Day 9 - There's no place like home

Waking up this morning we realised we had a mighty task ahead of us.  One of the highest mileage counts we needed to complete (~340m) as well as three different US States to traverse.  Leaving Springfield, Missouri we were armed with amazing directions, for getting around a local detour, courtesy of Tonya at the Best Western Rail Haven where we stayed last night.  Can't say enough about the hotel - it was ideally suited for our trip and at a really good price.  The staff were super friendly and Tonya in particular was a gem. The BWRH scored not least because their breakfast area had a self-serve waffle iron so Rachael was able to tick the last items on her American breakfast carb wish list (pancakes, waffles, french toast).  Of course we reserve the right to try them all again just to make sure that our sample is statistically relevant.  We also had a side discussion about whether you can get waffle irons in the UK and resolved to find out when we get home.

Our first stop of the day was in a one horse town with two names. It's literally a couple of buildings facing each other across the street and we know it's a one horse town because we saw the horse grazing in it's field.  Gay Parita / Paris Springs is an absolute MUST see on any Route 66 trip. Not least because Gary Turner, a diamond geezer, runs the restored Gay Parita gas station (well it doesn't sell gas but it's got loads of old signs and stuff), plys the passing tourists with free Route 66 soda and lets them take pics with his Bonnie and Clyde wax figures in the garage.

garysgayparita.com (yes this is actually the website)

Your intrepid routetrippers with Gary

Rachael getting an indecent offer from Gary and calling for help (was that phone even connected?)

Clyde has a big gun and I have an orange soda. Whats wrong with this picture?

Rachael's new job as a "exit facilitator" seems suspect.

Gary was a total character and we could have stayed all day just soaking up the sun and drinking orange soda whilst talking to him. However, we had well over 300 miles to cover today and we'd barely scratched the surface so we got back on the road in search of the R66 Drive In in Carthage and then the Missouri / Kansas border.

Route 66 Drive-in at Carthage. Not showing Cars so no point in staying til it opens...

Honestly we looked for a marker for the border between Missouri and Kansas but couldn't actually find anything so we gave up.  Route 66 traverses 8 states in the US and Kansas is the shortest section by a long way.  Only 13 miles of the Mother Road are in the Sunflower State but in R66 terms they are worth their weight in gold.

We were pretty sure we were in Kansas because of signs like this.

For it is in Kansas that one of the key characters in Disney / Pixars "Cars" found it's real life inspiration and therefore there is a direct line from those 13 miles to us being here at all.  No it's not weird that this trip was inspired in part by an animated movie. If you haven't seen Cars, or you are rolling your eyes at us, then you need to go find your inner child some popcorn and the DVD and settle down for a couple of hours because you've been a neglectful outer adult.

Kansas is the home of Tow Tater - the inspiration for Tow Mater. Tow Tater lives in Galena, Kansas at the Kan-O-Tex service station and is looked after by the lovely Melba (amongst others) who we also met today.

Rachael getting a lift from Tow Tater with Melba Rigg - The Mouth

Melba Rigg is another Route 66 character who we could have stayed all day with.  She regaled us with the history of the refurb of the old gas station into the gift shop it is today, as well as all the behind the scenes history and gossip about how Tow Tater came to inspire Tow Mater in Cars. Melba has the nickname "The Mouth" partly because she talks really fast and also because she is the voice of Tow Tater in his real life adventures. Seriously those cattle auction guys have nothing on Melba - she'd definitely win in a speed talking contest.

Sadly we couldn't stay much longer and had to get back on the road.  We drove through the picturesque Baxter Springs before waving goodbye to Kansas. Short but sweet.

We are not in Kansas any more.

Crossing over from Kansas into Oklahoma was a little like coming home.  For some reason Oklahoma reminds us of England.  It's very green with fields at the side of the road, and many of the roads are windy and have hills.  Honestly outside of the warm weather it could be one of the home counties.
As we had a lot of miles to cover today we took a strategic decision to view some of the Oklahoma towns on todays route from the car. Thus went Miami, Vinita, the city of Tulsa, Sapulpa and Bristow.
Just before Tulsa is the town of Catoosa where there is a huge concrete Blue Whale. So we stopped for pictures because it would be rude not to.

A huge concrete Blue Whale at the side of the road.
We tooks pic to prove we weren't hallucinating whilst on the long and windy roads of Oklahoma.

We stopped in Stroud to see the Rock Cafe with the hope of an early dinner there, however they weren't open til 7pm and we decided not to wait around. The Rock Cafe is owned by the lady who inspired the character of Sally in Cars - we didn't get to meet her but her restaurant looks very cool. It's so named because it was built from the rock dug out of the ground when they were building Route 66.

