route 66 turns 100 years old this year. The road runs from chicago to santa monica’s pier. it cuts through oklahoma and they know it and celebrate it. we’ve heard of a get-to-gether in tulsa, oklahoma may 30 of old classic cars. they will attempt to set a guiness book of world records during this one day. many model a’s will be traveling to tulsa for that event. today on the I44 many groups of motorcycles were seen heading in that direction. I don’t know oklahoma, but i can’t imagine there are dozens of motorcycle groups traveling the Interstate on a thursday. maybe that’s normal?

We are heading away from tulsa towards springfield, missouri. we run through afton, oklahoma and the crosstar Flag and Tag museum caught our eye. Crosstar is the creation of al childs, a vietnam veteran and artist putting all his energies in celebration of route 66. Route 66 runs through afton. He has two buildings that line the road and his house is in back. he charges nothing to tour his collection of Memorabilia though a donation is accepted.

it would be hard to pass by such a roadside oddity with flags blowing in the wind and an airplane on the roof. we park along the left side where the front ends of cars are lined up in a row. This is the front hood part of the car with grill and bumper, nothing more. Rows of these make up some kind of metalic mural. We run across other cars and sign an old nash with a sharpie. They haven’t made a nash since 1957. he has two of them.

inside the blues brothers doing a jig and elvis is there with his signed guitar. The question is who signed the guitar? certainly not elvis. It’s fun and it’s eye-catching and these creations are first class. This is not a collection of junk, but the work of a real artist who is mechanically inclined. his name is al childs.

Mr. childs hangs around and personally meets most everyone who walks in. he goes from one conversation with a group to the next without missing a beat. a constant flow of curious folk wander through looking confused at first, perhaps skeptical. They walk around and then they begin to get it – There’s a lot of stuff here and it’s really cool, and nobody’s asking me for money. inside, music from a bygone era plays in the background, adding to the 1950’s vibe. everyone Eventually meats al. he’s engaging, well spoken, animated, and talks with energy and passion. What’s more, he’s clear minded and happy to meet you, stand for a picture, or be video-recorded.

Al points to a poster on the wall that provides a lengthy definition of artist. According to mrs. childs, this description describes al. I take a picture and read it later in the car. an artist creates not for monetary gain but they have to. often the artist does not receive acknowledgement until they have passed. Also, an artist will create art even if it puts them in a precarious financial position.

despite the outlandish trappings, childs is not to be taken lightly or brushed off as an eccentric. this man is clever and driven. a vietnam veteran serving during the tET offensive in 1968, he was wounded twice. when he was taken by Medevac to an old french tunnel, he noticed the cross and star. the french often used the cross as a symbol. Thus, the name of child’s route 66 creation is crosstar.

Since 1973, childs has collected license plates. They’re staged all over the place. look up and find your birth year on a license plate. mine would be 1962. Sure enough, in correct order is a license plate with the last four digits – 1962. his collection covers years 1926 to 2126. I ask him how he collected these unusual and probably rare license plates for each year, a hundred plus plates. He said often he found them on ebay.

Al childs has a lot say, a lot on his mind, and a lot to offer. on the 100th anniversary of the great route 66 road, he’s a jewel to find and appreciate the history behind this historic road. I wanted somehow to celebrate the road while in oklahoma but got stuck behind red lights in joplin, missouri. so we ended up on Interstate 44 which parallels route 66 to tulsa. Route 66 takes time. we read how hundreds of route 66 signs went up a few years ago, and we saw them. But the travel is slow and we’re on a schedule. Now you can see that a chance travel through afton was a find that fulfilled a need to acknowledge the road’s milestone.

by the way, i mentioned to al that i’ve been to seligman, arizona and was impressed by one particular colorful stop like his. seligman is famous for it’s route 66 presence of shops and eateries. al said he wanted crosstar to be in seligman but the property taxes were too high. They were $1,800 a year and in afton they are a fraction of that. Crosstar and al childs doesn’t have anything to sell. it’s not an enterprise, it’s art, route 66 art. Al childs art.