Route 66 from Rolla, Mo to Elk City, OK (Day 8)

This was the view from our hotel in Rolla. It was actually on old Route 66. The view over the mountains was beautiful! Everything in Missouri green. The plan today was to try to make it to Amarillo, Texas.

 These signs are the way to follow the old route 66. Some states have the mother road marked better than others. Missouri was good, Kansas only has 13 miles of Route 66 and it's not marked that well. Oklahoma is very well marked.

 My Dad and I crack up when we see these signs that say "EAT" We decided it didn't sound very appetizing. They are all over the place though.

 This is a great old station that turned into a tourist trap. It had some great old pumps and other antique things around it.

 Another picture of this cool sign.

 This is the type of stuff that was found all over route 66 back in it's heyday. Cool stuff like this is slowly going away sadly.

Down the road we pulled over to check out this great hotel. It is still in business and the owners cater to people exploring the route like we are doing. All the rooms are decorated in a 50's theme.

 Another old hotel.

 This market was in business until just a few years ago when the owner passed away. It was reopened by his son at some point but now sits empty and for sale.

 We pulled into Springfield Missouri and there were hot rods everywhere. I couldn't believe how many there were. They were on all the streets and hotels in the area. I finally asked someone and they told me they were in town for the street rod nationals. It would of been a good show to see but we didn't have time so we hit the road and watched all the cool cars on the roads driving around. Here's some I liked.

 Cool convertible Merc.

 This guy scrapped as he was driving by us. It was low and really cool.

 We cruised old route 66 for awhile and came across this place. It is well known in all the route 66 books. We spent about 45 minutes there looking around and talking with the owner.

More cool stuff.

 I spotted this sign in the garage. I like it and think I will get one made for my shop.

 The rock garage is all original. It was the coolest garage I have ever seen.

 He had an old lube rack from the garage. It looks kind of scary but thats how they got the cars up back then.

This is the front of the rock garage. These rock buildings are all over route 66. I think the rocks must of been plentiful. This building was in great shape. Other rock buildings we saw were in various stages of decay.

 This is Gary. He owns all the stuff in the last few pictures. He talked our ear off and never once tried to sell us something. I think he does this to talk to people and loves the road. He knew all about it and told us where to get the best food around. He was right on the food!

 I took this shot to show Gary's place. This shows how many people tour route 66. We met people from all over. There was 3 women from France driving the road. There were lots of bikers along the way also.

 An original bridge on route 66. We drove over it and headed west.

 There are a lot of places like this all along the route. We went through old ghost towns where you can see that when the freeway came in they just got left.

This biplane was made out of an old manure spreader.

 Gary drew us a map on how to get to red oaks. It isn't on route 66 but it's worth going to see. If you want to see it, ask Gary how to get there. He will let you know! This is a sign pointing the way to it.

 This plane was in red oaks. It is a cool town that had a bunch of old buildings all over it.

 I sent this picture to Dixie and told her if the kids start acting up, I have the solution.

 More stuff at red oaks.

Another view of the manure spreader biplane.

 There are cool signs all over the place.

 The towns along the way all have big murals like this. This one is in Joplin.

 This station was on the 13 mile stretch in Kansas. It was called 4 women's route 66 because 4 women owned it. I guess the one with the money passed away and due to legal reasons they had to change the name. This shop always had the big tow truck that is in the picture and Disney actually based tow mater off of that truck. It's funny because all the characters in that movie are based on real people along route 66. I didn't research them all and try to meet them but I was told who was who in all the different towns. I should of watched the movie before we went So I would know who they were talking about.

 This is the truck. I guess there's a guy in this town that can turn his feet backwards like tow mater does with his tires and that gave Disney the idea to do that. Crazy!

 Across the street was this building. It looked like it was very ornate back in the day. It was recently bought and a motorcycle museum is rumored to be going in there.

 The lady in the picture is the one that owns this shop. She liked to talk to everyone and was just as excited about the road as Gary was.

 Kansas had a ton of these really cool old murals on it's buildings. I absolutely love old murals like this.

A new mural in Galena Kansas.

 This high riding tractor passed us in Kansas. It was the tallest tractor I have ever seen.

 We came across some pretty heavy rain as we headed west.

 We went past Yukon, Oklahoma. That is the birth place of Garth Brooks and they are proud of it. They even bragged about it on their water tower and named a street after him.

We didn't make it to Amarillo like I thought we would. There was just too much to see along the way. We stopped for the night in Elk City, Oklahoma which is a town that is on route 66 also. Tomorrow we are going to keep trucking south. I am looking forward to going to Cadillac ranch, and a few more spots along the way. If you make this trip, make sure you get some good maps of the old route 66 and some good books about the road. We have both and it helps a ton. I can't believe all the history relating to all the little towns all along the way. It's fun to read up on them before you get there. We should be somewhere in New Mexico by tomorrow night, unless we do too much sight seeing along the way.

Route 66 from the beginning! (Day 7)

Leaving Holland Michigan, we went around the lake through Indiana and then into Illinois. We were met early on with traffic. Luckily it didn't last very long.

 I missed the picture of Indiana but I was able to get this one for Illinois.

 In the distance, you can see Chicago's skyline.

 Here is Wrigley Field in Chicago.

 For any baseball fans out there.

We approached Chicago and then hit traffic. The city was full of traffic but we had to get to the beginning of Route 66.

 Tall, tall buildings everywhere.

 This is the el train tracks. For some reason, I love the el train. The tracks are full of steel and rivets. I like that.

 When route 66 was originally going this was the start of it. They have since made it a one way street and of course it's heading East. They moved the official start over a street but this is officially the start of Route 66.

 This is the starting sign of Route 66 movesover a street so at least it was traveling West.

This is right after we got on route 66.

 This river is dyed green every St. Patrick's day. It goes right through the city.

 We followed the signs out of Chicago and into some pretty rough neighborhoods. We eventually hooked into the freeway.

 Some murals along the way.

 The map of Route 66 painted on a wall.

We made a stop in Pontiac Illinois and visited a route 66 museum. It was full of all kinds of memorabilia of Route 66 stuff in Illinois.

 I found it funny that there was a VW bus in the museum. When I think of Route 66 I think of 50's and 60's American cars. I guess this bus was used by an artist who made pictures of scenes all up and down route 66. As you can tell, he was a hippy.

 These trucks were all over the town and they were all painted differently.

 This is the camper of the same artist that owned the VW bus. It was cool and an engineering marvel to boot.

 My Dad at the biggest route 66 mural we have seen yet.

This looks pretty realistic but it's all painted on the wall.

 More pictures of the bus. This building is in the back of the museum. It used to be the fire department, police department, jail and city hall all in one.

 I wish I could paint like this.

 We ran across this old car lot along the way. It was full of old cars so of course we had to stop.

We spent a few hours on the road and finally came to St. Louis! We hit it at rush hour so we didn't go up in the arch. I have been up there and if you go through St. Louis, it's worth doing.

 Busch Stadium for you baseball fans again.

Meremac Caverns are well advertised along the way. It was suppose to be one of Jesse James hideouts.

We ended the day in Rolla Missouri. It is a town that is on old route 66.

Tomorrow, we head out through the rest of Missouri, a little section of Kansas, Oklahoma and possibly into Texas. It will depend on how many stops we make along the way. See you tomorrow!