Thanks for all of the comments that you have been leaving (whether here, TRL, or emails). We really appreciate it. We know that we aren't doing anything new - but it is nice to see people that are following along with us.
After breakfast at Zeno's (where we met the biker from Atlanta, GA again - he was about a day behind his buddies due to getting his bike repaired), we hit 66 again. Today was one of the long driving days that we had scheduled... mainly due to # of miles since we didn't really have anything along the way scheduled as a "must see".
Our first attempted side trip was to see John's Modern Cabins and Vernelle's Motel. However, because the dead end access road was also blocked off, we did not feel comfortable to park the car and walk down to where they were. It is also possible that we had the wrong access road picked out, but I do think we were correct.
In any rate, we got back on the Route and continued to Hooker Cut (once one of the deepest road cut in the state) and then, soon after, Devil's Elbow; named for a tight turn in the Big Piney River.
Continuing on, after taking an older option of 66, we entered the town of Lebanon. Here we took a picture of the Munger Moss hotel sign (in business since 1946). We decided not to stop in to the gift shop or the 66 museum in town... mainly because, since this was our first long miles day, we wanted to be sure that the schedule we had planned out made sense. In the end, it did - and we will want to go back to Lebanon next time we are in the area. After all, they do also have the largest barrel factory in the world!
At this point, the route break away from hugging I-44 for almost 2o (interstate) miles. Around the same time, we started to notice more and more wildlife along the road. Mainly, this was in the form of turtles; either sunning themselves on the shoulder, crossing the road, or dead in the middle of the road (none by our hands, BTW). We also saw a deer, several turkey vultures and, quite surprisingly, armadillos ... dead ones, but still we figured that they would be further west.
From here, we made our way into the city of Springfield. We did two options through the city - the first being the 1936 bypass route. Along this route, we were able to see many remnants of businesses from the route's heyday. We then backtracked a few miles up I-44 and took the earlier city option through Springfield. It was here that we stopped for lunch at a classic style Steak N Shake.
After Springfield, the route diverged from I-44 for quite a long time. It was the most picturesque scenery we have driven through so far. Neither of us have visited the Ozarks before, and we were quite taken with the beauty of the area. We drove through a few tiny towns and into Carthage, home of the 66 Drive-In. At this point we should mention that prior to our trip, Ilana's mom bought us a 5 DVD set, produced by Hampton Inns, about traveling on Route 66. In the set were several postcards, designed by Jerry McLanahan, and Ilana's mom requested that we mail her these postcards as we passed the locations on our trip. The 66 Drive-In was the first postcard, so we spent a good while trying to find a mail drop-box in the town!
Our mission completed, we headed on into Joplin, and did an earlier route option through the city, and then crossed the state line into Kansas. Directly across the state line is the town of Galena. We wanted to stop at the Galena Museum but they were already closed for the day. Instead, we headed toward our stop for the night - Baxter Springs and the Little Brick Inn. We did take a detour to see the Rainbow Bridge, which is the last remaining "Marsh Arch" bridge in Kansas.
The Little Brick Inn is charming, but a little short on amenities. There is no phone, no temperature controls, but we did manage to find some wi-fi! Also the noise from the traffic outside seems to be amplified in our room. But, dinner at the Cafe on the Route (part of the Inn) was fantastic and cheap, and we are looking forward to breakfast in a bit.
Westward to Oklahoma!
Ilana and Jeff
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Sounds like you are having fun so far! What a great idea of your mom's, to mail those postcards from the actual stops. She'll have a fun little collection!
Interesting thing about the armadillos-they hadn't come this far north until ten or so years ago, when we started to notice them in Kansas.
I don't remember if there's a specific reason they've moved north, but I do notice them all the time in Kansas now.
We have messes of armadillos in the Memphis area and a bunch down by my lake property in Alabama.
I really worry about porr Vernelle's. Getting bypassed twice just might do them in. There was a nice write up about the place in the Route 66 Advertiser. Hopefully you've been able to pick up an issue of it.
How are the gas prices.
Post a Comment