Day 11 - The Gateway

I'll be honest, keeping up on and writing this blog is hard.  Our days are long and by the time everyone is settled in, it is late and that is the only time I have to write.  I really don't know how people do this every day!  I am however, REALLY glad that I decided to take on this personal challenge because it is fun to read the posts to Shale and the kids each morning as we start off our day.  There have been a few times where we seriously could not remember what it was that we had done a day or two before and then we go through the photos or the blog and the answer is there!  

Today's post is going to be short and sweet.  We have decided to get up early tomorrow morning and make our way to Chicago as quick as possible because that is were we want to spend most of our time tomorrow.  There are a few stops along the way that I'd like to make but Chicago is, to date...my favorite city in the US and spending a day there with my family will be a lot of fun!

This morning we left the "throw back" camp ground and headed towards St. Louis, we were just about 100 miles out.  St. Louis was on everyone's "must do" list so we wanted to have plenty of time to spend there.  On our way into the city we stopped at the famous Ted Drewes to get some frozen custard.  Ted Drewes Sr. founded the shop back in 1930 and they have been serving up this delicious treat ever since.  There were so many choices and I am sure that all of them would have been a good choice.  We all chose something different and well, none of it lasted long....SO GOOD!  

The "Foxy" for me (Vanilla custard, hot fudge, raspberries and macadamia nuts)
A chocolate custard milkshake for Eli
Just plain chocolate custard for Cassidy
Vanilla custard with bananas and pecans on top for Shale
Yes...another neon sign for your viewing pleasure!

Onward to our destination for the afternoon....The St. Louis Arch, also called the Gateway Arch since St. Louis is the city known as the Gateway to the West.  Lots of history here in this city.  We drove in and parked across the muddy Mississippi River from the Arch.  This was a brilliant idea suggested by Shale because we didn't have to pay for parking and there was plenty of room for us to put the trailer.  We took a five minute train ride across the river into the city and walked to the Arch.  On the way we stopped into the Old Courthouse - I felt like I was back in Sacramento on a 4th grade field trip! 

We took the tram all the way up to the top of the Arch and then watched a 30 minute film on how the whole thing was designed and built back in the mid 1960's (1962-1965). It took 2 1/2 years to complete and the tower stands 630' tall!  Quite a feat and the precision of design construction is awe inspiring.

The area at the top of the Arch is fairly small compared to what we all thought it might
be.  There are about 10 windows on either side that you can look out of.  The top photo
here is looking west at the city of St. Louis.  The bottom photo is looking east across the
Mississippi River.  Illinois is on the east side of the river.

This June, it has rained in this area more than it has in many years.  The river is VERY full and full of debris.  In fact, it is so full that they have stopped running the boats up and down the river temporarily.  More rain is expected and the entire area is on flood alert.  Isn't it funny how different one part of the US is than another.....yes, I am talking specifically about southern CA!  If only we were getting rain like this to help our drought situation!

Well, there really is only so much time you can spend in a small room with 10 windows and a ton of people.  Once we got the photos we wanted we headed back down on the tram.

Dinner at Carmine's Steak House right around the corner - yummy. We took the train back across the river, picked up the trailer and drove to one last spot to snap a few photos from this angle.  Of course, we had to take one with the Airstream in it!

You've got to love Eli's face in this shot!

As I am sure you can imagine, there are a ton of cool bridges of all different design that cross over the river from IL to MO.  The first one built was the Eads Bridge back in 1868 and completed in 1874; designed by James Eads.  This bridge is a combined road and railway bridge.  Of course, I don't have a photo of this particular bridge (well, you can see a sliver of it in the bottom photo (left side) above that I took from the top of the Arch).  The other two bridges that were close by are the MacArthur Bridge and the Martin Luther King Bridge...I did get photos of these!

