This morning at the motel, I did searched geocaching.com for geocaches along Route 66, as well as back to Indianapolis. I just got a new GPS, a DeLorme PN-40, and was anxious to try it out. I hadn’t cached for a while, and was ready for some caching!

We left the motel and followed 66 through Rolla, where we found our first cache of the day, and our first in Missouri. We decided to stick with just one or two caches per hour so we could make it as far as Oklahoma City on this trip. We also wanted to get to Pop’s – a gas statiohn/ soda ranch / cafe that sells nearly every type of soda made. I recently saw a brand of soda, Olde Brooklyn, with flavors named after New York City boroughs / neighborhoods, like Bay Ridge Birch, Flatbush orange, Coney Island Cream Soda, etc. Pop’s sells it, so I know I’ll be picking up a lot of soda here! I also haven’t had Route 66 Root Beer in a while and it’s very good!

We slowly meandered our way on 66 through Missouri. For as many times as we have been through Missouri, I hadn’t stopped to take a photo of this A & W Root Beer Burger Family…not this time!

I also hadn’t stopped by the remains of the old Stony Dell Resort before, or at least, taken photos. Also picked up a cache here too!

We found several more caches along the way near Devil’s Elbow as well as one when we made our usual stop at Wrink’s Market in Lebanon for a drink and a snack (homemade cookies! mmmm). We talked a little with Terry Wrinkle, son of original owner, Glenn Wrinkle. As is becoming our trend, we also stopped at Redmon’s Candy factory in Phillipsburg.

They sell homemade fudge, chocolates, taffy and a variety of hard candy that you can mix & match. They also have all types of new and old novelty candy like pop rocks, wax bottles, candy cigarettes, etc. We took 66 through Springfield and found a cache on the east end of town near the old Holiday Drive-in. Another place we hadn’t stopped to take a photo before!

We continued on 66 through Carthage, Carterville, Webb City, and Joplin. In Carthage, we noticed the HISTORIC 66 sign installed by Rod Harsh, who ran a Route 66 Visitor’s Center in an old filling station in Carterville, Missouri. Rod had a “sign the route” project, and we donated $25, which made this sign installation possible.

Outside of Joplin we took an old alignment of 66 into Galena, Kansas.

We thought about stopping to eat a newer place in Galena called “4 Women on the Route” but it was closed (probably due to the holidays). It’s a neat new addition to Route 66. They have a cafe & gift shop and two interesting photo ops-one is a rusty old tow truck. Why on earth you ask would a rusty old tow truck be a photo op? Well, old cars, whether rusty or restored, are always cool subjects. But this particular tow truck was the inspiration for the Pixar animators to create Tow Mater for Cars. A set of eyes added to the windshield and there you have him! Unfortunately, despite the fact that these ladies possess the actual inspiration for Mater, complex legalities prevent Disney’s legal team from allowing them to refer to the truck as Tow Mater, so they named him Tow Tater instead. I suspect that many children unknowing or caring of such legalities & whose minds soak up every detail regularly make the necessary correction. We arrived at Eisler Bros. a short time before closing.

We picked up a couple of Route 66 books – the 2nd volume of David Wickline’s “Images of 66″ and the 2nd edition of Jerry McClanahans amazing, “EZ66 Guide.” Don’t travel 66 without McJerry’s book. It’s an absolute must-have for any trip on 66. Here’s an endorsement…since we were originally heading to Atlanta, once we decided to take 66, I lamented about not having McJerry’s guide with us. As soon as I saw the updated 2nd edition, I immediately said we MUST get it! The EZ66 guide aids travelers in navigating Route 66. Excellent maps, very accurate and detailed without being TOO detailed and cumbersome, are provided along with EZ turn by turn directions. This guide is so well done, I dare say it’s darn near perfect. He gives the novice 66 travelers an EZ way of traveling the route seeing sights along the way, without bogging you down in details but yet remaining accurate with the explicit caveat that the route does change over time, traffic conditions, detours, etc.).

With late fall trips come early sunsets and sunset fell quickly as entered Commerce, Oklahoma.

Pat and I both had the same thought about dinner: Waylan’s Ku-Ku Burger! Great hamburgers and crushed ice…and a great neon sign at dusk! It was a little (only just a little) past the ideal time I like to shoot neon, but still enough ambient light to get a good shot.

We ended up in Stroud, and thought we’d check out the Skyliner Motel. After looking at a room, we decided to stay.

Slideshow of All Photos

For more details about a particular photo, click on it in the slideshow and it will open in my Flickr site.

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