Saturday, June 15 brought a long stretch of driving on our honeymoon journey along Route 66.

Unfortunately, much of the day required traveling on Interstate 44 through Missouri so we could reach Oklahoma at a reasonable time. Both of us had already driven Route 66 through Missouri—individually and together during our April 2001 trip—but it still pained us to be on the Interstate. We really didn’t like “shunning” the Mother Road!

Whenever we could, we jumped back onto Route 66.

Breakfast in Pacific, Missouri

Our first stop of the morning was Pacific, Missouri, where we exited at I-44 Exit 261 to visit Monroe’s Route 66 Diner.

The diner is housed in a metal Quonset hut, giving it a wonderfully authentic roadside feel. It turned out to be a fantastic place to start the day.

The food was exactly what a road trip calls for:

• hearty breakfast plates
• classic diner coffee
• great road food
• very reasonable prices

It was the perfect Route 66 breakfast stop.

Stanton, Missouri – Antique Toy Museum

Our next stop was Stanton, Missouri, where we visited the Antique Toy Museum.

Our goal there was simple: pick up a case of Route 66 Root Beer for the road.

After purchasing the root beer and a few souvenirs, the museum owner kindly offered us a complimentary tour of the museum.

We didn’t have enough time to explore everything (Jennifer had visited during her August 2000 Route 66 trip), but we still spent about half an hour wandering through the enormous toy collection. The museum contains thousands of vintage toys—many rare and extremely valuable.

A Special Stop in Oklahoma

As we continued west, we realized that taking the Route 66 alignment through Kansas would delay us too much. Sadly, that meant we had to skip Eisler Brothers’ General Store in Riverton, a favorite Route 66 stop.

But we had an important reason to hurry.

We were meeting our friend Laurel Kane.

Laurel is a passionate Route 66 enthusiast and postcard collector whose website is Postcards from the Road. She had recently moved from Connecticut (Jennifer’s former home state) to Afton, Oklahoma, where she purchased a historic 1930s D-X filling station on Route 66.

Laurel is restoring the station as Afton Station, which will welcome Route 66 travelers and display:

• thousands of vintage Route 66 postcards
• a collection of classic Packard automobiles

Laurel also played an important role in our story.

When Jennifer was living in Connecticut, she met Laurel through the Route 66 e-group and visited her one afternoon to talk about Route 66. Later that evening Jennifer received an email from Laurel’s friend Pat.

What Jennifer didn’t know at the time was that after their visit, Laurel had emailed Pat saying:

“I just met your future wife.”

When Jennifer later moved to Romeoville, Illinois, we met in person—and hit it off immediately.

A year and a half later…

Here we were honeymooning on Route 66 together.

Waylan’s Ku-Ku Burger – Miami, Oklahoma

We met Laurel at Waylan’s Ku-Ku Burger in Miami, Oklahoma, one of Route 66’s classic roadside restaurants. After catching up, we followed Laurel down Route 66 to Afton Station for a look at the ongoing renovations.

We spent several hours visiting and talking about Route 66 before reluctantly saying goodbye and continuing our trip west.

Storms on the Way to Oklahoma City

We took what we jokingly call “The Evil I” (the Interstate) toward Tulsa so we could reach Oklahoma City before midnight.

Soon we noticed heavy storms ahead.

What followed was an incredible lightning display that soon turned into torrential rain, continuing almost all the way to Oklahoma City. Driving in those conditions—on a crowded interstate—was not exactly relaxing honeymoon travel!

Finding Our Hotel in Oklahoma City

To make matters worse, an incorrect Yahoo map sent us on a wild goose chase trying to locate our hotel:

• Route 66 Drive Inn Hotel & Suites

The map showed the hotel on the east side of Oklahoma City, when in reality it was on the west side.

But being the Road Maven couple that we are, we eventually figured it out.

We arrived around 10:00 PM.

Route 66 Friends Gathering

Our friend Ken Turmel had kindly reserved two rooms for us.

Ken is a retired postal carrier and fellow Route 66 e-group member who creates something called PostmarkArt. Jennifer later built and maintains his website: PostmarkArt by Ken Turmel.

Ken and his wife Melissa were staying in the room next door.

Across the courtyard were:

• two of Ken’s daughters
• another Route 66 e-group member, Nicole

We visited with Ken and later Nicole, talking about Route 66 stories and travel adventures until 1:00 AM.

Since we were all meeting the next morning for a big Route 66 e-group breakfast, we finally called it a night.

All Route 66 Honeymoon Photos