Top:  MacArthur Bridge
Bottom:  MLK Bridge

By the time we left the St. Louis area it was 7:00pm.  We really needed to get rolling into Illinois so we didn't have a ton of driving to do tomorrow.  We did just that.  We are at a campground in Chatham, IL which is about 90 miles in.  There are about 200 miles between us and Chicago at this point and we have some points of interest along the way to hit tomorrow on our way into the city (hence the reason we will be up and rolling EARLY tomorrow).  Oh, by the way....check out the placement of THIS "Welcome" sign...all I could do was snap a shot as we drove by, there was no way we were pulling over and getting out for our selfie photo here, darn it!!  All I have to say is at least we are back to the big cool welcome signs ....Kansas, Missouri - you both need to get on board!

It is now past midnight and I am sure I'll be cranky in 6 hours if I don't sign off now. I am excited about tomorrow's adventure - Chicago, it's my kind of town!  Until tomorrow....

Day 10 - Three States, One Day

Eggs, bacon, pancakes and a view is what was on the menu this morning for breakfast!  We ate out on our little deck prior to leaving camp this morning and with the exception of a few flies...it was great!

Great Lake - Vinita, OK

We were on the road!  Today's plan was to drive the rest of Oklahoma, the small section (13 miles to be exact) of Kansas and part of Missouri.  Not too terribly far from the OK/ KS border this morning, it really took us no time at all to get to Kansas.  We thought this picture was pretty funny given that we were to only travel 13 short miles through Kansas, the sign welcoming us was more like a business card compared to the enormous ones that we encountered earlier on this trip - appropriate!

Kansas was quick.  We got turned around a bit at one point and had to find a place on the skinny little roads to turn around, which isn't 

easy when you are pulling a 27' rig behind you but, we figured it 

out.  There is a great little bridge between Baxter Springs and 

Riverton - Rainbow Bridge.  This is the last Marsh arch bridge (as 

in James Barney Marsh, the architect) like this on Route 66. All others are gone.  

James Marsh's Rainbow Bridge - Baxter Springs, KS

We made our way to the last town in Kansas before entering into Missouri....Galena, KS.  There is a small place there called Cars on the Route.  It is a small, one time gas station that has been restored and is now a tiny burger joint and gift shop.  Wait for it.....yes, this 
place has a connection to the movie "Cars" also!  I know, I know - I think this is the last one.  Anyway, there was an old tow truck behind this place long ago that was "discovered" by the Pixar crew as they made their way along 66 to get ideas for the movie.  This tow truck was named "Tow-Tater".  Quickly he was turned into a cartoon and added to the character list for the movie as "Tow-Mater".  The original tow truck sits in the parking lot of this small corner site and welcomes anyone who dares to climb up and take a photo with him.  We did, of course!  We also ate lunch here!!

Cars on the Route (top left), Tow-Tater with all of us inside the cab and the large bottom 
right photo is Tow-Mater from the movie "Cars" that also sits beside Tow-Tater.

Hurry, hurry....we got to get to Missouri!

Is it just me or do the "Welcome" signs seem to be getting smaller and smaller?

What the heck is this?  No "Welcome" here?....Just a  "Hey, you are crossing over!"

How about you SHOW ME some love, Missouri?

Joplin, MO is the fist town on the north east side of the Kansas state line

We needed to make some time up again today so unfortunately after we putzed around in Kansas we had to hit the highway and drive like mad to get far enough into Missouri that our day tomorrow wasn't a 10 hour day of driving.  Missouri, what we have seen of it anyway from the road, is beautiful. Lots of green trees and tons of cool rock formations.  We made some good distance today so hopefully tomorrow we'll get to spend a little time checking some of this state out!  In the meantime, we stopped at an RV park in Cuba, MO for the night.  This place is great.  It is like we are in a time warp back to the late 70's early 80's.  There are two HUGE pools with 30+ years of paint covering all the cracks and imperfections that have accumulated over the decades - one has a diving platform and the other a slide, there is a miniature golf course, a playgroumd, RV spots, tent camping spots and some long-term mobile home spots.  We set up camp and took the kids over to the pool area where the radio station that was blasting tunes played crazy good old music that would have thrown you back to the days of OP corduroy shorts, tube tops and the ever popular Farrah Faucet hair-do.  The kids swam and made some friends.  Once the sky fell dark the sound of frogs increased by the minute.  The boys that Cassidy and Eli were swimming with had some sort of fishing basket that they brought over to the pool area and the hunt for frogs was on!  I am not sure you can see in the photo below - but there are about 20 frogs in the basket that the kid on the left is holding - yikes!  Oh, did I happen to mention that these pools did NOT have any lights (I told you they were old) so all of this "hunting" was done by the glow of the ONE deck light that shone over this aquatic paradise.

