April 15

We, once again, started out the day leaving from Branson KOA and having breakfast buffet at

Docker's Restaurant. Another sunny day, starting out cool and warming during the afternoon.

We headed north and went to Halltown, MO. It is just west of Springfield. Not much there,

Whitehall Merchantile, which is closed and an old building, which looked like it had been a fire

station.

On to Paris Springs Junction, where we parked out front of an old gas station to take a picture.

A man on the front porch of the next building yelled for us to "come on in," asking us where we

were from, then saying he has a friend who lives in Westerville, OH, and he runs a Rt. 66 cafe

there.(We will have to look for it next time we are in the area.)

Anyway, the gentleman on the porch took us inside the station and proceeded to give us all kinds of information about Rt. 66, showing us pictures in a book his Westerville friend had

written. He drew us a map and told us what to look for. Then he took us to the old garage and

gave us each a bottle of Rt. 66 Root Beer. It was very good, and we got to keep the bottles.

We were probably there at least 1/2 an hour. Left with 3 Rt. 66 newspapers, 2 glass bottles and

caps, the map he drew us, and of course, a copy of the Rt. 66 book, Images of 66. His name is

Gary Turner, and he asked us to send him a Christmas card.

Many of the houses, barns, and buildings along Rt. 66 are made out of cobblestones, found in

the local fields.

In Spencer, on an abandoned section of Rt. 66, we saw a steel truss bridge from 1926, and an

old building being redone, with part of an old Phillips 66 gas station. The highway along here

is the only hand-trowel part of old Rt. 66.

In the little town of Avilla, I took a picture of Bernie's 66 cafe, but we didn't stop.

Thirty years ago an artist named Lowell Davis, moved the buildings of a town called Red Oak

a few miles down the road. It is off the highway a couple of miles, but well worth a stop. Mr.

Davis, who loved to make sculptures from metal, eventually ran out of money and sold the

property and buildings. The man who bought it is adding, repairing, and making it into a place

where you can drive down a gravel lane and see how things looked in the past. There are a couple of gas station, the Black Oak Cafe, not open, various houses, a school, a church, shops,

a mother-in-law house surrounded by water. It has a drawbridge that is operated by someone

across the water. There are also old cars, airplanes, a sheriff's office, and an old trolley car.

It reminded me of Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI, except that is in much poorer condition.

The old courthouse in Carthage, MO is a very impressive building that dominates the town

square. Found the Boots Motel and what was the Boots Diner, Arthur Boots, 1939.

We drove through parts of Webb City and Joplin before heading west into Kansas. Rt. 66 here

is just a small part of the very southeast corner of the state. In Galena, the old railroad station is a museum, unfortunately it was closed.

In Riverton, KS we stopped and took pictures in the Eisler Bros. Store, 1935, which is still being operated and packed with stuff. Bought a piece of pottery that looks like it could be Santa Domingo or San Ildefonso Pueblos, black on black. We will have to do some investigating.

This brought us to Baxter Springs, where we had a late lunch at The Cafe on Rt. 66. It was very

good. Then we retraced our steps a couple of miles to take a look at the Marsh Curve Bridge,

1923. It is the only remaining Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge on 66. Build by James B. Marsh and

bypassed in the 1960s.

Entered Oklahoma and too photos in Miami- the Coleman Theater-Spanish Revival Architecture and the Ku-Ku Drive-In(last one of a 200 restaurant chain), Afton-a Packard

dealership and old remodeled gas station and the Palmer Hotel, Vinita-Clanton's Cafe(still open), Chelsea-Flea Market and Cafe, and Claremore, which is the home town of Will Rogers. We are now in the Claremore Motel for the night.

More from Oklahoma tomorrow...

John and Elaine