Route 66 Day 5 OKC to the Blue Whale to KS to O'Fallon MO

 

I slept in until 8 and got on the road. I was mad once I found out I lost my YETI cup that Baez had gotten me a week earlier for my birthday!!  Breakfast was granola bars and hot drinks nothing great so I just got some hot coffee and left. I had some things I needed to get. So first things first I decided to get some keys cut because I had no spares. Luckily there was a guy about 5 miles away and he was able to cut me 4 of them. Cheaper than back in CA. They worked great. I also got a true hide a key for the truck instead of just a magnet. After that I found a Bass Pro to get a new YETI cup. Luckily it was on the way out of town, but it was kind of down town. A weird spot for sure. I wanted to see the OKC bomb site and pay some respects but the traffic was really bad and I needed to get to Missouri so I had to forgo that. Next time I will try and make it as Uncle Ralph said it was really moving.

Todays planned trip is to make it to Kyle’s house who is about 40 miles from St. Louis. I really wanted to see the Blue Whale that mom had read/told me about after Humphrey got stuck in the bay back in the 80s/90s. If I could see the Cars trucks in Kansas that would be pretty cool and Kyle said I had to stop in Springfield and see the Bass Pro as  “Im gonna be amazed” ok Kyle sure.

The Blue Whale. It was made by a guy as a present for his wife. It was big attraction all the way into the early 90s. the whale has water slides for its fins and you can jump off of its tail. The pond now is green with aglae and has lots of little fish and you can no longer swim there but the souvineer shack had pictures where you could see how much fun it was in its hey day. The lady running it was very cool. She was of Native American descent and had lost her husband not too many years ago. She was also a cancer survivor. She loved the truck and wanted to take some pictures of it so she could post it on the Blue What website I said of course you can!! I built the truck for everybody to enjoy not just myself. We got to talking about life and how my mom had cancer and why I was doing the route 66 trip. I bought some stickers and a t shirt for Brixton. Nothing in kids suprising or big adults just some mediums. They were backordered because of COVID she said. They had other cool things there though.  After that I went next door and walked around a wooden boat that was 2 stories high that the builder called the ARK. It didn’t say who built it, and you cant access it anymore as its falling apart so they fenced it off. I wonder though if the guy who built the whale also built the boat?? Fun to think about.

Close to the border and off I40 but on the original route in Afton there was suppose to be a really cool car collection. But when I drove through this small town there was nothing there, just an abandoned building. Next to it was a very cool AD truck, the owner and wife were unloading it which I thought was pretty cool. It wasn’t the only stop that wasn’t there anymore, but the drive through the old town was still worth it.

Route 66 only hits like 30 miles of Kansas, but theres a town called Galena and it’s a fun town!! The roads in OKC are def better than those of Kansas. But all the roads are better than CA and we pay the most in fuel taxes. Go figure. Anyway in Galena they have a 1 street downtown. A bank was getting refaced with real bricks, and across the street was a cool gas station that had the sheriff from Cars parked over there. I passed by that as I knew I could get a few pics of that on the way out. But there was supposedly one with all the trucks, Mater and his friends. So I continued down the street until at the end I found them. In a restored gas station it was pretty cool I ended up taking a few pictures. The store was closed but I walked around the building and looked at the sights. It was very cool to say the least. As I was turning the truck around to get more shots I saw some more Cars characters down the road and went there after to look at the road marker and cars.

On the way out of town I stopped by the first gas station I saw and took some pictures of the truck, some of the workers gave me thumbs up and went back to work. Kyle called and asked me where I was, and how it was going. We chatted for about 15 min. He said save a bunch of time for Bass Pro… You gotta stop at Bass Pro. I was like ok ok ok I will stop at Bass Pro.

Leaving Kansas there were some back roads that I took, and I was hoping that I wasn’t going to break down as there wasn’t much cell service. But 20 miles later after straddling the state line a few times between Kansas and Missouri I popped back out on to a main freeway and off to Springfield I went to see Bass Pro, which is not off the freeway like one would assume. At least not the way I came in. I finally pulled in after seeing signs and it is indeed very large, but the sign said Aquarium on it, and next to it was a Field Museum. I was WOW I AM IMPRESSED Kyle was right. I walked in and it was 90 bucks to get a pass so I walked right back out lol. Then I walked around the corner of the building but it kept going and going so I walked back to the truck and drove around the building. Around the building was a Bass Pro probably 5 or 10x the size of the ones in Ca. Kyle was right again I should have saved a bunch of time, but I didn’t really since I wanted to make it to his place before it was too late. So I walked in, not to shop because Im sure they probably had ammo, but to look at the Nascar part, the Clint Eastwood wing, the Teddy Roosevelt wing, I mean they had everything. Bow and arrow Hall, shotgun hall, pistol room it was INSANE!!!!!! I could have easily spent a day just looking at the upstairs stuff let alone the rest of the store/exhibits. But I looked at my watch and it was almost 5, and I wanted to go see Devil’s Elbow Bridge in the Oazrk Mountains.