No classic rock bands were harmed during the construction of this cafe.

We pushed on to Arcadia, OK where I unwittingly caught the attention of a police patrol officer.  He took one look at my UK driving license and told me to pay better attention to the posted speed limit signs. (We figure booking me for the smallest of speeding offences wasn't worth the extra paperwork to him)

Having arrived at Pop's in Arcadia we stuffed our faces with burgers, some truly excellent chilli cheese fries and finished off with some milkshakes that make the McDonalds ones that require a suction pump look weak, watery and pathetic. Lets just say they were served with a spoon and where I come from that's whipped ice-cream not a shake! They were delicious though so we'll let them get away with it.  However as good as all that was, the star of Pop's is their soda menu.  They have all of the sodas I think I've ever seen on restaurant menus plus several hundred speciality options and you can have added flavour shots too.  I had a Coke with a cherry shot and Rachael went for Diet Pepsi with a vanilla shot. Pop's also sells gas (thats Petrol to you UK people) and has a shop full of bottles of soda of all kinds as well as sweets and souvenirs.  The restaurant is very modern although it retains a traditional diner feeling somehow.  It's worth a trip in the evening as when it gets dark the huge neon soda bottle out front starts it's light show.  I'm not going to tell you how many pics we took of it flashing away but it was A LOT.

The gas station forecort, with restaurant and shop behind, but who really cares about that when there is a giant red soda bottle in front.

Make that a giant BLUE soda bottle.

Ok now it's purple with a red band running up and down it.

And now it's just showing off.

Arcadia was the last town on our route before our hotel destination of Oklahoma City where we are comfortably ensconced at another Best Western. Tomorrow we have another long day. We leave Oklahoma for the Lone Star State of TEXAS. We are on the look out for tumbleweed and unironic wearing of cowboy hats.  Wish us luck.

Day 8 - Gateway to the West

We woke up this morning to an ominous black cloud. I would like to make it absolutely clear that this was entirely Fi's fault. Yesterday, when my bag was getting heavy and the skies were blue, I commented that I couldn't possibly remove my umbrella because that would cause the weather to change. Fi said that rule only applies in the UK, so into the suitcase the umbrella went. Therefore, anyone in the Midwest who got caught in this morning's torrential downpour, blame Fi.

This morning was the time we'd set aside to do the Gateway Arch in St Louis. It's supposed to be a monument to America's expansion into the west, but apparently the idea that the arch shape also represented a gateway only occurred to the architect after his design was selected. We were also told that the original workforce building the monument was almost entirely white, and this was rectified in one of the first actual enforcements of equal employment law, so it's also become a symbol of the civil rights movement.

The arch is huge and can be seen for miles around, and it looks stunning when the stainless steel catches the light. None of which you can see from our pics, on account of the aforementioned weather.

A landmark almost the same colour as the stormy sky behind it. Google image search for pics of how nice it can look.

The trip to the top is worth doing just to experience the unique transport system. The curved arch means that straightforward lifts wouldn't work, so instead it uses this half-train, half-ferris wheel system. You go up and down in tiny round pods about four feet high - fortunately neither of us suffers from claustrophobia! At the top, there are only small windows to look through, but we got a pretty decent view of St Louis, such as it is.

Ant people, prepare to welcome your new overlords

We needed to hit the road so we only had time for a quick whizz round the museum, but I was pretty impressed by what I saw; in particular, the exhibits didn't seem to gloss over the less pleasant aspects of the westward expansion.

The last item on our to-do list in St Louis was to stop by Ted Drewes just to make sure it hadn't been swept away by the storm, or that the frozen custard hadn't suddenly become poisonous or something. It's a hard job, but we do these things so that those coming behind us can better enjoy their trip; that's just how selfless we are. I'm pleased to report that it was still there and the cookie dough concrete is safe to eat. If you're reading this from the future having found this blog on Google while researching for your own trip, it is your sacred duty to check the nice people at Ted Drewes are still okay, and that the other flavours are safe to eat. Just to be sure.

Our task completed, it was time to hit the road through Missouri. I mentioned back in Illinois that I was very fond of the brown signs; in Missouri we traded these for blue signs.

This is where we played the very British game of Look! Blue Sky! Head thataway!

So far, I have to say Illinois is kicking Missouri's arse on the signage front. Firstly, Missouri's "incident diversion" signs are the same size and colour as the Historic Route 66 ones, which gets confusing. Far worse, though, was the number of junctions we came across where our directions told us to turn but there was no corresponding sign. We tended to go with the directions, and then a hundred metres or so down the road would be one of these blue signs with no arrow, confirming we'd gone the right way. A hundred metres earlier would have been way more help. So there's a handy hint for anyone from the Future: you can probably wing Illinois from the signage, but you need detailed instructions to tackle Missouri (unless you want to cheat and take the Interstate, but where would be the fun in that?).

