Day 7 - St Louis, Illinois to Briarwood Ranch

We left the shifty motel for another wonderful day on the road.  We hadn't driven too far when we came across an old drive-in movie theater was still in business.  Rainy and I both wished that we could see a movie there!  Of course the drive-in was right in the middle of farm land.

Our travel books highly recommended the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, Illinois.  We were disappointed to find out that they weren't open for lunch on Saturdays.  Across th street from the Ariston Cafe was a wonderful old sign for "Vic Suhling" gas, but the station itself was no longer there.Wecontinued on to Springfield, Illinois where we stopped at Cozy Dog, where the corn dog was said to have been invented.  Yes, the corn dog was the best we had ever eaten!  We had french fries and a root beer to accompany our dogs.

Our next stop was another Route 66 attraction, Shea's, which is no longer a functioning gas station, but has been restored as a museum with tons of memorabilia.  Shea's has been a family run business for 4 generations and the oldest family member still hangs around giving tours to the tourists.

Our single tourist destination in Springfield was the Dana-Thomas house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1904.  We toured the inside and outside of the house, but unfortunately were not allowed to take pictures inside. 

Once we left Springfield we detoured off of Route 66 and headed northwest on Hwy 125 towards Rushville, Illinois and Briarwood Ranch where we lived when Rainy was little.  We had permission to spend the night at the ranch and were both looking forward to see how things had changed (or were the same) from when we lived there.  Of course, none of the roads looked the same and I was pretty confused as to exactly how to get to the ranch.  We got directions from Chad, the current ranch manager.  The water was out of the banks of the closest river, so the road we would normally have gone in on was flooded, so Chad gave us the alternative directions.

Once on the ranch, we parked our car close to the house we used to live in and went exploring!  The first item on our agenda was to find the fort that Rainy had built in the woods out of tree branches.  I thought it was in the closest branch of woods to the house, but Rainy insisted that it was out past the cornfield (that is no longer planted in corn) to the next branch of woods.  I am not too suprised that Rainy walked right to her old fort.  We could tell that the bases of the fort was there, but otherwise had deteriorated into almost nothing.  After exploring around the fort, we simply explored the woods.

 

We continued exploring around the lake, catching fireflies, and talking until sunset.  We then drove over to the main hunting lodge to settle in for the night.  We were way overdue on laundry so were happy to have use of a washer and dryer!  We slept in a room in the basement where it was cool and dark.....a nice reprieve from the heat and humidity.

Day 6 - Lebanon, Missouri to St. Louis, Illinois

We left the motel mid morning and drove through a few interesting small towns on the way to our first major stop of the day: Maramec Caverns.  It was nice and cool inside the caverns, so we signed up for an hour long tour. Of course, I took a bunch of pictures inside the caverns! The formations were fascinating. By the time we left the caverns, it was early afternoon, and  very hot and humid outside. If the weather had been cooler, we would have considered camping near the caverns. Instead we got back in our car and headed to St. Louis.

In St. Louis (on the Missouri side) we drove around town, hitting the city at the same time as the baseball traffic.  We looked at the arch and admired many of the old historic buildings in town.  We ended up at the City Museum, probably the most fascinating hands-on museum I have ever seen!  It was constructed inside and out of an old warehouse.  The museum had tubes of wire and steel along with steps connescted to old airplanes that people would climb to.  Inside it was like a never ending maize of tunnels and contraptions leading from one area to the next.  Some of the sections were much too small for Rainy and I to climb through.  How I wish this museum had been built when Rainy was young and we lived in Illinois, we would have traveled to spend the day there!The museum even stayed open late into the night so as the sun started to set there were fewer young kids and more young adults climbing around and having fun.  The experienced City Museum goers came equipped with knee pads and climbing gloves!  It was one of the few museums I have seen where you could purchase beer and candy from the same vendor.  It was evening when we left, so we found a somewhat questionable motel on the Illinois side of St. Louis to spend the night.  At least we had a bed and shelter.

Day 5 - Oklahoma City to Lebanon, Missouri

We got an early start with our first stop being the historic round barn in Arcadia, Oklahoma.  It was built in 1898 and was restored to its original condition in 1989 after the roof collapsed.  The barn is 60' in diameter and 43' high.  We got there early enough that the batn wasn't even open yet, so we didn't get to go inside, but rather just looked around the exterior. 

While looking around the barn, we noticed they had a section on inscripted bricks.  There was one labeled "Haug Family in memory".  We thought that was pretty starnge and couldn't resist taking a picture.

We continued along the old road which is pretty prevelant throughout Oklahoma.  At one section of road, we stopped to check some blackberry bushes for a few ripe berries, but there weren't too many.  All across Oklahoma, Route 66 is known for its diversity, not only because of vastly changing scenery and its many pathways, but in the adventure of never knowing what might await just ahead.

