While I thought we might visit the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Oklahoma City National Memorial (commemorating victims of the 1995 Murrah Building bombing), my wife had another plan: the Goodwill Outlet. It was quite a cultural experience…
Route 66 Road Trip Day Five: Goodwill Outlet…
First, a word on the Fordson Hotel. What a great Hyatt property. It’s in a former automobile plant and now is a fancy hotel with a great art collection. The rooms have very high ceilings, there’s a 24/7 sauna and steam room (though the steam room was out of commission), and great coffee. I LOVED this hotel and would return…it was cheap too. Less than $150/night.
Again, we spent the morning and early afternoon working and working out. After a nice breakfast, a good workout, and several hours of work, we were finally ready to depart…at 4:30 pm.
By now, it was too late for any museum or for the Kate Spade Outlet Heidi wanted to visit (since it was about 20 minutes away in the wrong direction) but Heidi had another idea: she noticed there was a Goodwill Outlet just a few minutes from the hotel and was intrigued. I mean, Goodwill is a thrift shop…already an outlet, right? How could an outlet have an outlet?
One of the many reasons I love Heidi is that she is very disciplined in her spending and prefers to shop at thrift shops (and LA is full of very nice thrift shops). She has a closet full of expensive designer clothes, but most are second-hand. And I admire that. I used to like thrifting myself but determined at one point it was no longer worth the time. She has a different calculation because enjoys the shopping itself so much: it’s like a treasure hunt.
So we drove over to the Goodwill Outlet…which looked like a big warehouse on the outside.
We parked and went inside, where we found a huge room with bins. A black woman looked at me like, “What in the…are you doing here.” I’ll never forget that look…
Honestly, Heidi and I were both horrified. It was filthy inside and cold. But before we could walk out, the kids ran in and started scavenging.
Essentially, this is an outlet…it’s leftover items from various Goodwill stores that are dumped into bins and sold by the pound rather than the article. You dig through the bins, find what you want, then bring it to the front.
There, it is weighed and you’re out the door for a few bucks.
My kids truly loved it! It was an adventure and Heidi and I watched as kids spent the next hour pawing through the bins. At one point, Claire Marie put about 20 stuffed animals in her shopping cart…but we gently told her we were not going to put any dirty and disgusting stuffed animals in the car. However, we did let them each choose something…she got a “magic wand” (that Heidi disinfected before it went into the car) and Augustine got a Nerf gun. Heidi found a brand new 2025 day planner and I found a few glass-blown Christmas ornaments…I mean, what else were we going to do but dig as well?
I found the whole experience fascinating, but I don’t recommend it unless you have young kids.
Back on the road at 6:00 pm (when everyone was kicked out of the Goodwill Outlet), we fueled up for gas and drove (along old Route 66) to Trader Joe’s to get some snacks for the car.
We drove for a couple of hours and stopped at A Texas Roadhouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Augustine strongly requested we either stop at Texas Roadhouse or Cracker Barrel). As far as chain restaurants go, it was quite acceptable…I enjoyed ribs and steak.
Back on teh raod, I snickered at all the pot dispensaries on the Oklahoma-Arkansa border and then the warning signs after we crossed the Arkansas state line that it is illegal to import pot into the state.
We arrived about midnight at the Hyatt House in Rogers, Arkansas, where we would spend the night.
This trip report covers my road trip along the old Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Many cities have those Goodwill Outlets but they are usually in some really odd location. Fun stuff.
I lived in Edmond Oklahoma (Northern OKC suburb) for a while in the early 90s. I lived there when the Murrah Building was bombed so that memorial is a special place for me.
I walked through that old Fred Jones Ford building when they were beginning to move their parts warehouse out of there. Fred Jones was one of the original Ford dealerships and I heard when they cleaned out the building they found “New/Old Stock” parts going back to the Model A, an amazing treasure trove at the time.
Nice trip report. Thanks.
I, wanted to go on a road trip with my 2 sisters, younger sister had bad spinal issues, at the time used a walker, my older sister, had back issues, didn’t like riding too long, she was having memory loss to a point dementia was appearing,I found out about their, issues when I told her about my plans,she didn’t advise it, now in year 2024 I lost both sisters
You should have upgraded to suite they’re absolutely massive. With a beautiful daybed by that can be converted to a twin.
