Day 9: I'll get you, my pretty, and your little skunk, too!

In our last episode, we left you wondering if we'd be able to get our lazy rears out of the bed at 7 AM after only 4 hours of sleep. The gods were on our side (I guess) since we were awakened at 6:42 by an incessant ringing that was neither my cell phone (our normal alarm), the alarm in the room, or the phone. Thankfully it stopped and we were just rolling over to go back to sleep when... it happened again. By now we had figured out it was the fire alarm! One look out into the parking lot showed us that there were no fire engines in sight and no one appeared to be fleeing the building. We smelled no smoke and we weren't hot, but we were wide awake! So we got up, dressed without showering, and were on the road before 7:30, an all-time record. We realized we had missed the "Yukon's Best" grain elevators and we didn't care. We pulled into a parking lot to take a picture of an old sign claiming "Home Cooked Food" and then we realized the name of the place was "J and Kay Restaurant" and it was open and it appeared that everyone in town was there. We took it as a sign and went in for breakfast. Once there, Kim kept asking me what day it was, because everyone that she saw coming in or going out had a Bible and/or flowers. She thought maybe we were a day off and that it was Sunday and Mother's Day. Thank goodness, it really was Saturday. After our usual breakfasts, we were off to see the wizard.

Perhaps I have not mentioned why we needed to get such an early start today. We were looking to get to Liberal, Kansas, by 4 PM in order to see Dorothy's House and the Land of Oz. We could not mess around if we wanted to see it, because it didn't reopen until 1 PM on Sunday. While we were eating breakfast, we overheard our waitress telling some people about the tornado damage the place had received. That explained the TV set in the parking lot and the deserted look that part of the restaurant had. Once on the road, we saw lots of evidence of a tornado, although thankfully nothing like the one that hit Greenburg, Kansas. We passed another airplane, a building with a chicken coming out of the side of it (it was called the Squawk-N-Skoot), a church that advertised free weddings, lots of old drive-ins and gas stations, and a prison that we thought was a fort.

We took a side trip on a really old section of Route 66, and it was here we first passed our friends, the Irish policemen on Harleys. These oldest sections of the original road are so pretty - most are truly in the middle of nothing, passing only gorgeous countryside and ruins of once proud buildings that served the travelers on the Mother Road. We were all alone out there, except for the very occasional farm truck and the Irishmen. We saw several steel truss bridges and the famous Lucille's Historic Provine Service Station from 1927 (the year the road was certified). Lucille was considered the Mother of the Mother Road, and her station was frequently called "Lucille's Hydro" and we somehow went right past it without seeing it last year.

Passing Hydro, we started seeing many more of the gargantuan windmills that populate the Oklahoma countryside (why they are not covering Kansas I do not know!). In Weatherford, we stopped at a park that had one arm of one of these collosal machines, which are part of the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative. I would swear the Plains states could power the whole country if they could harness all that wind! Our next great giant of the day was another Muffler Man, Howe the Indian. His name is really not Howe, but he advertises for Howe Automotive. Clinton, OK, is home to the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, which we did not stop at last year. This year we barely did - a quick stop in the lobby and gift shop was all we had time for. We saw many of Jim Ross and Shellee Graham's excellent Route 66 photographs.

In Elk City, home of the National Route 66 Museum, we ran into our Irish friends again and saw Myrtle, the giant Kachina Doll - she is fifteen feet tall. We also saw the Parker Drilling Rig, which at 179 feet tall is the tallest non-working rig in the world. Peppy felt so insignificant! More bridges, more old ruins and we were in Sayre, which was re-enacting the Land Rush of Oklahoma this weekend. You'll be happy (I hope) to know that we were not stampeded, but we did get to see lots of the horses and people in period costume while we were at the city park looking at their pretty rock pool house. They also had a fine courthouse, but the place we had chosen for lunch, Owl Drugs, looked like Mom was having her sidewalk sale there. Are you noticing a theme here?

Moving right along, we drove past more old sections of the road. At one place, we were able to see the old section we were driving on as well as two other even older roadbeds, one with the old wooden guard rails still intact. We sped into Erick, home of both Roger Miller, Sheb Wooley (Purple People Eater), and the Sand Hills Curiousity Shop, which is a Roadside Attraction. It was getting really late and we were not at all sure we would make it to Dorothy's House, so we intended to just take a picture and leave. However, curiousity got the best of us and we were ushered into a scene straight from a movie you would not believe even if you were there with us. The shop is in the oldest brick building in the city and it used to be a meat market. Now it is home to lots of 66 stuff and is run by Harley and Annabelle Russell, who call themselves the Mediocre Music Makers. Harley and Annabelle are hospitable, friendly rednecks who are very familiar - Harley greeted us with a kiss as we came in. Harley has lots of hair and an almost dreadlocked beard and was fashionably underdressed in overalls. Period. We were serenaded by them (they both played guitars while Harley sang Route 66 - he's got a great voice) and Harley has quite the sense of humor. He had a special eye for Kim, who was less than thrilled to be the object of his affection - I mean attention! Perhaps if he had all of his teeth and wasn't married...among other things! Their website is a must-see at www.hometown.aol.com/route66sandhills Let's just say we weren't sorry that we hadn't showered that morning!