  

As I sit and finish up tonight's post it is starting to rain.  Shale and I just looked at each other with the "oh-great" look in each other's eyes.  Towels are hung outside to dry, our camp chairs are set up on our oh-so-cool outdoor sisal rug along with who knows what else.  This could possibly be a mess in the morning - oh well...I guess we'll deal with that then.  I am off to dream of a mess-free morning.

Good night. 

  

Day 9 - The Great Plains

There is a big difference in the landscape of the southwest and the Great Plains!  Instead of dusty, dry browns and reds, we are experiencing rolling green hills and vast expanses of plowed fields - really just gorgeous.  

Top to Bottom/ L-R:  Both top photos....(2) Lane bridge in Catoosa, Field in Claremore, Original Route 66 rolling through Calumet and another hay field - Calumet

Here's something you don't see every 10 miles or so in Southern CA (besides the bright yellow and black Waffle House signs), water towers.  Ridiculously tall and of all different design, these water towers hover over their beloved city below announcing to all that you have arrived.  I have really taken a liking to these large destination markers.  I tried to capture as many as I could as we drove by each little town as we pressed on eastward through Oklahoma today.  Some of the pictures turned out alright and some, not so much - I've put together a little collage of the ones that I like best.  I really dig these!

Another obsession of mine as we have traveled on this historic road are signs....more specifically, neon signs.  Neon isn't necessarily a thing of the past - right?!  I mean, we have tons of neon signage in southern California from the typical "Open" sign in a store front to say, the well known In-n-Out signs that point us all in the direction of a good cheeseburger.  There is something though, to be said about the signs that we have seen all along Old 66.  I gave you a few samples of my findings a few days ago while we were in eastern New Mexico...I seriously can't help myself as we pass by.  I am sure Shale at this point has had it with my newly found love but, he is a trooper and will pull over, turn around and back up whenever I cry out that there is a "must have" photo....thank you sweet man!  Here are just a couple that I found today.  Of course, these and ALL the photos I have been taking and posting are done with my handy-dandy iPhone.  Lisa, I am SO sorry.  I know you are rolling your eyes right now knowing that I have a really good Canon camera - with me! This trip for you, my dear friend is a photographers dream - I can only imagine the photos you would take if you were with us!  Damn you for not coming!!! I miss you!! 

The Ranger Motel - El Reno, OK

Mutts Amazing Hot Dogs - Oklahoma City, OK

The Rock Cafe - Stroud, OK

This last photo of my new obsession neon....The Rock Cafe.  This place was fantastic.  Thank you once again Guy Fieri for doing your obligatory taste testing here - I swear...this "Guy" has the BEST job - EVER!  I think I forgot to mention a few days ago in my post about Albuquerque; that he worked in Long Beach at Parker's Lighthouse at the same time that I was working in LB at Barwinkles while I was in college.  My friends and I did go over and hang at Parker's every so often but I am sure he doesn't remember me, that's ok.  I love food and I love that he does too because that fact has led me to a few really "good eats" on this trip!

Another cool fact abut the Rock Cafe is that the character, Sally (blue Porsche) in "Cars" was inspired by the owner of this establishment - Dawn Houser.  We didn't meet Dawn today, she wasn't in, but the gals that were there were so nice and the food - OMG - enough said!

