Day 4: Joplin, MO to Clinton, OK

What comes to mind when you think of Kansas? Route 66 barely clips the Sunflower State - only 13 miles of road run through the corner of Kansas. We are using an excellent tour book for our trip written by Drew Knowles called the "Route 66 Adventure Handbook." In the section on Kansas, Knowles talks about how most people think of "The Wizard of Oz" and the line from Dorothy who says, "There's no place like home." Or the famous line, "We're not in Kansas anymore," which was the line I was planning on using when we crossed into Oklahoma. My plan was foiled somewhat when we passed the first Historic Route 66 marker and Tina asked if we could turn around for a picture. I was loaded: "But then we'll be back in Missouri." Tina said, "I know." So I replied, "But then we won't be in Kansas anymore!" She just looked at me like I was a goof-ball, my plan was pretty anti-climatic. This section of Kansas isn't the typical plains with wheat fields...it's coal mining country and it shows. Galena, Kansas was a treat with several buildings that date back to the early days of the Mother Road. It was pretty cool.

We also got to drive the last section of the "Ribbon Road" today. It's a stretch of Route 66 that was paved with concrete. The interesting thing about it is that the government was running out of money for concrete to pave their highways. Rather than pave half the distance to the state line with an 18 foot wide highway, the decided to pave the full distance with only half the width...a nine foot wide highway, which is essentially only one lane. Thus the name, "The Ribbon Road." It was pretty worn down, the concrete only peeking up in a few places...but we got the gist. It also gave our Dart that dusty look...we even had a biker comment on it. He said, "Look at that desert rat...I love that you guys are heading across the dirt as a family." It was a fun moment.

Today's journey was all about clicking off the miles. We didn't make too many long stops...so after Kansas, we high-tailed it into Oklahoma (where I got to sing, "Oooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain...") and caught brief glimpses of Mickey Mantle's boyhood home and baseball field in Commerce, OK. Our kids also got Route 66 cookies at a roadside stop in Commerce that was an old gas station. There, two "good 'ol boys" were talking to me about the car and saying how they wished they could do what we were doing in a classic car as well. Through the conversation, I found out that one gentleman had 19 classic 60's Ford Falcons. NINETEEN! He talked about how he wanted to get one on the road to do Route 66 (which runs through his home town), but "life got in the way" and he felt like he was too old now. I'm guessing he was in his early sixties. I told him, "Man, you gotta pick one out of 19 of your cars, get one on the road and do it." I don't believe God designed us for "life to get in the way" of our dreams, if we include Him in them. At the heart, I think our fears and insecurities are what really keep us from doing the things we've always dreamed of and we use "life got in the way" as a cop-out. I hope seeing us at his local hangout inspired he and his friend to get one of their many classics on the road...even if they just run it through parts of Oklahoma. 

After Commerce, we blazed through Miami (pronounced "My Am Uh"), Afton, Vinita, Chelsea and Foyil, where we made a brief stop at "Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park." This roadside attraction was created by an artist who took 11 years to build a 90 foot concrete totem pole and other concrete art and he was also an avid woodworker. This was one guy who didn't let "life get in the way." He wanted to build a concrete totem pole, so he did. The park like area gave my kids and Tina their first taste of hearing the locusts and cicadas loudly buzzing in the trees. As a native Texan, I grew up hearing that noise...it kind of creeped the boys and Tina out - I find it quite peaceful. From Foyil, we buzzed through Claremore, and on to Catoosa where the iconic "Catoosa Whale" sits right off the highway. We were hoping the highway oddity was still being used as a swimming hole, but unfortunately it was closed to swimming. We did get to take pictures and climb over the whale which was originally built by a husband for his wife who liked whales! From Catoosa, we cruised through Tulsa (with me singing Don Williams', "Living on Tulsa Time" just to drive everyone batty), past the famous "Meadow Gold" sign and then we cruised to Stroud to get a quick picture of the Rock Cafe, whose former owner inspired the character "Sally" from the "Cars" movies. Then, we made tracks into our favorite stop of the day, "Pops" in Arcadia. Pops was truly the highlight of the day. It's a modern day "tourist trap" that uses thousands of bottles of vintage sodas as its hook - and it works. It also has a sixty foot neon soda bottle in the front that looks really cool at night. The place was packed and just screamed Route 66. We loved it...and of course, we bought some pop at "Pops." From pops we ripped into Oklahoma City, drove quickly through the city without really stopping and made it into Clinton for the night. Today was a great day of travel. It was our hottest day, with temps reaching triple digits for the first time on the road. The Dart performed flawlessly, with lots of ice, water and these awesome "cool cloths" that my genius wife, Tina, purchased before we left. With them wrapped around our necks, we made the trip in relative comfort. Today's list of international travelers included a couple of gals from Spain, a family from Switzerland, a couple from Australia and a few others we heard, but didn't get a chance to talk to. We met bikers from Pennsylvania and had plenty of "rubberneckers" taking pictures of the car.

Tomorrow, we are deviating briefly from the road to cruise into my childhood hometown of Henrietta, Texas. I can't wait to show my kids where I grew up and hopefully we will have lunch or dinner with some old friends if it works out. Either way...adventure awaits! Enjoy our pics from day 4.