We still needed a bite to eat, and right across the street was a restaurant called "Sisters" - just like J and Kay, we took it as a sign and ran in. Mister Sister (sorry, we didn't get his name and this one works for us) fixed us up with a cheeseburger for Kim and a Philly steak for me. Although it was not your usual Philly steak (it was on Texas toast and the peppers and onions were diced in tiny pieces) it was delicious! Plenty of cheese and flavorful beef - Kim's burger was good, too. Anyway, we had a witch to see so we were out in a flash, laughing all the way to Texola and the state line. Once in Texas, we did a drive by of the totally cool U-Drop-Inn and Tower Conoco Station (1936). This art-deco building now houses the Chamber of Commerce and a gift shop. It has great neon and was one of my favorite places on the route - just wish it was still a functional soda fountain. See it at www.shamrocktx.net Sadly, this was as far as we were taking Route 66 this year, but now we can say we have done it all! I'm sure there's more to see, and we may be back someday.

Dorothy was waiting for us, so we hopped on US 83 (still a real highway - the road to nowhere) and were thrilled to see it was straight and had a 70 mph speed limit. We were off to see that wizard after all! Kim was so excited to be able to dump her lapful of maps, guidebooks, and other Rt. 66 stuff and just have one book and one map to look at. It did not appear that we would have many things of interest to see on the way to Kansas, as the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles are not very inhabited. We saw a giant dinosaur on top of a big rock outcropping just south of Canadian, TX, and we saw a big spur at a city park in Canadian. We called 911 to report a woman with car trouble (she broke down right in front of us but we were going too fast to stop safely!) It was almost 4 PM and we still had a ways to go, so Kim called ahead to see if we could still see Dorothy's
House even if we got there after the last tour started at 4:30. It didn't sound promising, but we were intent on seeing it! We passed the towns of Wheeler and Perryton in Texas and Gray and Turpin in Oklahoma, and at 4:40 we were racing out of our car into the museum in Liberal. After a short conversation, Dorothy agreed to take us on the complete tour (we just asked to see the house!) so off we went!

We started out walking on the yellow brick (really) road to Dorothy's house. Along the way we passed the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion. The house itself was way more educational than we had expected - we learned all about what a typical day was like for a homesteader on the Kansas prairie, from work to leisure activities. Dorothy (complete with blue and white checked jumper, white top, white socks, and ruby red slippers) did a wonderful job being informative and entertaining. From the house, we entered the Land of Oz, and Dorothy got immediately into character and took us from her altercation with Miss Gulch to meeting Professor Marvel to the cyclone, Glinda, the Munchkins, the yellow brick road, and her meeting the scarecrow, tin man, and cowardly lion. We saw the witch watching us in her crystal ball, and we were almost attacked by flying monkeys. We watched the witch melt before our eyes, and then we entered the Emerald City. Everyone got a makeover, the witch's broom was presented to the wizard, Toto exposed the sham, and the balloon took off for Kansas without Dorothy! In a magic bubble, Glinda appeared to tell Dorothy she had had the power to go home all along, because we all know there is no place like home!!

We took a bit more time to see some memorabilia from the filming of the movie and then we let our nice Dorothy (aka Cheyenne) go home after thanking her profusely for staying late to accomodate us. We had time to take some pictures outdoors - you'll especially like the one of all three of us as munchkins. We couldn't find any local hot spots, so we resorted to McDonald's for ice cream (even breaking our "no eating at chains" rule - horrors!!!) and then set off for Garden City, where they actually have hotels.

We rolled into Garden City a little after 7 - an early night for us! We were not hungry, so we checked in to our Holiday Inn Express, answered emails, tried to catch up on these blogs, and did laundry. By the time we were hungry, it was 10 PM and we had very few choices for dinner, so it was Arby's take out. We had hit a gastronomic low!!

Jan (off to see the sandman!)

Day 8: Oklahoma is OK, cont.

After leaving Afton, we were now so far behind schedule that we breezed through the small towns of Vinita and Chelsea and stopped in for our "morning snack" (I think it was about two in the afternoon) at the Top Hat Dairy Bar in Foyil. We had passed it but not stopped in last year, because we were in such a rush to get to Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park and the world's tallest totem pole (it's 90 feet!). All of the totems there are made from concrete by one man (Ed) and it was by far one of the oddest places we've seen. We opted for ice cream this year - we'd had enough of the totems. At the Top Hat, we were a bit confused about how to order, so after we sat at a table for about 5 minutes, the 'helpful' cook told us we could come back there and order if we wanted something. We did not feel the need to tip, but our sundaes were good! The best part about the Top Hat was the community bulletin board, where we read about a stolen tractor (big one) that was last seen heading west on Highway 20. We are pretty sure Towmater got him.