Braum's is a company that supplies all of Oklahoma with milk, and ice cream and who knows what else!  There are Braum's signs all over Oklahoma.  In downtown Oklahoma City there is a little brick building sitting in the middle of a street island.  Atop this small building is a very large milk bottle with the Braum's logo on it.  Why not stop and take a picture?!

We spent a lot of time on the road driving today.  When we left last Saturday, we felt like we had all the time in the world to get to Chicago and then down to Louisville for the 4th of July weekend...boy has time flown by, and the time we had is quickly slipping away!  "Time flies when you are having fun", is a true statement!  We are to arrive in Louisville this coming Thursday evening to spend time with family over the weekend so making up some time today was a must given that by the time we stop tonight there will be more than 600 miles just to get to the end of Route 66 in Chicago, IL!!  

One of our last two stops before finding camp today was in Catoosa, OK.  In Catoosa, there is an old swimming hole.  Back in the early 1970's, hugh Davis built this blue whale for his wife for their 50th wedding anniversary because she collected whale figurines.  By the end of the 1980's the couple were unable to continue the upkeep on this popular swimming spot.  The park has now closed and is only open for people to come by and walk the grounds.  No swimming is allowed.  Bummer!

Big Blue Whale - Catoosa, OK

Our last stop of the day was about 10 miles east of Claremore.  Ed Galloway constructed a 90' totem pole here and it took him 11 years to do it (1937-1948).  This is the largest concrete totem pole in the world! There are also other concrete statues here at the park that Galloway designed and carved...all tributes to the American Indian which he had much interest in.  In addition, there is an eleven-sided "Fiddle-House" that he built that originally housed hundreds of his own handmade fiddles.  Almost all of the fiddles were stolen in the 1970's and never recovered.

We pulled into a last minute camp spot in Vinita, OK right on Grand Lake of the Cherokees around 8:30pm this evening.  Our spot was right on the lake and couldn't have been better.  We 

un-hooked and got set up and found ourselves talking with our neighbor who is a semi-pro arm wrestler of all things.  He was with his family boating/ camping on the lake and will be leaving in the morning to make his way to Las Vegas for some huge tournament.  Good luck Shane!!  You will be able to catch him competing on ESPN...if you are interested!  

There is an abundance of mosquitoes out tonight - I am certain it is because we are near the water - dang it!   The little buggers really love both Cassidy and I and I am already itchy - agh!  The joys of camping!!  I guess I'll go cover myself with anti-itch cream and get to bed.   Until tomorrow.....

Sun setting behind the trees of our RV park

Day 8 - Tagging Texas

Shrimp

Today's post begins with a funny little story about......... shrimp.

I was awakened by one of my children coming into the "bedroom" last night flopping down on the bed beside me.  I was pretty sure it was Cassidy since she had fallen down the evening prior while she and Eli chased each other through the Target parking lot where we had stopped to pick up some supplies.  She had fallen on her hip and now has a pretty good battle wound bruise.  I thought perhaps she needed some Advil.  Ha!  Not it at all.  I reached over to touch this someone beside me and it was indeed Cassidy.  "Honey, are you alright?", I asked.  "Yeah", squeaked out wearily.  "Do you need something?", I proceeded. "No".  Hmmmm, "What are you doing?"  Her reply..... "I'm eating shrimp."  This is where it gets pretty funny because now Shale has woken up and is listening to this whole dialogue.  "What?", I responded.  "I. Am. Eating. Shrimp!"  Oky doky then....I thought that is what she had said.  Shale and I are totally losing it at this point and poor Cassidy is none the wiser.  "Do you want to go back to bed?"  "I am".  "Your bed?"  "Oh, ok....this is your bed! Ok", she replies as she stumbles to get herself off of the bed and walk down the small hallway back to where she had come from.  As she made her way back to her bed, Shale and I naturally chuckled for a few more minutes. 

Cassidy has been known to sleep walk so it wasn't a complete surprise that this happened but boy was it funny!  We have been laughing about, "I am eating shrimp!"  all day!  A side note here....The girl doesn't even like shrimp!  Funny!