Driving through the Missouri countryside, we started to feel like it would be a good time for a break, if only we could think of somewhere fun to stop.

There didn't seem to be anything coming up, though.

 Perhaps there's just nothing to see on this stretch of the road.

Or is it that Missouri attractions really like to hide their light under the proverbial bushel?

Either way, it was a long road with no sign of anything coming up.

Mile after mile without any hint of an attraction.

 On the plus side, maybe we'd get to our hotel early tonight?

We were just about to give up on the idea of having anywhere to stop when all of a sudden we happened across some caverns on the Meramec River!

A cabin from the woods nearby that was moved here for reasons that aren't entirely clear

This place looked pretty cool, so we decided to stop. Lucky we came across it - they should really get someone in to sort out some advertising or something so people know they're there.

We initially thought the $20 tour seemed a bit steep, but it turned out to take well over an hour so in retrospect it was quite a bargain. Our tour guide was fantastic: he had a brilliantly deadpan sense of humour that was perfect for what turned out to be one of the tackiest tourist attractions I've ever seen. He started off by telling us that the log cabin in the entrance had nothing whatsoever to do with the caverns, and went on to proudly announce that they had the only Foucault pendulum in the world that doesn't work.

The caverns really have to be seen to be believed. They're huge, and have some of the largest stalactites and stalagmites in the world, as well as incredibly clear water that reflects the cavern roof with crystal clarity. The natural beauty of this place is amazing.

These are some pretty rocks...

However, why would you just show off the wonders of nature when you can improve on them?

...but aren't they improved with the addition of gaudy colours?

When we got to this part of the tour, Meramec Caverns officially displaced the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in my mind as the tackiest over-commercialisation of a natural phenomenon I've ever seen. However, that was before we got to the "theatre."

A nice flat-ish bit of rock underground? LET'S PROJECT STUFF ON IT!

For the finale of the tour, we were seated in front of a bit wall of rock while God Bless America blared on the stereo, accompanied by a light show, which was literally the tour guide flicking switches on and off in time with the music. The "show" finished with the American flag projected on the rock. I just... I have no words.

The whole tour, and especially that show, has to be one of the most surreal things I have ever seen. I arrived expecting a quick scenic break from the road, and left two hours later so befuddled that I found I didn't even care how much I believed their tenuous evidence for the Jesse James connection. As marketing ploys go, though, this one doesn't half work; if these had just been pretty caves I might have spent a paragraph saying that we saw some caverns and they were nice. By making the place utterly weird, they've ensured they occupy the bulk of a blog post, albeit primarily about how ridiculous the place is.

It's unlikely that anything will ever top that stop for weirdness, but we pressed on out west into what was now blazing sunshine, and the lizard got to bask in Cuba, MO.

 

The other Cuba

Pretty things

Cuba was quite similar to Pontiac back in Illinois, in the sense that the town is filled with murals depicting its past. I especially liked the Amelia Earhart one: her "connection" to Cuba is apparently that she crashed not far away, but everything was fine so she picked herself up and carried on to Los Angeles. Awesome.

Our other notable stop of the day was just a few miles down the road in Fanning, for the world's largest rocking chair. Admittedly, we didn't request paperwork to support this claim, but having seen it I think we can agree that it's a bloody massive chair. Even if it doesn't actually rock.

Frankly, I'd prefer a normal-sized one that actually rocks, but hey ho.

We also stopped in Rolla, where we came across an actual roundabout! Unfortunately there was no one else around, so we didn't get to see how Americans think they work. Our stop here was at the Totem Pole Trading Post, a Route 66 icon. In return for taking pictures, we dutifully spent some money in the gift shop (those two suitcases are going to earn their keep on the way back!) and met the owner, Tim, who was absolutely lovely. We ended up spending a good long while there hearing about the history of the road from someone who's part of it, which was fantastic.

Around 7pm, realising we'd only eaten a couple of slices of toast and some frozen custard all day, we stopped at Sweetwater BBQ for dinner. I don't know why I've never seen this place mentioned on other blogs, because it was great. The staff were lovely, the pork ribs literally fell off the bone and the potato salad was divine. And between two of us, with dinners so large we only ate about half, we spent less than $30.