I neglected to mention before that our National Geographic moment of the day involved me getting up close and personal with a BIG snapping turtle (a live one!) we saw on the road in between Baxter Springs and Riverton. Kim was hoping I would be able to outrun it, but there was no need. I scared him. Still way behind schedule, we flew past some of our favorite places from last year - Claremore, home of Will Rogers; Verdigris, where the Nut House (no, not for people like us) is; and Catoosa, home of the Blue Whale (one of our very favorite spots last year - it's a giant at 80 feet long) AND the largest inland seaport in the US (no kidding - and WHERE is the closest ocean to Oklahoma???) It is part of the McClellan-Kerr River system, and the answer to the trivia question is it's 445 miles to the Gulf of Mexico from here. Who knew?

Roaring into Tulsa with a list of things a mile long that we wanted to see and do, we could hardly wait to see if Elvis would be eating with us at the Metro Diner. We drove right past Tally's Cafe with plans just to stop in for a coke and a pit stop at the Metro but when we got to the driveway of one of the best diners in the country, it was being turned into APARTMENTS. Oh, the travesty of it all! Returning to Tally's, we discovered that the Metro was owned by the University of Tulsa, which evidently has no sense of history, architecture, or Americana. Money talks, I guess. Since we were so sad, we needed a plate of fried okra to cheer us up. And it did, 'cause it was nice and fresh and hot. Keep in mind, it's now almost 4:30 and we have not officially had lunch...you never know when your next meal is coming!

Once fortified, we continued on our giant search in Tulsa, and boy, did we hit paydirt! We found the Golden Driller, who was TITANIC!! He dwarfed the building he was in front of at the expo center. We loved seeing some of Tulsa's fabulous Art Deco architecture (of which the Metro Diner had been a prime example) and we fumbled our way to the Blue Dome Gulf Station and Garage (1924). Sometimes I long for the days of Art Deco gas stations instead of the ones that look like they are all built from the same design, just with different decals applied. On our way out of town, we passed the mother of all Goodwill buildings - it looked like a Costco or something.

On the road again, we had a bead on the Rock Cafe in Stroud, but first we saw the Happy Burger in Sapulpa (which also has one of the last brick-decked bridges around) and we passed our funniest surprise from last year - a house on the road near Kellyville that has one very large and one small boat sticking out from it. In Bristow we found a neat old Chrysler Plymouth sign, a brick-lined street and a quaint depot. We didn't take our funny detour to Depew this time and finally we made it to the Rock Cafe, where we were to have LUNCH (it was six o'clock!). Were we ever in luck - it was Catfish Fryday, so of course we had catfish. You gotta love a place where the small plate has three huge pieces of very lightly breaded and very tasty catfish! We were stuffed when we left. I am not supposed to tell that Kim had more fried okra, but it was Fryday, after all. The Rock Cafe is where the guys who wrote and animated Cars hung out and got lots of their ideas and inspiration. Last year there was a "Sally" blue Porsche cutout under the Roadside Attraction sign, and this year there was also a Lightning McQueen and the Hudson Hornet. We may have forgotten to mention that in Indiana, we passed two vintage Hudson Hornets on the interstate... Read all about the Rock at www.rockcaferoute66.com and you'll see why we love it. People watching is one of the best things about traveling, and we loved the local woman who came into the Rock carrying a metal bucket for her purse.

Heading for Oklahoma City we pretty much decided we did not have time to make any more stops, as it would be getting dark soon and Stroud is 63 miles from where we were spending the night, so we amused ourselves with sights like the three horses who were "mowing the yard" in someone's very small front yard and the bright red hearth and chimney out in the middle of someone else's front yard. We did stop to see a neat little old (1933) Texaco station in Davenport and to see how much work had been done to an old (1930) Phillips 66 station we saw last year in Chandler. The Seaba Station at Warwick was a Roadside Attraction so we had to stop there... we are not very good about minding even our own rules, so you know our mom had her hands full. Kim would tell you that was only with me, as she was the good one. I can't argue, and I'm the one who's driving and therefore stopping...

Then we read about an intriguing little detour we could take between Luther and Arcadia, and since I was feeling guilty, I did not stop when we passed a house with several cars sticking out of it and other Route 66 memorabilia in the yard. What restraint. After a few missed turns, we found the detour, took it, and lo and behold, we ended up in front of that same funny house again. I can only be good for so long, so I stopped, even though Kim was yelling that there was a man in the yard watching us. I said that was fine and I'd ask him if we could look around. What a treasure we had uncovered! John Hargrove has got to be one of the most interesting and talented people we have met along the way. He is single-handedly making his own museum/monument to Route 66. An ex-pilot, he can flat do anything. He builds cars, welds, can make anything, upholsters, and has incredible vision. I cannot begin to describe all of the things we saw (he let us go in for a full tour!) in his workshop and building. Suffice it to say that I got to sit in the VW bug that was sticking out of the house while Kim stood on a deck and took my picture. John's goal is to have models of all of the famous Route 66 icons, and he must have 75% of them already!

You can read about John at www.roadsideamerica.com (and see some giants, too.) He also told us that the person who lives in the house we took the detour to see is Jim Ross, who drew the maps that we used on the Route last year! Wish we had known that and I would have knocked on his door, too! He (Jim) also takes incredible photographs of Route 66. We are glad we used his maps for our first trip, since they were very true to the old road alignments. This year's EZ 66 Guide for Travelers, by Jerry McClanahan, has been perfect this time as we are playing catch up and see what we missed. And Jerry loves roadside giants, too!

