September 1999

1999 Route 66 Motor Tour Report
by Pat

*NOTE* This was originally published in Valve Clatter, the newsletter for
Circle City Corvairs, in December 1999.

Every September, the Route 66 Association of Missouri puts on a motor tour of Route 66 through the state of Missouri. Covering nearly 300 miles in Missouri, Route 66 cuts southwest through the Missouri Ozarks, following a similar path to that of Interstate 44. This year's tour began on Saturday, September 11 at the newly opened Route 66 State Park in Eureka, Missouri, located just outside of St. Louis. The tour started bright & early at 7:30am and totaled some 125 cars. Mine was the lone Corvair on hand for the weekend's tour. A group of Route 66ers from Indiana cut off from the main pack of cars and we did our own cruising on 66. We explored some of the old gas stations & motels that had seen better days. After having lunch at Devil's Elbow, Missouri, we hit the road again and headed west. We stopped at Wrink's Market in Lebanon, Missouri and met with Glenn Wrinkle, who's had his food market on Route 66 since 1950. He and his store were mentioned by Paul Harvey a few months back. From there we headed out & on towards Springfield for our overnight stop and banquet.

We spent the night at the Rest Haven Court Motel, which was built in 1947. This is a nice, clean, classic motel right on Route 66 in Springfield. The banquet was held at Southwest Missouri State University. Speakers included Route 66 Magazine publisher Paul Taylor, Route 66 artist and historian Jerry McClanahan, and Route 66 author and historian Jim Ross.

Sunday brought a rainy day to our weekend. We ran into the wet stuff from Springfield all the way past Joplin & into the southeast corner of Kansas where the tour ended. The rest of the day Sunday was spent heading back towards home. After a night's rest in Bourbon, Missouri, we made our way through St. Louis and took 66 up through parts of Illinois. After stopping off at Henry's Route 66 Gift Shop in Staunton, we made our way up to Springfield, Illinois for lunch at the Cozy Drive-In....located on Route 66. This is the place where the corndog was made famous back in the 1940's by the late Ed Waldmire. From there we said goodbye to Route 66 & took US 36 back home to Indianapolis. The Corvair did well on the 1,400 mile round trip, averaging 23mpg for the trip. Not too bad for a powerglide!