Oklahoma is OK

We got back on the right track today in Joplin Missouri.

We didn't have to go very far before we entered Kansas. I've never been to Kansas before. My first time.

We thought this road in Kansas was a bad one. We ain't seen nothng yet. There's a couple of REALLY bad roads yet to come.

There is only 13 miles of Route 66 in Kansas. It cuts the corner.

Galena, Kansas appears to be rather desolate. (This is a shot straight down the main street. I have several individual shots of the buildings.) However, there are several interesting buildings and storefronts.

At Riverton, Ks., there was this bridge. It is the last of three bridges that still remain on Route 66 designed by a man named Marsh . "Progress" claimed the other two bridges.

Right before you reach the Oklahoma state line, you go through Baxter Springs. So many interesting Route 66 landmarks are in this town. Not enough room to put them here.

Right after you enter Oklahoma, you pass through Commerce - birthplace of Micky Mantle. They named a street after him.

Next is Miami, Ok. Who knew? A good sized town actually.

Upon leaving Miami, my guide book says "South from Miami, remnants of the famous 9-foot Hwy (AKA: Sidewalk Hwy, Ribbon Rd) zigzag toward Afton." That was beautifully understated. The road was paved in 1922, "complete with curbs and concrete base and an asphalt road surface." This picture shows what the road looks like. Actually this picture probably shows the very best section of the road. We went about 3 miles on the road. Probably took us 15-20 minutes. I felt very legit, like we had comquered Mount Everest or something equally as significant.

Following the 9-foot Hwy. was a town called Vinita. And then White Oak. This is pretty much all there was of White Oak.

Probably the most famous Route 66 roadside attraction still in existance. The Blue Whale .

I guess I reached the limit of the number of pictures that could be added to one entry because I tried to add a couple more before I got to this one but without success. We ate at the Rock Cafe. This restaurant was featured on Diner's, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network. A must if you're travelling the road. Great food.

When we got to Oklahoma City, we visited the Memorial for the Murrah Building bombing. It was fascinating and beautiful. So much symbolism. It truly honored those who lost their lives that day.

Alabama / Arkansas Game

We were able to get tickets (thank you Mark and Jennifer) to the Alabama/Arkansas game on Saturday. Contralto's sister and some of her friends have a sky box at the Arkansas stadium. It seemed like a really good idea at the time to go to the game and to get to sit in the sky box. We really didn't realize how far we had infiltrated behind enemy lines. We were definitely in hostile territory. Although we were all attired in red, (Arkansas was conducting a red-out) we kinda felt like spies, with a great big A target on our backs. Brother-in-law Arkansas fan/graduate said that the Alabama A is easy to spot over the Arkansas A because we have a "gay A". haha

Being in the sky box has many perks. You get GREAT seats to see the game. You get lots and lots of free food. You get a TV that shows instant replays of the game. Sounds good on paper but I don't really recommend it if you are on the opposing team.

The game started very cool. They had 3 para-troopers to parachute into the stadium with the game ball. I'm not sure which one was carrying the ball. They had smoke and flags. It was awesome.

The good guys came in at our end of the stadium. The other guys came from the other end where the pig nose is. It actually was pretty cool, if you like pig stuff. haha

If you watched the game, you know that it didn't take long for Arkansas to get off to a very quick lead. Withing 50 seconds, and 2 plays, the score was 7-0 Arkansas. The stadium was complete bedlam. I don't think I've ever heard anything so loud for so long. While everyone else in the sky box was ecstatic, Sparky and I were sitting quitely in the corner. One of the men in the sky box told Sparky, "If Alabama loses this game, that houndstooth hat you are wearing is going out the window. He said it with laughter and with a smile but something told me that hat would be history. At halftime, the score was 17-7 Arkansas. I leaned over to Sparky and said, "Just give up your hat willingly. We'll buy you another one."

Well, if you watched the game, you know that Alabama pulled the game out and at the end, our scoreboard had more points than theirs did. It was one of the hardest games I've every witnessed. Every single play was intense and hard.

When the game was over, the Arkansas fans did not clear out. They just stood there for several minutes, stunned and in disbelief. Sparky and Contralto felt very awkward but we tried to be gracious and humble. As we were leaving, somewhere under the stands I heard someone yelling "Roll Tide". I thought, "Are you crazy? Keep your mouth shut and get out of here." Honestly. Everyone was very kind to us. It was a hard loss for them. They have a great team. I hope they don't move down in the rankings. They don't deserve it.

Sparky still has the hat.

Show Me Missouri

I was unable to update the blog for a couple of reasons last night, mostly because of exhaustion. But a day late is still not too late. The other reason is wireless problems. Not able to get my laptop hooked up to the wireless. Therefore, I am updating on my sister's computer. This will be a blog with no pictures. I will add pictures later when I get back on my own computer. (pictures added) :-)

The day started rainy and cold. That means NO TOP DOWN. But the adventurous spirit is not easily deterred. So we set out from St. Louis heading SW across the state.