So now it's pitch dark and we still have to drive 25 more miles, so we semi-followed our "no Rt. 66 after dark" rule and tried to take the interstate. At any rate, we got to Yukon, OK, at about 9:30 PM after putting 304 miles on the car - about par for the course for us. We were so far behind on our blogs and emails that we stayed up til 3 AM working on them, and we needed to get an early start the next day! Our alarm was set for 7 AM. Will the Sassy Sisters even hear the phone ring? If so, will they actually get out of bed? For the answers to these burning questions, tune in tomorrow!

Jan (the bad one)

Day 8: We ARE back in Kansas and Oklahoma is OK!

When we spoke to our innkeeper, Amy last night, we agreed on a breakfast time of 8:30. We had come in so tired and so late that we had paid no attention to our surroundings. Since we weren't quite sure where we would find breakfast, we stepped out of our suite and found we were just across the hall from a small kitchen and dining area that had two plates of hot food sitting on one of the tables. Assuming (hopefully correctly) that this was our breakfast, we devoured our ham and cheese omelettes and toast, took a few photos, and slipped out as quietly as we had come in. After all, we had major back-tracking to do! First we walked around this area of Baxter Springs, which is the third of three towns on Route 66 in Kansas.

The Little Brick Inn is located on the second floor of an old (1870) bank building above a restaurant called the Cafe on the Route. Both are Hampton Rt. 66 Roadside Attractions and the Crowell Bank was robbed by Jesse James on April 13, 1876. The short section of Route 66 that curves through the corner of Kansas was famous for high speed car chases of noted criminals like Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde. One of the places we were hoping to visit in Baxter Springs was a restaurant in another old bank where the ladies room was in the bank vault and there were old checks under the glass tabletops. Alas, it too was closed. There were several businesses open downtown, and all of them had printed histories of the buildings posted outside. We were right next to the police station and of course, the jail. We're pretty sure all the popos know we are coming their way! We met a woman walking a dog who was looking for a place to eat breakfast (no luck here!). She was from Arkansas and was camping (!) and waiting for some estate sale to take place. Mom, don't even think about it!

We reversed our tracks and went in search of the Eisler Brothers Grocery and Deli in Riverton, the middle Kansas town. Last year we had detoured around Riverton to see the Rainbow Marsh Arch Bridge, which is the only bridge of this type left. When we found Eisler's we wondered how we could have missed it last year - it was right out in plain sight and there isn't much else there! The owner, Scott Nelson, was very nice. Check out his website at www.hometown.aol.com/eislerbros
On the way to Eislers, we passed what we thought was the same group of motorcyclists we had passed in the rain in Springfield the night before. They had just ridden past Eislers and were turning around to come see it. Turns out they were part of a group of fifty Irish policeman who were touring Route 66 on Harleys as a fundraiser for Unicef. One of them was filming a documentary and we had a good time talking to them. We were sure we would cross paths with them many more times before we left Route 66.

As we drove back through Galena, Kansas, on the state line with Missouri, we took note of things we would take pictures of as we drove back through, but first it was back to Joplin to see a giant coke bottle and a giant crayon we had missed the night before. As we drove into town, we passed a beautiful rock waterfall that looked terribly out of place, and then we realized it was on the grounds of this gargantuan estate we had been surprised by last year. Truly in the middle of nowhere, between Joplin and Galena, is a gorgeous HUGE private residence with massive gates guarded by big horse statues and the above mentioned man-made river and rock waterfall. Go figure. Anyway, we stopped to photograph 66 Carousel Park and Schifferdecker Park in Joplin and we found the giant coke bottle sign at a bbq place we had noticed the night before (clearly it is not a neon sign) and the giant crayon (and ruler) were on a sign at an elementary school (Go Joplin Eagles!)

Back in Galena, we saw a tank, a train, a helicopter, and a big gun at the volunteer fire department. Little did we know then that tanks and airplanes were to be the theme of the next two days. If there is a shortage of tanks in Iraq, it's because they are all in the heartland of America! Galena used to be a major lead and zinc mining town, and now we wonder what the people that live there do. It was like a ghost town that didn't know it was a ghost town.

Ready to move onward, if there had been an interstate to hop on, we would have, but Kansas boasts that it is the only Route 66 state entirely bypassed by an interstate. So we have now seen all of Route 66 on Kansas four times! Entering Oklahoma, we found the same chat pile (old mining leftovers) there that we saw last year. We had wanted to search out the Spooklight in Quapaw the night before, but given the rain we wimped out. Commerce (home of Mickey Mantle) is the next little town, and then we entered the relative metropolis of Miami (pronounced my-am-uh) and the awesome Waylon's KuKu Burger. Peppy got a new car (a yellow mustang) which is a good thing, since Kim sat on his 57 Chevy earlier. We stopped at the beautiful Coleman Theatre, which sort of looks like the Alamo from the outside. It was open this year and the nice man told us we could go anywhere we wanted (even the basement) and look around. It was built in 1929 and is being restored (it's in great shape and being used now) and it is home to the original "Mighty Wurlitzer" organ. It is a Spanish Mission Revival styling, gargoyles and all, seats 1600, has had some unbelievable talents showcased, and has a great red and green neon sign. Worth a look at www.colemantheatre.org. The Boller Brothers Architects designed it, and I think they may have done the KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque NM, too. We had fun going on stage, backstage, and into the star's dressing room.

