Route 66 - Pt 4

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-54 ESV).

Well, we’re going to “drive” into Oklahoma for the next stop along our scenic trek across Route 66. We can stop at the “Whale of Catoosa” in Catoosa, Oklahoma. After all, this big blue whale and its adjacent pond are hard to miss. The story of this unusual roadside attraction is unique. Hugh Davis had a job as a director of a Tulsa zoo, and he and his wife Zelta ran an alligator farm just off of Route 66. In 1972 Hugh surprised Zelta on their 34th wedding anniversary by unveiling an 80-foot-long sperm whale that he had built out of pipe and concrete in a little pond on their property. He originally built it for the use of just the Davis kids, with a diving platform on its tail and a slide coming out of its head. By the mid-1970s, however, the happy whale with the toothy smile had become the centerpiece of Hugh and Zelta's new attraction, Nature's Acres, which also featured Animal Reptile Kingdom (A.R.K. -- housed in a replica of Noah's Ark) and a Trading Post run by Hugh's brother-in-law. The spring-fed pond had been enlarged by Hugh into a commercial swimming hole, and the Blue Whale became a Route 66 icon. Hugh and Zelta eventually got old, and they closed the attraction in 1988. The pond got scummy. The Ark was abandoned and, although still standing, is now beyond repair. That fate could have befallen the Blue Whale as well, which for a decade fell into disrepair. But it was too visible and too beloved, and every few years Whale boosters now converge on Catoosa to patch its concrete and give it a fresh coat of paint. A cluster of picnic benches sit on the shore near the Blue Whale's open mouth, and the whale even has its own souvenir and concession stand, open in the summer on weekends. Today, people can stroll through the whale’s mouth and climb a ladder up the tail for a better vantage point. This one is pretty easy to see the eternal perspective. Our lives are always going to in need of “repair.” And, sometimes, they will take more than a little plaster patch or paint! We are simply mortal. The good news is that there is a day coming when “this mortal, shall put on immortality” (v. 53); and, “death is swallowed up in victory” (v. 54)! Now that’s worth the trip!