It did not take us very long on the road to figure out an interesting fact about Route 66. I knew just from looking at the map that Route 66 is the access or service road to the Interstate, Interstate 44 in Missouri and then it will Interstate 40 the rest of the way. What I did not know is that the Route meanders all around the interstate from one side to the other. You will drive for a while on the right side of the interstate and then you will cross over to the other side and drive for a while. Some of the pictures (that I will post later) show the interstate running right next to the Route. But there are times when you drive away from the interstate and go through small towns and farm communities and that's what it's all about.

We saw so many unique things today. Signs for unusual museums, murals on the sides of buildings in small towns, water towers, cool neon sign etc. We stopped at the largest rocking chair in the world. It is HUGE. We got a picture and there were several people waiting to get pictures by the rocking chair also. Right next to the giant rocking chair is a Route 66 gift shop. They have everything you can image about Route 66. Which came first? The chair or the shop? I think the chair is there so people will stop at the shop. We did! And I bought a Christmas ornament, so there you good. Pretty good marketing.

Our final destination today was my sister's house. She lives in Rogers Arkansas and we came here to spend a couple of nights. Saturday is the Alabama/Arkansas game and we are here for the game. My sister has tickets for the skybox so we are going to watch the game in style---in Fayetteville Arkansas---in our Bama gear. Fun fun.

The best thing about yesterday was last night. My sister had told us that they were going to take us out to dinner. Actually, she and her best friend Kathy Mann had planned a 25th Anniversary dinner for us at Kathy's house. Filet Mignon, wonderful strawberry pecan salad, homemade coconut cream pie for dessert. We felt very special and humbled. A great time with friends. Many thanks to Kathy and Joe. We were honored.

Saturday we plan to have a little pork on our fork. Love me some barbecued hog. ROLL TIDE!

Knocking around St. Louis

In front of the Eads bridge, next to the Arch.

I hope this blog won't be too long. I try to keep them short.

After discovering that we are a block off of Route 66, we decided to drive down that road to get to downtown St. Louis this morning rather than taking the interstate. (That's what this trip is all about, isn't it?) We were not disappointed. Beautiful old brownstone houses lined the roadway to downtown. Such a pleasant drive.

We arrived at the arch to a beautiful sunny day with a VERY stiff wind. Got some incredible pictures.

This was taken with a wide angle lens from the ground in front of the steps.



We decided to take the tram to the top of the arch. To get to the top, you get in the very small "pods" that hold 5 people. It is an extremely small space. There are 8 little pods connected together, kind of like a zipper. So what happens is when you start off, the pods are lined up horizontally facing one direction. Then, little by little, as you climb higher, the pods stack on top of one another so that they are lined up vertically. Then when you get to the top, you are horizontal again, except facing the opposite way. It was very cool and a fantastic feat of engineering to figure that out. (I'm married to one. I have to notice these things.)

The view from the top was amazing. (pictures to follow) Actually it took much less time to come down that to go up. Sparky said it was because of gravity. That made sense but did not really make me happy.

I loved the shadow of the Arch in this one.

The ranger said you could see for 13 miles. I believe him.

Looking straight down.

After the Arch, we went on the riverboat sight seeing cruise. We had planned to do the dinner cruise tonight but I did not realize that we had to make advance reservations so we missed that one. It was ok though. We had a great time anyway.

On the drive back to our hotel, we stopped at two famous Route 66 landmarks (I expect these are the first of many). The first was "Ted Drewes Frozen Custard". That was some of the creamiest and most delicious "ice cream" I have ever had. You order a "concrete" which is a bowl of frozen custard. They call it that because it's thick like concrete but it was not hard at all. YUMMY.

The second landmark was a tiny, ancient donut shop, (I know, I know. Weight Watchers will still be there when I get back) They have been making donuts for 50 years in that little place. We bought a couple to have for breakfast in the morning.

A great day. Tomorrow we drive across Missouri. Adventure awaits.

And so it Begins...

We left Huntsville around 8:00 on Wednesday morning for a wonderful but uneventul drive t St. Louis. it is about an 8 hour drive but not a bad one. I (contralto) have been through Nashville more times than I can count but I've always gone either North or East. Never, ever have i take the interstate that leads west. So from the time we took 24W, we were blazing new trails for me.

It never ceases to amaze me how good God is to us and how He does little things for us along the way. We made resevtions for a hotel here in St. Louis on Hotels.com a good while ago. St. Louis is not the safest place to be so the most important thing was that we find a hotel in a safe neighborhood. Well, this is a very nice neighbothood. We were really hungry when we got here and there is a Longhorn Steak House right next door to the hotel so we walked over there to eat. Just on the other side of the steak house is Watson Ave.

When we got done eating and came back to the room, we got out the maps to kinda see where we are going to go tomorrow and to get our bearings. Guess what? Watson Ave is Route 66. I had no idea. Isn't that amazing? It's right around the corner from where we are.

Tomorrow, we will go to the Arch and see some of the St. Louis sites, some Route 66 related and some not. The only pictures we got today are of the Welcome state signs, since we were pretty much driving all day. We are going to take pictures fo the signs for all the states we enter. I don't know how many we will go through but it will be interesting to find out when we are done.