Kim wanted to revisit the 'sidewalk section' of Route 66, so we set off to find it. Unfortunately, our mapped route was blocked by high water. Let's just say that Riverview Park could pretty much have been called River today. The water was almost up to the top of the speed limit sign. Since we had to make our own way, we weren't sure we would pick the right farmland to drive down to see the really old road. Amazingly enough, we guessed right and soon found ourselves on the nine foot wide section of old Route 66. This road is situated on the original Ozark Trail and was first built in 1922 and was used as Route 66 from 1926 to 1937. It really is only nine feet wide on the straight sections and twelve feet on curves. Very hard to imagine traveling on it with a carful of hot and cranky kids with big trucks and oncoming cars sharing the same space!

Our next stop was Afton and a cool old gas station that has been turned into a Route 66 visitor's center, small museum, and home to a collection of fantastically restored vintage Packards. Were we ever bummed that it is not open on Fridays!!! Be sure and look at www.postcardsfromtheroad.net and see owner Laurel Kane's postcards and David Kane's cars.

As I write this, it's really Sunday, May 13, and it's time for us to hit the road, so I'll post now and finish when I can. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms!

Jan

Day 7: What Missouri Showed Us

Thursday morning was mostly sunny when we got rolling out of St. Louis. We had a place all picked out for breakfast, and since we had gotten a bit turned around in St. Louis last year, we chose to take the interstate to the town of Pacific and see the Red Cedar Inn Restaurant, which is a Hampton Inn Roadside Attraction. We found it with no trouble, but were disappointed to see that it was closed and for sale - no longer a Roadside Attraction. Good thing it was not where we were planning to eat breakfast! We followed 66 into the town of Pacific, which took us past some gigantic columns and caves formed from the silica mines in the area. From Pacific, we went to the town of Villa Ridge, which used to be the home of the Gardenway Motel and the Diamonds Restaurant. These were replaced by the Tri-County Truck Stop, which Kim wanted to go into this year. Imagine our surprise to find it closed and abandoned, too! By now we were really crossing our fingers that the Lewis Cafe in St. Clair would be open, or we might be going on empty stomachs again.

It has been funny to retrace our steps from last year, because we either took a different route or we have really short memories, since lots of these places were new to us. We have photographic evidence that we were in St. Clair in 2006, but we sure didn't hit the "downtown" area or the fantastic Lewis Cafe, where they not only do their own baking but they also raise their own beef. Our usual breakfasts (scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns for Kim and an omelet of some variety for me) were tasty and filling, and the biscuits had certainly never seen a freezer. We got stuck in our parking place by traffic waiting for a train to pass, so I took the break time to call David and wish him a happy 24th (!!) birthday. Once we were rolling, we were headed towards Stanton (home of Meramec Caverns). Again, we found more places all closed up - it looked like the Antique Toy Museum and the Jesse James Wax Museum were just not open for the season yet as hours of operation were by chance or by appointment. We felt no compulsion to see the Caverns again - once was enough! We somehow missed the Riverside Reptile Ranch - again - too bad! Guess it was not meant to be. It is worth noting that even though we are encountering much more Rt. 66 traffic this year, many more businesses have closed since last May.

We breezed right by Sullivan and we loved the water tanks in Bourbon, although we thought one should be Bourbon and the other Water. Also got a kick out of the Circle N Malt Shop - most everyone in town was there. We were in for real treats in Cuba as they have commissioned artists to paint a series of twelve murals all over town. There is an old Phillips 66 gas station (1932) that is being renovated, and when we found it there was a man there cleaning up some paint and supplies. It turned out he was the artist who had painted a mural on the three garage doors of the station, and they had just been unveiled on Monday. His name is Ray Harvey and you can see his stuff at http://www.rayharveyart.com/. Turns out he knows all about the flood wall murals in Paducah and about Paducah's Lower Town artist colony. Maybe he'll move there someday! We had already taken pictures of one of his other murals and he posed with his newest ones for us. The nostalgic Wagon Wheel Motel is also in Cuba and was featured in one of Ray's murals. A few things were on our 'must see' list for Missouri this year - Stonehenge (replica) in Rolla, the Trail of Tears Monument and John's Modern Cabins near Devil's Elbow, and a whole list of odd giants. We missed most places between Stanton and Devil's Elbow last year because we spent so much time at Meramec Caverns that we let it get dark on us. We spent some time at the Mule Trading Post hoping that the impending rain would pass us. It was just like being back in Paducah cleaning out Mom's house - lots of 'stuff' and some for lots of money! On our way to Rolla, we found the A&W Hamburger Family and the giant neon dripping faucet (which was dripping rain) but were dismayed to see that Rt. 66 Motors and Gift Shop was barricaded and closed. We could not believe that it poured down rain as we passed through Rolla, but we got some rain-splattered photos of the Stonehenge replica there and thanked our lucky stars that we were not moving kids out of their dorms there that day!