Anyone that has traveled with me anywhere near the south part of this country knows that I love the Waffle House.  I don't know why, but I do.  The kids joined me there last summer on a trip out to Kentucky to visit family but Shale was not with us so he has never enjoyed the simple pleasure of the All American Breakfast that the Waffle House serves up - he did this morning!  Our server Nikki was fast and friendly and the food, delish!  Why don't we have these in Southern CA yet?!

Simply Delicious!

Now, let's get to the whole...."We are armed and quite possibly dangerous" statement from last night.  Just outside and to the west of Amarillo, TX there is a ranch - Cadillac Ranch.  This is not your typical ranch.  This ranch is the home to 10 Cadillacs half buried nose down in the dirt.  In 1974 these cars were buried by three gentlemen that were part of the then art group, Ant Farm.  The models represented all have the tail fins that were a defining feature on all Cadilacs built between 1949 and 1963.  Thousands of people flock to this Ranch to add their own flair to the cars and we too did just that!  Check it out!

Armed with paint and following the posted rules!

Eli at Work

Our resident perfectionist - Cassidy

Surfs Up peeps!  Even in TX

If you can't think of anything to draw, just write your name!

As if spending a couple of hours painting cars wasn't enough....we headed to Conway, TX where you will find Slug Bug Ranch.  Five of Volkswagen's finest are buried in the same manner, nose down next to a fairly sketchy old abandoned Motel/Cafe/Gas Station.  This place isn't as much of a tourist attraction as the original artsy Cadillac Ranch that we had been to a few hours prior - Sweet!  Nobody was there.  We pretty much had the place to ourselves and the few passers-by that came to take photos weren't there to paint so we really had a good time here and felt as if maybe our art may last a day or two before someone was to come along and paint over it!

Slug Bug Ranch - Conway, TX

Eli and his masterpiece

Guess Who!

I think maybe Shale is missing the beach!

Don't judge....my brain is fried from having to write the blog every night,
at least I still know my name!

Thank goodness there weren't any more graffiti art stops because at this point we had blown through about 15 cans of paint between us all - that's a lot!  Eli told us that painting at Bug Ranch was at the top of the "Fun" scale for this trip.  We all really did have a good time and on a scale from 1-10 on the "Fun" scale for this trip...I'll give it a 10 also.

On to Shamrock, TX.  The restored 1936 U-Drop Inn and Conoco Gas Station otherwise known as The Tower Station and Tower Cafe are there in the middle of town.  They now operate as a visitor center, museum and the city's chamber of commerce is in the building.  Another "Cars" inspiration here - the art deco architecture of this old building appears as Ramone's automotive body and paint shop in the movie!

Shamrock was our last stop in Texas.  On to Oklahoma!

The Sooner State

Well, we knew we'd get to Oklahoma sooner or later!  Hehe, clever! Since it was late afternoon when we arrived in OK, we thought it would be a good idea to start looking for a place to get some food and stay for the night.  Heading into Sayer, we  ran across a do-it-yourself car wash. Cleaning up the car from the dusty south west was much needed. This was the kids' first time at this type of car wash so they had a good time taking the lead on the clean up....Shale and I agree that child-labor is a good thing!  

How nice to have the car cleaned up!  Thanks kids!!  As we resumed our search for food and a place to stay for the night, we happened to run across Bruce and his pet Brahman Bull Romeo.  True story.  I had Shale pull over so I could get the 411 on this!  Bruce and his wife have had Romeo since he was a baby.  He hangs out in their yard all day long and sleeps in the barn behind their house at night.  Every evening, Bruce gives Romeo a good brushing and according to Bruce, as long as he has the brush in his hand, Romeo follows him around!  This is definitely not something you see every day!

Romeo enjoying a late afternoon brushing from Bruce.

By the time we rolled in to Elk City, OK it was 8:30pm.  What a day!  We found a great little restaurant off the highway for dinner and by the time we left it was 9:30pm and we pulled in for a good night's much needed rest.  Tomorrow we plan on trekking most of the way across Oklahoma - another long day...I'd better get some sleep.  Until tomorrow......

