Greetings from Miami… Oklahoma that is!
Today we completed the 66 tour of Missouri and the 13.5 miles of 66 in Kansas. Our first order of business was to locate an RV park to fill up our fresh water tank. Luckily, there was one right across from where we slept. Had to pay a fee for the water but we dumped for free the day before at the Meramec Caverns campground.
Just as soon as we got onto 66 in St. Robert we found ourselves in Uranus. This place should be called Man Town USA. Right as you enter Uranus (yes I said that) there is a huge complex with a 
party bar and grill, a tattoo parlor, gun shop and a Gentleman’s club. Although it looked all closed up at 9:30 in the morning, I am sure it’s pretty full at night, despite the huge billboard directly across the street that warns travelers about the evils or pornography.
From there, we headed west and stopped at Mr. Cs Route Post in Lebanon. This was a pretty cool souvenir shop with a nice jukebox playing the oldies as we shopped. We picked up just a couple things. Trying to spread out the shopping since I am sure we will be seeing lots of shops like this one. Speaking of shops, we happened upon what is supposed to be the world’s largest gift store. Yes! It was pretty big and we had ourselves a good time playing with the toys and trying on the goofy hats. Then we made a quick stop across the parking lot to the candy shop for a treat.
It sure was a beautiful day for driving. It was about 88 degrees and sunny which made cruising the small two lane back roads of Missouri pleasurable. The picturesque scenery makes you want to just stop and stay for a while.
There are a lot of museums along the Route 66 road, but if we stopped and explored all of them we would never make it home. We did however stop & chat for a spell with Gary Turner & “Mom” at the famous Gary’s Gay Parita. See our separate post on this location. It was such a special part of the trip we thought it should have a post of its own.
Winding through Springfield, Carthage and Joplin we eventually crossed the border into Kansas. Kansas has the smallest portion of Route 66 at only 13 miles or so but there is plenty to see. We found the Cars on the Route 66, formerly 4 Women on the Route, where the movie Cars got its inspiration for some of the characters.
We ended our traveling day just after crossing the border into Oklahoma, where we are about to get some shut eye in a Walmart parking lot in the town of Miami (pronounced my-AM-uh) . Oklahoma will be the longest stretch of Route 66. The old original was deliberately designed to cut clear across the state and we are looking forward to a mostly straight forward route.
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~J&J
Check out some of the locations we visited today.
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