The rain let up as we made our way to a section of the road we never saw last year, which led us to Vernelle's Motel and the remains of John's Modern Cabins. These were especially interesting for lots of reasons. The original log cabins (maybe 8' x 10') are in terrible shape, having not been used since 1971, but they were in far better shape than the three newer cabins with white siding and asbestos shingles. The interstate effectively removed both Vernelle's and John's from everything - we had to WANT to be there. Ramona Lehman, proprietor of the famous Munger Moss Motel (where we stayed last year) had tried to tell us how to get there last year, but we never found them. We were a bit apprehensive about getting to them, as Ramona told us last year that "our car would be in fine trouble going over those roads." As it turned out, the only trouble we had was finding the right road!

By now we were wondering where we were last year. Even though we were intentionally not revisiting most of the sites we saw last year, we were seeing things we didn't even know were there. One of our surprises this time was the former town of Arlington. We had been seeing these signs for a river resort, we didn't expect to come upon it here. We had been on a section of the old road that was on the banks of a river. When I-44 was constructed, the existing Route 66 bridges (built in 1952) were commandeered as interstate bridges, and the really old (1923) bridges across the river were destroyed. This rendered Arlington pretty much dead, as there was no way for locals to cross the river since there is not an interchange nearby. The town consisted of a hotel, a general store, and maybe six homes. It's now an RV campground, complete with pool, small general store, playground, and of course, river access. The road down was very rough and because of all the rain (you may have heard there are floods across most of Missouri this week) it was a bit dicey going down a pretty steep, gravelly hill. But we did. The huge slabs of concrete which used to be the old bridges were just dumped along the sides of the river and the mosquitos found the open window of our car and attacked Kim en masse while I was taking pictures. As navigator, she has her lap so full of maps and books that it's hard for her to get out for every photo op! We were killing bugs for the next half hour and we both have more than a few bites!

Time for a celebratory toast - at 1:53 PM we located the elusive Trail of Tears monument that we had searched for in vain last year! It's not really on the Route and is at the end of a private driveway, built by the property owner to honor the Cherokee who were forced to migrate from the Carolinas and Tennessee to Oklahoma. The builder, Larry Baggett, died in 2003, but his story was fascinating. The actual Trail of Tears passed through his property, and he had built a stone wall on his land. After that, he would be awakened in the night by knocks on the door. A Spirit asked him to build stairs over the wall so that the Cherokee Spirits could get over it. Once he complied, the knocking stopped, and the result is a unique collection of cairns, arches, fountains, and stonework. Just down the road was a house with a sign "School for Chip Carving" in front of it. We didn't sign up for any classes...

On the road near Waynesville we saw the "FROG XING" sign we had noticed last year because we almost hit a huge frog that was jumping across the street right at that spot, but what we hadn't seen was a huge frog head shaped rock sticking out from the boulders above. The town has painted the rock green and celebrates with an annual Frog Fest, which we just missed last weekend! Small town humor at its best. On the other side of town we snapped a shot of a giant bowling pin (right in front of a huge adult bookstore sign) and then we were off to say hello to Ramona at the Munger Moss in Lebanon. After a quick visit, we stopped by to photograph the old Wrink's Market, which was a Roadside Attraction that has closed since Mr. Wrink died a couple of years ago.

We passed fairly rapidly through the towns of Niangua, Marshfield, and Strafford on the way to Springfield and we saw lots of ruins of old gas stations, cabins, and motor lodges. One of the most surprising things we saw was our National Geographic Moment of the Day - a rooster and a peacock cavorting alongside the road!

We missed the Niangua Junction Store (where we thought we might have lunch - ha - it was about 4 PM when we passed through!) because it was closed, and then it started raining and we didn't even look for the miniature Hubble telescope as we drove down Hubble Road in the town of Marshfield, home of Dr. Edwin Hubble. We managed to avoid being tempted by the Exotic Animal Paradise but by the time we hit Springfield the sky was looking so threatening that we tried to find a radio station in case there was a tornado coming. The clouds were so dark, heavy, and low to the ground that it looked quite scary. Soon it was POURING down rain! We passed a group of about a dozen motorcyclists who were having to get into raingear - we sure felt bad for them.

Since it was getting pretty late and the rain was making driving and navigation difficult and we were still miles from Kansas, we opted for the interstate from Springfield to Joplin. On the way, we called the innkeepers at the B&B we were staying at to let them know we wouldn't be there by 8 PM, so we got instructions about getting our room key from the mailbox and letting ourselves in! Just as we were about to succumb to eating dinner at a place called Lumpy's, Amy the innkeeper called us and was able to recommend a couple of places she likes in Joplin. We easily found the first one she named, Club 609, and had a delightful dinner there. Kim had a charbroiled chicken salad and I had the Bombay salad, which had romaine, apples, Gorgonzola, spiced pecans, grilled chicken, and flash-fried onion rings with a homemade Balsamic dressing. Cold Blue Moons took the edge off and we were able to say no to dessert for a change.