It was late when we rolled into Springfield, MO to check into the Best Western Rail Haven. The receptionist asked if we were here as part of a Route 66 trip, and when we said yes the lovely Tonya jumped in and went to great lengths to direct us around a road closure coming up on the route. She then went on to talk about the history of the road, about the business owners she knows further west and made a list of recommendations for stops that aren't in our guides. I don't know how long we spent talking to her, but we kept her up a long time. We chose this place because of the reviews of tripadvisor, and suffice it to say there will be another 5* review when I get around to writing it. And I think we paid all of ~£45 for a room with two doubles. Hypothetical Future People: if you're stopping in Springfield MO, stay at the Best Western and say hi to Tonya.

The unexpectedly awesome Best Western Rail Haven Route 66

Day 7 - Who freezes custard?

After an excellent night at the Route 66 Hotel in Springfield, IL (no really it was a fantastic place to stay we both agree), we started our day with breakfast at the Cozy Dog Drive-In.  Now we hadn't intended to have breakfast here since their speciality is Cozy dogs (thats corn dogs to the rest of America - this place claims to have invented it and hence the slightly different name), but given the proximity to our hotel it's just the way it worked out.  Honestly we were a little worried whether it would be weird, but I can report that Cozy dogs are delicious and totally work as a breakfast food in case you were wondering.

We ate the cozy dogs too quickly to photograph, so here have a pic of the sign instead.

Next on our plan for the day was a lightning tour of Lincoln's home in Springfield and also his tomb.  And by lightning I mean slowing the car down long enough to lean out of the window to take pics.  We didn't tour Lincoln's home but we did take the time to tour the tomb and take a few pics. It's an impressive memorial and they have some of his famous speeches on plaques inside.  I came away with a sense of awe at how someone who lived so long ago could have been so amazing when some people now can't manage to grasp the concepts of equality, as well as a sense of disgust at my own grasp of the English language.  Seriously, the dude was eloquent.

Lincoln's Tomb

Touching Lincoln's nose for luck

From here we moved on to a number of tiny stops on the route... a restored abandoned gas station, a bunny ranch (no not THAT one - this one has actual bunnies!) and a hotel that has a tiny lake with a steamboat in it then made our way to the Chain of Rocks bridge.  

The Illinois end of the Chain of Rocks Bridge

Many years ago this bridge would have marked our departure from Illinois as we crossed the Mississippi River and entered the city of St. Louis, Missouri. However, the Chain of Rocks bridge is no longer in use as a river crossing for cars.  It has long since been bypassed for a much more modern bridge spanning the river nearby, but you can still cross it today on foot and it's become a Route 66 tourist attraction itself.  It's a must see if you are travelling R66 for the views of the Mississippi river alone.  One word of advice though - if you are walking the bridge on a hot day, take some water and remember your sunscreen because there is little to no shade.  It's a deceptively long walk from one end to the other - just over 1.6km each way!  Needless to say we fell upon the car on our return and blasted the aircon on high (and by we I mean I because Rachael is a lizard and revels in any available sunlight).

The lizard basks on the bridge

Lying down in the gap between the two states, basking in the sun. The lizard is stateless.

Still barking... err... I mean basking. 

View of the Mississippi from the bridge.

After retracing our steps a little and using the interstate to cross the river by car, we made our way through St Louis using as much of R66 as we could manage in search of custard. Frozen custard. The reputation of Ted Drewes' frozen custard was legendary on all the Route 66 blogs and programs we could get our hands on.  It was one of three places Man Vs Food covered on their R66 episode and it instantly became a "must see" on our list. Honestly the place could not have been more hyped if Max Clifford was doing it's PR, and so we were hoping it would be good.  We were not disappointed.  Well actually thats a lie, we were very disappointed when we'd eaten it all and there was none left. Who freezes custard? The bloody clever people at Ted Drewes do. It is going to be a true disappointment in my life from this point onwards that this stuff lives nearly 4000 miles from me. Because of our hot walk on the bridge we decided to go 20 minutes past our hotel on R66 just to get this today. This means we have to pass it again tomorrow. So for scientific purposes tomorrow on our way out of the city we will stop and sample the product some more (to make sure today wasn't a fluke) and take photos for you lot. Are we not good to you?

These custard cups are broken - we need new ones.

Driving in America is odd - about 10 times in the last 2 days we have driven past the same Walgreen's.  Is it possible that the theory about the USA being big is a huge conspiracy? Have we been lost and driving in circles for the last two days? Cos I swear all of these Walgreen's were completely identical.  It's starting to give me a complex.

After checking in at our hotel for the evening (a well equipped Holiday Inn Express just off R66), we ventured out to the Soulard area where there are lots of bars and restaurants.  The receptionist at our hotel had recommended Molly's where we had fantastic Cajun influenced food and sat outside in the sultry heat of the evening making little tweaks to the plan for the rest of our trip.

Still can't quite believe we are doing this. Loving every minute of it. 

:D