Our first stop of the day was in Springfield, Missouri Visitor Center. Papa said, “Take a picture of the telephone booth. I doubt the kids have ever seen one.” We saw several different treasures there and read about the history of Springfield. They call it “the birthplace of Route 66” because this is where it was named.
From there—oh, let me just say, Papa is becoming a pro at twisting and turning this RV down narrow roads—anyway, we made our way to Mother Road Mercantile and he wins the constant for the best Route 66 stamp. He told us if we were going to make it to California by the 3rd we needed to pick up a little speed. Yikes. Papa LOVED hearing that, me? Not so much.
Our next stop was in Carthage at the Visitors Bureau. I met one of their Board Members through LeadHer. Kim Bausinger made sure we were well taken care of. We left with a bag full of goodies for each of you grandkids! This would be a cool town to come back and stay a day or two. There is much history to it. Apparently after a war in the town there were only 35 people left. That is until the town of Joplin became the mining town and brought people into Carthage. This little town once held the most millionaires in the US. We also we given instruction on the correct way to pronounce certain words while in Missouri: Wash is Warsh, Miami is Miama, etc.
When we stopped in Webb City we parked in a parking area and had to walk a bit to find the Welcome Center. We were disappointed to arrive and find it closed. However, there was a note on the door that explained all we needed to do was walk up the street to the police station and they could stamp the passport there. So, that’s just what we did.
When we walked in there was a man sitting in a chair to the left of us. Now, let me explain that this entry was the size of our RV house; pretty small. We stepped in and the man in the chair told me there was someone behind the glass window. We could not see anyone. After receiving our stamp and a pin of Webb City, Papa turned to step out and the man in the chair hopped right up and followed him out. It gave me a pause for a moment because it was apparent when we first saw him that he did not appear thrilled to be sitting in that chair. I followed them both out the door and the man quickly turned left while Papa and I walked across the street. I did keep my eyes on the man as he was speedily making his way down the alley between buildings.
We weren’t too far from the RV when I heard some commotion and turned to see a Police car speeding down the road, turn right, and then stop behind the man in the orange shirt who now had his hands high in the air. He was handcuffed and put back in the car. So Papa and Mimi helped him in his first attempt at a getaway. Lesson learned—don’t use Papa and Mimi to get out of your consequences.
Let’s go to the beautiful town of Joplin! We had a nice chat with Ann and she told us the best places to eat in town and the “must see” places to stop along the way. We had a great lunch and Beast and Bistro; Papa says it was the best Steak sandwich he’s had in long time.
We had a short drive through Kansas and stopped to find Gearhead Curios closed, but Papa had the brilliant idea of looking in the mailbox to discover a baggie with small papers of stamps! I said, “What made you look in there?” “I don’t know,” he said, “Just being nosy, I guess.” Thank you, Lord for the nudge to be nosy. This is a great little gas station they are refurbishing to its original design.
We drove into the town of Miami (pronounced, Miama), Oklahoma and walked to visit our next stamp contributor. It was incredibly hot! Once we had our stamp we continued on to Claremore, OK where we’d visit the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. Oh, my goodness! The girls who worked here were the absolute best. They were both so friendly (I have forgotten their names) but they gave us all sorts of goodies. My favorite was the Will Roger’s quote book—he was a smart man.
We had two stops left to make and our friends, the Schell’s were waiting for us to arrive for the night, so we were moving fast. A stop at the Mother Road Market and the Route 66 Interpretive center would finish up our day. The Interpretive Center was closed when we arrived, but we’ve got our picture to prove we were there.
We finally drove into the Schell’s driveway where we parked for the night. That’s it for this day’s adventure.
Love and miss you,
Papa and Mimi
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