Devil’s Elbow Bridge, not sure why they called it that until I looked it up, it was because of the sharp bends in the river, and they had a hard time getting logs down the river. It’s a cool bridge, and I can see why people like the Ozarks, it is spring time and the trees are starting to show their leaves and so the colors out here are amazingly beautiful. Very vibrant even in the evening. To get to the bridge you have to get off the main highway and onto Historic Route 66, which goes through a few neighborhoods.  Some of the attractions/buildings that they have are closed, but you can see that the town does make some money on us tourists that come to see this bridge. The bridge itself reminds me of ones that are up in Eureka, except its not painted green. The surroundings with the forrest make it look similar though. I took a few pictures and then across the other side of the bridge on the Eastern side there was a bar/saloon but it was closed. A bummer for sure, as it is known for all the bras tacked up on the ceiling from travelers and the ribs were suppose to be amazing. Damn Covid! The sun was just about set by the time I got out of there and off I went to try and make it to Kyle’s.

As I got back out on to the main highway I got a text from dad asking where I wanted to stay at in St. Louis. I told him I was probably going to stay at Kyle’s but he has a new kid so I wasn’t sure if I was going to do that, and if I could get a place and not use it would that be a problem. He said just let me know and we can book, as there seemed to have a bunch of space left since it was in the middle of the week. It was almost 9pm when I rolled into St. Robert to eat at the Cracker Barrel. I was hungry from not eating all day. I didn’t realize that they closed at 9 and when I found out I was about to go, but the hostess said don’t worry, there is a big party and they aren’t leaving anytime soon. So I got the sampler plate so I could try the dumplings, meatloaf, and ham. It was ok, nothing to write home about. I don’t know why dad likes coming out here to eat so much. The portions were really big though. I finished eating right after the party did, and the waitress asked if I always ate this fast. After all the years riding the ambulance and in the firehouse I just got used to eating fast just in case. Another form of PTSD I guess, always eating fast so you aren’t starving because you don’t know when your next meal is gonna be.

As I was eating I texted Kyle to make sure it was ok that I came over because of Jess and the baby and he said I better come the fuck over. So after I paid the bill of I went. Now Kyle has owned the house for about 3 years, although he has only really lived here for about a year or so. He gave me the address and I put it into Google maps, and wouldn’t you know it took me into the most back country way possible. I thought I was in Deliverance for a little bit, old run down gas station, crummy roads, no traffic what so ever. Then out of nowhere multi story huge homes like the ones in Black Hawk or Palo Alto but bigger. In the middle of nowhere! Then a huge 3 diamond baseball field complex. I was like woah. The curves were mild and speed limit was 50 then all of sudden it dropped to 35 and there was sharp curve! Good thing I was paying attention because at night it came out of nowhere. I texted him are you trying to kill me!! I am also at this intersection. He had no idea where I was, and I was only 15 miles from him! Kept on driving and a plane flew over head not very high and that’s when I found out hey theres an airport right by your house. Kyle does know where that is. Finally I pull into his driveway. A very nice neighborhood that he lives in.

Kyle was opening the door when I come in with Bud light in his hand. He said I know your gonna give me shit but drink up. I told him I was trying to stop and buy some good beer as I cant come empty handed. He laughed and said Jess and I drink Buds you know this. I did know this, but I still felt bad. We talked outside for 2 hours looking at the truck. The truck some how drank 2 quarts of oil today, as it was fine this morning.  Although I did drive 500 miles today so maybe that’s why. We caught up as if we had just seen each other last week. Definitely a sign of good old friends. Then we realized why are we talking outside where its cold, so we did the logical thing we went inside. He showed me the house and his fully furnished basement with a heavy and huge treadmill. I asked him why would you move a 700 lb treadmill down your stairs and 90 degree bend of a door way when you could just knock out that window and make it a sliding glass door and go in that way? He said it would have been too much work. I said maybe maybe but my back is worth the work ya big Ogre.

After we caught up I said we have to do breakfast or coffee at least before I leave, I want to try and see the Arch at sunrise, or at the very least early in the morning as I have to be in Chicago by 1 to meet my dad at the airport. He said cool.