Love this story !! Claire Marie is so cute!
Since when is Tulsa in NM?
That would be Oklahoma.
My sister noted that her local Goodwill outlet allowed her to buy underwear by the pound.
A black woman?
Do you say a white woman in your posts? I have never seen that.
So what she was black! No need to say black before your define someone!!
The line would have been fine if you said ‘A woman looked at me like, “What in the…are you doing here.” I’ll never forget that look…”
I thought the same as you.
Maybe he needed to increase his word count!
Perhaps it would have been better for him to use some of his over-used words to make a sentence : “I appreciated that a kind woman offered me a Coca-Cola, some coffee and a pretzel roll – yum”
@Jill: because she looked at me with disgust (or least utter amazement) because of my skin color (why else? it wasn’t my nice clothes or nice car), and I’ll remember that – and I also remember that so many black folks endured not just nasty looks in stores but de jure segregation and a lack of basic civil rights for a century, not to mention kidnapping and forced servitude before it. See, it bothered me…and therefore I can only imagine how much my absolutely trivial complaint compared to a black person living in Oklahoma 100 years ago. It was in Oklahoma of all places that became the first state to segregate… telephone booths. And schools were segregated until the 1960s…what a legacy.
But yes, I do mention skin color when relevant. Like “white” during my recent visit to Atlanta:
https://liveandletsfly.com/honor-jimmy-carter/
Dude there are a couple white people in your photos at the Goodwill.
You write about the Goodwill like it is some kind of novelty. But people depend on Goodwill stores for clothes since they can’t afford to shop at a normal store.
Maybe you should donate the money you saved by not going to Trump inauguration to a food bank. Considering that Trump’s new Treasury Secretary said that he does not support rasing the minimum wage from what it is now.
Or you could prey that people in the US have enough money to buy clothes and feed themselves. Since you love to prey all he time! Because it looks like the Trump admin will decrease the amount of money people get from food stamps.
BTW congrats on you and your son being SAS millionaires!
I don’t prey, I pray. And I do give of my “time, talent, and treasures” to help others. Ask those who know me.
And this post wasn’t meant to be a “zoo expedition” poking fun at the poor.
You actually have no idea about my life experience, my history of thrifting, and my worldview in general, so I’ll just say that you misinterpreted this post and self-reflectively, I will try to do a better job of being more sensitive to others, especially those in need.
Good!
Once Again, traveling on Route 66 in Oklahoma in the dark seems like not really experiencing the historic roadway. While the exquisite hotel reviews are interesting, not everyone can avoid needing some used goodwill items in their life. Your shopping review lacked compassion and humility. Finally, Bentonville, and Rogers are nice places in Arkansas, but they are not on US Route 66. billooltewah
Here’s Bill back for his daily complaint.
Love you Bill, but we made the road trip that worked for us and roughly followed Route 66. It was a great time for my family and we came away loving our country even more.
Hi Bill, I interviewed in Arkansas for CRNA school. It was important for me to visit Arkansas for that reason. I really enjoyed Bentonville. Why would I care if it’s on Route 66?
Love the Fordson as well.
There are a few great restaurants in walking distance as well as much of downtown OKC.
You were also walking distance from the memorial so it’s disappointing you didn’t get to visit it as it’s very moving.
That steam room as been broken for more than 6 months for some reason. The sauna is nice though.
I didn’t know I was so close to the memorial. 🙁
Oh, my goodness, gracious, Matthew on the ground at a Goodwill store where real poor folks shop and even a real black person giving you the eye. What would the folks in the first class lounge think? Luckily, you saved things with a trip to Trader Joe’s. Hope you wore your safari jacket on this excursion, Matthew.
LOL. Cheeky, John.
The Goodwill Outlet story made me think of my German relatives that would visit us every summer. We lived near a huge clothing factory back in the days when outlets were truly a source from bargins. My mom would source cheap luggage and the relatives would fill suitcases full of clothing. This was back in the 80s when things like American jeans were of good quality and a novelty in Germany.
Your statement about the thrill of the hunt rings true!