allowed...and dream of being in the 20s. Picture yourself camping with that brain trust -Ford, Edison, Firestone!

Art Details

This 16x20 ink on canvas is a reminder of days past. It is ink on canvas and would make a smart addition to that hallway into your wreck room or man cave. It arrives wired and signed.

Who

Jim Rode’s FridayNightArt is a listed member of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC)

To see artist Jim Rode’s Artist Statement and Bio at OVAC, go to https://www.ovac-ok.org/art/Jim-Rode