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2015 Route 66 RV Trip Overview | September 12–20 Road Trip Adventure
By September 2015, we were starting to feel comfortable traveling Route 66 with our RV, but we were still learning something new on every trip. Traveling the Mother Road in an RV is a very different experience than traveling by car and staying in motels. The pace is different, the planning is different, and the experience of the towns and the road itself feels different when you’re bringing your home along with you. This trip would take us west on Route 66 through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, before turning around and heading back east toward home. We planned the trip around RV parks along or near Route 66, which…
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Final Days on Route 66 – St. Louis KOA and Heading Home (September 19–20, 2015)
September 19–20, 2015 – Final Stop on Route 66 After feeding the fish one last time, we left the Joplin KOA and made a stop at the Candy House Gourmet shop in Joplin, Missouri. It was a fun little stop and a good way to start our final travel day before heading east. From there, we made our way to our third KOA of the trip — the St. Louis KOA West in Eureka, Missouri. This would be our final stop of the trip. We had actually stayed here back in 2013, and it left a good enough impression on us that we decided to stay here again. Unlike the…
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Route 66 with Our Grandson – Amarillo, Texas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: September 17, 2015
We left the Oasis RV Park in Amarillo this morning to begin the return leg of our journey home. As we were packing up, Jameson wanted to spend a little more time enjoying the playground at the campground. While he played, the truck doors had been left open while we loaded gear. Unfortunately, that turned out to be an invitation for a swarm of Texas flies to move into the cab. When Jameson climbed back into the truck, he was immediately surrounded by buzzing intruders and quickly became very upset, loudly declaring: “I hate Texas flies!” We opened the windows and spent a few minutes shooing them out until the…
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Route 66 with Our Grandson – Amarillo to Tucumcari: September 16, 2015
After finishing our visit at the Jack Sisemore RV Museum, we headed west from Amarillo along historic Route 66 toward Tucumcari, New Mexico. Our first stop was the Midpoint Café in Adrian, Texas, where we enjoyed a simple Route 66 lunch of burgers and fries. Adrian is home to the Midpoint of Route 66, marking the exact halfway point between Chicago and Los Angeles. Of course, we had to stop for photos at the famous Midpoint of Route 66 sign. Next door we visited the Sunflower Station, owned by Fran Houser, who previously owned the Midpoint Café for many years. It was a nice stop to browse souvenirs and chat…
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Route 66 with Our Grandson – Jack Sisemore RV Museum (Amarillo, Texas): September 16, 2015
We started our day in Amarillo with a visit to the Jack Sisemore RV Museum, and it turned out to be a fantastic stop. One of the highlights was seeing the famous Gornicke bus from the Robin Williams and Jeff Daniels movie RV. Anyone who has seen the film will instantly recognize it. The bus itself is a 1948 Flxible, and it was fun sitting behind the steering wheel just like Jeff Daniels did while driving it in the movie. The museum has an impressive collection of vintage RVs and camping memorabilia. Among the trailers on display were a 1941 Westcraft, 1936 Alma, 1955 Airstream, 1953 Fleetwood, 1975 Itasca, 1976…
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Route 66 with Our Grandson – Western Oklahoma to Amarillo: September 15, 2015
Our Route 66 adventure with our grandson Jameson continued as we made our way through western Oklahoma and into the Texas Panhandle. One of the things we enjoy most about traveling Route 66 is discovering the small and often overlooked roadside pieces of history that still remain along the Mother Road. This stretch of the trip certainly delivered plenty of those moments. Western Oklahoma Stops Our first stops of the day came in Sayre, Oklahoma, where we spotted an old Rexall pharmacy building that still hints at the town’s historic past along Route 66. A little farther west, we passed through Texola, Oklahoma, one of those nearly-forgotten border towns where…
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July 6, 2014: Amarillo, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico
Today’s Map Below is an interactive map of our trip, tracked using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app. Feel free to browse and refer to the map for details about where we traveled, the photos were taken, etc. You can zoom in, or click the link below for a bigger, fullscreen map. We got started from our hotel in Amarillo and headed over to Route 66. First, we spotted this now-closed shop called Spudnuts Coffee and Donuts. My grandson got a huge laugh out of “Spudnuts,” so for quite a while he amused himself by repeating “Spudnuts”…over and over and over…we felt alot like Charlie Babbitt in Rain Man, as Raymond repeated…
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July 3-5, 2014: Route 66 – Riverton, Kansas to Amarillo, Texas
Day 1: July 3, 2014 – to St. Louis, Missouri Today’s Map Below is an interactive map of our trip, tracked using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app. Feel free to browse and refer to the map for details about where we traveled, the photos were taken, etc. You can zoom in, or click the link below for a bigger, fullscreen map. The first day of our trip was largely uneventful – we took the Interstate to St. Louis after work so we could make some progress on getting to the California border. We stopped at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard and met with our camping friends Dane & Elaine, and then headed…
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Christmas on Route 66 — Greetings from Amarillo!
Just pulled into Amarillo, Texas about an hour ago and have set up at the Big Texan Steak Ranch & Motel. We’re here in the “Cattleman’s Hotel” wing of the Big Texan Motel. The winds today in the Texas panhandle have been intense! Dad’s Impala only got 20mpg today after a tank of 22mpg on Wednesday. We should have the wind at our backs on the way home, so the mpg should improve. The Big Texan is packed right now, but it’s slowly starting to thin out. We’re heading over there for some flame broiled goodness after I post this. More pics of dinner to follow!
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Christmas on Route 66 — Greetings from Claremore!
We made it from Indy to Claremore, Oklahoma today. The weather started off quite miserable, as it rained most of the trip through Indiana & Illinois. Once we got into Missouri, the clouds parted and the sun was shining throughout the afternoon, and provided one heck of a sunset as we entered Oklahoma. We stopped for lunch at the Circle N in Bourbon, Missouri for a fine grilled ham & cheese and then in Phillipsburg for a stop at Redmon’s for a bag full of road food (candy). We pulled into the Will Rogers Inn in Claremore tonight following nearly 630 miles of travel today. By the time we got…