                     

A view of the night sky - Elk City, OK

Day 7 - Midway!

Sleeping in was a must this morning after our crazy night last night. We got on the road around 11am with one thing in mind....Get to Texas.  I think that all of us were done with New Mexico - definitely some interesting things in NM but, of the three states we have been in thus far, it gets a unanimous vote for our least favorite.  Sorry NM!

After all that being said....we got to Tucumcari, NM on our way to the NM/ TX border.  We needed gas, ice and lunch.  As we pulled into town, I noticed a TON of really cool signs (vintage signs).... hotel signs, shop and restaurant signs; all that have been kept up really well.  Most of them neon signs that I was sure would have looked really sweet at night. Unfortunately, we weren't going to stay all day in this tiny town so I could take pictures at night!  So, yes...I had Shale drive me all around to take my daytime photos and then I looked on line this evening for night-time photos of each of the places I shot earlier today and put them all together for you so you can see what I am talking about!

Top to Bottom: The Blue Swallow Motel (note the "100% Refrigerated Air sign - classic!), The Buckaroo Motel and Del's Restaurant (where we ate lunch)

Left to Right:  TeePee Curios, The Palomino Hotel and
La Cita Mexican Restaurant

Left to Right Clockwise: Motel Safari, Sign outside of the Tucumcari Convention Center,
The Trails West Lounge and just a cool wall I found next door to the Blue Swallow Inn

 We thought that once we left Tucumcari that we were done in NM and would actually get to Texas....finally.  Nope, guess again - I took us down some crazy dirt/gravel road to see an old abandoned double-seater outhouse that claimed it (at one point anyway) had toilets that flushed which, way back when would have been a pretty big deal...."Modern Restrooms" is painted on the side of the small building.

"Modern Restrooms"

Next stop, Texas!  YeeHaw!

                            

Just a little way east of the border of NM and TX, you will find the little town of Adrian.  Adrian is the midway point between Santa Monica (LA) and Chicago, IL.  Stopping here was a must to take a picture and wow did we run into something (shall I say someONE) unexpected that absolutely made our day!

There is a small gift shop just as you turn into town off the highway...The Sunflower Station.  Next door is the Midway Cafe.  We pulled in right between the two, nobody was around...at all.  Outside of the gift shop with her dog (Brody) was Fran.  Fran owns the gift shop and is the former owner (for 23 years) of the next door cafe.  She and I got to talking about our trip, where we were from, the Airstream, her shop and her former diner next door.  Shale and the kids busied themself in the parking lot of Fran's store signing her old red Ford pick up truck.  I know this sounds strange but she encourages anyone that stops to leave their name, a message, a picture or anything on her truck!  Fran and I went inside where she told me about her connection to the movie, "Cars".  Fran herself was the inspiration for the "Cars" character, Flo.  Flo is the owner/operator of Flo's V8 Cafe in the movie.  You see, when the movie was being researched for production, John Lassetre and his crew took a guided tour of Route 66 and met Fran when she ran the Midway Diner.  Most all of the characters in the movie were inspired by real people that John and his crew met on Route 66!  Betcha didn't know that!  Pretty cool!  Thank you for the memory Fran!  We will be back to visit sometime - I hope!!  

Fran's Red Ford Pick-up with thousands of signatures, pictures, messages.
Fran (Flo) is with us in the bottom right photo!

Fran gave us this signed photo as she does with all her guests!

Midpoint Route 66 - Adrian, TX

Amarillo, TX was our destination point for the night.  Only a 50 mile drive and we pulled in to set up camp.  We are cooking up something real great for tomorrow but you'll have to stay tuned for details on exactly what!  Below is a hint (we are armed and quite possibly, dangerous!)

No, nothing else on the Airstream has broken...yet!

Tonight as I catch you up on today's events, we are all once again huddled together in our cozy trailer watching a movie...."Cars"

(this is for you Fran!)

Until tomorrow y'all........