Our next stop was the Blue Whale in Catoosa, Oklahoma.  Built on private property in 1970, the big toothy whale and the pond it calls home provided outdoor fun for area childrenas well as adults for nearly 20 years, serving as both a gymnasium and a diving platform.  There is also a slide into the pond from the side of the whale.  The park also included pint-sized picnic tables, a couple of boats, public restroms, and a concession stand.

While the whale has been recently restored, the city still plans to restore the pond and concession area.  We did notice a number of bass and carp in the pond, and fed them some stale bagels. We explored the whale and enjoyed the overall feeling of the park.

Further down the road is the sleepy town of Chelsea. Though we didn't stay at the Chelsea Motel, the sign is a vintage classic, representative of the thousands of colorful and creative neon signs used during the highway's busiest years.

Also found in Chelsea, at 10th Street and Olive, is a mouse ordered by mail and assembled in 1913, from a Sears & Roebuck catalog.  The house still serves as a residence.

We enjoyed all of the older steel truss bridges found along the old road.  The historic Pryor Creek Bridge, just outside of Chelsea, was built in 1926.

Driving through Oklahoma, there was never a lack of old buildings that have fallen into a state of disrepair with the introduction of the interstate.  Even the old drive-in movie theaters still stand, but most are no longer in use.

Another interesting attraction was Totem Pole Park.  There were many totem poles, all built by Ed Galloway in the late 1940's.  He began with an octagon shaped building which was his home while he built the many totem poles.  The building is now a gift shop.  Rainy is standing in the doorway of the largest totem pole to show how large it is.

Leaving Oklahoma, we drove through the lower corner of Kansas for all of about 8 miles before entering into Missouri.A larger portion of Missouri that we drove through was more forested than Oklahoma.  One treacherous portion of Old Route 66 is referred to Devil's Elbow as the curves are sharp and the road is along the edge of a mountain with an extreme drop-off.  We didn't make as many stops in Missouri during the day as we did in Oklahoma.  Of course we admired sections of the old road, bridges, and deteriorating buildings. 

We drove as far as Lebanon, Missouri where we stopped for the night at the historic Route 66 Munger Moss Motel.  We stayed in a room that was decorated with pictures taken when the old road was at its peak.  The managers of this motel were extra friendly and kind, which was a common event at many of the places we stayed.

Day 4 - New Mexico to Oklahoma City

We got an early start, yet the sun was high enough in the sky that it wasn't glaring in the windshield as we made our way east from Tucumcari into Texas.  There was a wonderful stretch of old road that we followed, abundant with wildlife and ghost towns.  We came across a number of turtles making their way across the road; we helped them along by moving them to the roadside in the direction they were traveling.  We also had a young jake wild turkey fly across the road in front of our car!

In an old ghost town in the vicinity of Glenrio, Texas, there was a building claiming  "Modern Rest Rooms".  There were also old adobe buildings that were falling apart and old abandoned cars.  Of course we just had to stop and explore around the ghost town!

There was also remnants of an old, but abandoned motel and cafe.  There is a lot to see when you find a section of the old road that hasn't been paved over with interstate.

Our next stop was for breakfast at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas.  The cafe was built in the early 1940's.  When route 66 was the main highway, the cafe was open 24 hours a day.  Now the cafe serves locals and those route 66 travelers that have heard how good the food is.  It was a great cafe that also sold a lot of route 66 memorabilia.  I bought a cook book titled "Ugly Crust Pies".

We stopped in Vega, Texas where there was a restored gas station.

In Vega there was also Dot's Mini Museum which was built on private property next to Dot's house.  The museum doors are unlocked and open to the public.  She had collected a lot of Route 66 memorabilia over the years!

We hopped on the Interstate so that we could see Cadillac Ranch.  It consists of 10 old cadillacs buried up to their windshields in the middle of a grain field.  Evidently this was the idea of an eccentric millionaire.  The cadillacs have mutiple layers of grafitti sprayed on them.  What bothered Rainy and me was all of the litter surrounding the cars.  People currently come out with bags of spray paint cans, then simply leave their cans and bags behind them even though there is a large garbage container just off the interstate.  This made the experience a bit diappointing.

We continued traveling the old road as much as possible in Texas and on into Oklahoma, stopping at the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma. The museum took you along the highway beginning in Chicago, Illinois and ending in California.  There was a lot to see, and we enjoyed the museum very much.

It was late afternoon and our goal for the night was Oklahoma City.  We stopped at one more restored gas station.  After taking a few pictures and looking around, we were back on the road.  For dinner we ate a sushi restaurant that Rainy had eaten at a few years earlier when she was traveling to Bentonville, Arkansas to visit her grandmother.  We got a hotel in Edmund, on the outskirts of Oklahoma City and settled in for the night.