From Joplin it was just a few dark miles across the southeast corner of Kansas to get to our B&B. There are only 13 miles of Route 66 in Kansas, but we missed all of them in the dark and stormy night. Looks like we had another day of back-tracking in our future... We easily found the Little Brick Inn in Baxter Springs, retrieved our key from the mailbox, and lugged our stuff up the stairs to our suite and some shut-eye.

Except for the rain, it was a great day and Missouri showed us lots of things we missed and then some! Can't wait to see what Kansas and Oklahoma are hiding!

Day 6: GIANT state, cont.

Great news - we are back with technology, so I can update you on the myriad of adventures that we've had in the past three days! As previously reported, we began our day Wednesday (May 9)bright and early; we just left without eating breakfast because we had a plan in mind. You know what they say about the best-laid plans...

We took off on Joliet Road (aka Route 66) from Chicago about 8:30 (that IS early for us!) and one of our first giant sightings was at the White Fence Farm and it was a giant chicken. We took a quick detour into Joliet (after passing the first of our many correctional institute sightings for the day) to see the grand Rialto Theater. It was magnificent! We could not get in, but you can check out its website at http://www.rialtosquare.com/ if you'd like to see it. While in Joliet, we found their minor league baseball stadium so we could see the first of the 'official' Illinois giants - Jackhammer Jake. Back on the Route, we were simply enjoying the views of endless flat cornfields when suddenly there appeared a HUGE stadium, then another and then even another! We finally figured out that it was the Illinois Route 66 Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway - you can see them at http://www.route66raceway.com/ since we were going too fast to take pictures.

Our next stop at about 9:30 was supposed to be our morning snack stop at the Launching Pad drive in, which was allegedly open for breakfast. NOT! We were able to get a photo of official Giant #2, the Gemini Giant. He, like Jake, was originally a 1965 Muffler Man, but now he is green, wears a huge 'space' helmet, and carries a blimp (http://www.launchingpadrt66.com/) The Polka Dot Drive In (http://www.polk-a-dot.com/) was our next attempt at food. No luck, but we did see lifesize models of Betty Boop, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, and Jake and Elroy (freshly out of Joliet, I guess). It was an eclectic crowd and Peppy loved being in the company of celebrities.

We were flying down the road so we only got a blurry shot of yet another nuclear facility and we drove right past the Riviera Roadhouse, so we had to turn around. This turned out to be a theme of the day, but it was worth it this time. This old speakeasy has been in operation since 1928 and was a hangout for Al Capone. It was built over an old coal mine, so the kitchen and dining room were on the main floor and the bar was downstairs, served by a dumbwaiter system. One of the owners, Peggy, was just leaving as we pulled in. Out back was a very cool streetcar diner which is being restored. It was originally a horse-drawn streetcar that was turned into a diner in 1932. The small town of Gardner was just ahead, and who could resist following signs to the "two cell jail"? Alas, although there was a poster of Barney Fife, Aunt Bea was not serving breakfast... Ambler's Texaco Station in Dwight was built in 1933 and was a Marathon Oil station. We saw a couple from from Nevada there, but have not run into them again. Just down the road was a real jewel - the Odell Standard Oil Station, which was in operation from 1932 to 1975, sometimes as a Sinclair and later as a Phillips 66. It is being completely renovated and has its original asphalt shingles (outside) and stamped tin ceiling in the garage bays. It was open and we talked to the man there for quite some time. All of the volunteers and people we've met along the Route love to talk about the history of their area and they are so nice! We also bought a book about Rt. 66 in Illinois. Kim was thrilled to have more to keep up with. It was after 11:30 when we left here and we were starting to regret our decision to leave without breakfast!! We saw one of the only two remaining Meramec Cavern barns and then finally we found the Old Log Cabin Inn outside of Pontiac. After a light lunch (considering we were starving!) of sandwiches (BLT and onion rings for me, grilled ham & cheese and fried cauliflower for Kim - see, we ate our vegetables!) we splurged on a piece of homemade peach pie. Yum. Once fortified, we were able to enjoy the neat little town of Pontiac. We visited the Rt. 66 Illinois Hall of Fame museum (http://www.il66assoc.org/) and got our own private tour. From there, we attempted to walk off some of our aforementioned fruits and vegetables by touring the courthouse, the jail (they are big on jails in Illinois!) and the park, complete with a swinging (not very) bridge. It was pretty hot by the time we made our way back to our car. Onward!