Tucumcari to Phoenix

We got up fairly early and were on the road before 7:30 am.  We drove to Santo Rosa, New Mexico and stopped at Joseph's for breakfast.  Rainy ordered the Huevos Rancheros and Julie had Biscuits and Gravy.  The breakfast was good, but not as spectacular as some of the meals we have had on this roadtrip.

After breakfast we drove to The Blue Hole, a bell-shaped artesan well that is 80' deep, 60' across and maintains a telperature of 64 degrees year round.  The water flows into and out of the well at the rate of 3,000 gallons per minute.  Due to its amazing clarity, the Blue Hole has become a favorite location for scuba divers, sightseers, and photographers.  We had stopped at the Blue Hole for a swim when traveling East and couldn't resist stopping again.  We jumped from the rocks into the Blue Hole a couple of times and hung out for about an hour.  After a quick change into dry clothes, we were back on the road.

We drove into Albuquerque, New Mexico and got off the interstate and onto Route 66 to drive through town.  We stopped for a gelato in the historic downtown area then got back on I-40.  We got into a heavy shower of rain just outside of Gallup that only lasted for a short time.  It was mid-afternoon and we stopped at Don Diego's Restaurant for lunch.  Rainy and I shared a chicken chimichanga and then had sopapillas for dessert.  The drive into Flagstaff went by rather quickly, there were storm clouds all around us, but we got into very little rain.  We pulled into Phoenix around 7:00 pm.  It was nice to be home, yet in many ways, I wish the roadtrip was just beginning.

Arkansas to Tucumari, New Mexico

It was time to hit the interstate for the first day of our drive home.  We got up just after 6:00 am with the intention of being on the road by 7 am.  Of course we didn't quite make it as we had to have breakfast, then I wanted to take pictures of Rainy and me with Edna and Hank, then it was just really hard to say good bye.  I didn't want to leave as I wanted to spend more time with Edna and Hank.  Unfortunately, it was time to go.  Rainy and I drove the backroads through Arkansas and Oklahoma until we hit the Creek Turnpike in Oklahoma that would take us into Tulsa.  The toll booths were not manned, you had to drop 85 cents into the machine to continue on.  It didn't register my coins, so I went through anyways (this will get me a ticket!).  At the next toll booth, I was out of change so I tried to use the $1 changer, but it just kept spitting my dollar back out.  I tried the other dollar changer, but it wouldn't even take my dollar!  Frustrated, I pulled off to the side where another man had pulled over.  It turns out that he had the same problem at both toll booths that I had.  He called the turnpike folks and got a number for us to call to avoid the double tickets.  Back on the turnpike, I made the phone call, hopefully everything was straightened out and we won't get a ticket in the mail!

We pulled off in Stroud, Oklahoma to have lunch at the Rock Cafe.  For an appetizer we shared a plate of fried green tomatoes, fried dill pickle, fried mushrooms and hush puppies.  Rainy ordered a craw fish Po' Boy, Julie had the Rueben recommended by the waitress.  Once our bellies were full (again) we got back on the turnpike and continued our journey.

At Wellston, Oklahoma, we got off the turnpike and back onto Route 66.  There was a stop that we had missed on our journey East that we wanted to stop at today.  This new Route 66 icon is called Pops.  At Pops, you can get fuel, food, and fizz; you can choose from the more than 500 sodas and other refreshers.  Out front is a 66-foot tall sculpture of a soda pop bottle, reflecting a contemporary approach.  The sculpture was erected in the midst of Oklahoma's Centenial Summer.  Rainy selected 6 different sodas.  Julie selected a seltzer and bought a 6-pack of Pops Hops Premium Select beer to sample later in the evening.
Back on the road, we traveled I-44 through Tulsa, Oklahoma, on to I-40 and Oklahoma City.  Once past Oklahoma City, we traveled into the panhandle of Texas.





In Amarillo, Texas, we stopped for dinner at the Big Texan Steak Ranch.  This place is famous for their 72 ounce steak.....if you can eat the steak and all of its fixings in 60 minutes, then it is free.  Of course neither Rainy nor I attempted this feat.  Rainy ordered the 6 ounce filet with mashed potatoes and coleslaw.  Julie had the 10 ounce prime rib with a baked potato and sliced tomatoes.  For dessert we shared a strawberry shortcake. 








Then it was back in the car, back on I-40 and on the road to Tucumcari, New Mexico where we had reservations at The Blue Swallow Motel.  We had stayed at the Blue Swallow when we were driving East and thought it was appropriate to stay there again.  We got settled in for a good night's sleep.