We stopped at a bridge with its original "Illinois 4" marking on it, and then we stopped to see the old IL State Police HQ which was built in the shape of a pistol (one of the many facts we learned a the museum). Soon it was time for a trip down Memory Lane - just outside the town of Lexington, the 66 Association has made a walking/bike trail out of a 4 mile section of the 1926 - 1940's roadbed, complete with old billboards. We're walking again! In Towanda, we survived Dead Man's Curve and found yet another place to walk - the Historic Route 66 Illinois "A Geographical Journey" path. This one was only 1.6 miles. We maybe walked 0.1 miles of it. That was enough and we were getting hot and hungry again. Where is the Whirl-a-Whip??? Not in Bloomington or Normal, which we couldn't get through fast enough. Frustrations come easily when hot and hungry, and when the guy writing the map guide is directionally challenged (who doesn't know that I-55 does NOT go east-west???) and you're driving around in the middle of cornfields in search of a place called Funks Grove and their famous maple SIRUP (their spelling!) it is not a pretty sight. Kim and I decided to be mad at the map man instead of each other. She is a great navigator and definitely has the harder job. She has learned to accommodate my ADD very well and only gives me one direction at a time and then makes me repeat it. Repeatedly. I still manage to have to make a lot of U-turns...

Anyway, the maple sirup was yummy, especially the maple sugar candy dipped in dark chocolate. Good thing we did not have room to pack a scale with us. We also bought a fantastic book, Images of 66, by David Wickline. It has proved to be an invaluable travel aid! We made a quick stop at the Dixie Truckers Home in McLean. There were way too many truckers who acted like we could come home with them! Our next side trip was to Atlanta, which was very quaint and cute and home to Tall Paul, the Bunyon's Giant Hot Dog Man, who used to live in Cicero (near Chicago) but moved here in 2003. He is the third of the Muffler Men cousins in Illinois. The library here was cool - it is a Neo Classical octagonal building with a forty foot tall clock tower. Atlanta also had a happy face water tower. The unhappy fact is that Atlanta is the halfway point of Route 66 in Illinois and it was almost 5 PM when we left...

We passed another correctional center in Lincoln as well as the Ghost Bridge between two cemeteries. It was getting late and the Whirl-a-Whip was calling us, so we breezed through Broadwell and the recently burned down Pig Hip Restaurant Museum and we finally made it to Springfield. Here we saw a giant figure of Abe Lincoln (not a Muffler Man and even more unattractive than old Abe probably was. We were too late to see all the 'stuff' at Shea's, but since much of it is outdoors, we took lots of photos of OLD Rt. 66 memorabilia and junk. We saw another giant in Springfield - the Lauterbach Tire giant, who looked suspiciously like a Muffler Man. Shallow gene pool I guess.

Now that we had officially completed ALL of old Route 66 in America, from Chicago to Santa Monica, we felt we could take some short cuts and we were off for Girard and the lure of Whirl-a-Whip. Never heard of it? Neither had we. The one in Girard is one of only two remaining of a once booming chain of ice cream stores with 50 flavors! We were so intrigued, and we had missed this spot last year even though we were looking for it. We called for directions and to make sure it would be open when we finally limped in. At a little after seven we hit pay dirt! I got a cinnamon twist cup and Kim got a chocolate walnut (this after we were supposed to be adventurous - I ask you, is chocolate walnut ice cream a risk??) My cinnamon twist was not at all what I expected. It was sort of pinkish, and it appeared to be soft-serve vanilla ice cream that had been whipped with crushed up red hots and whirled into the cup. It was fantastic! Kim's looked to be chocolate soft serve with walnuts. Duh. She said it was yummy, too. Darkness was approaching (now you know why we are running behind on this blog stuff - it takes me as long to write about it as it did to drive it!) and we had more to see before dark. Just south of Girard (which we reached by way of the Farmersville black top) is Carlinville, which is home to the largest group of Sears and Roebuck Catalog mail order homes. Standard Oil purchased 156 of them for its Carlinville Coal workers and 152 of them are still standing (and being lived in!) Three burned down and one was moved. They just don't build them like they used to! Standard Oil must have brought a lot of prosperity to this small town. The town square has brick paved roads and the courthouse is unbelievable! It's called the Macoupin County "Million Dollar" Domed Courthouse and supposedly cost $1.34 million to build in 1870!! It's built of limestone in the Renaissance Revival style and is the largest courthouse in the US with a 4500 square foot courtroom. Who knew? Too bad it was well after hours when we passed through. Right across the street was (you guessed it) the jail, in Gothic Revival styling and made with cannonballs in the cement walls.

By now it was pretty dark and we still really wanted to see the Soulsby Shell Station in Mount Olive. And we barely could. It is the oldest station originally located on Route 66. Off to Litchfield (which is north of Mt. Olive - we were intentionally backtracking) to eat dinner (all this traveling makes us hungry) at the famous Ariston Cafe, which was unexpectedly closed when we tried to eat there last year. Check it out at http://www.aristoncafe.com/ and it was worth the wait. Kim had spaghetti and salad and I had a gyro. We shared some homemade potato chips (great!) and a delicious pie called Fruit of the Forest. It had strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, apples, and blackberries. And a double crust, of course. At this point, we hit the interstate and sped off for St. Louis. We rolled into the Hampton parking lot about 10:30 PM, fourteen hours and not even 400 miles from Chicago!! It was a gigantic day! And as I'm writing, it's 2:30 AM on Saturday and we have a BIG day tomorrow. Night night!

Jan