DAY 6- ON TO OKLAHOMA AND BACK...

I'm back again for another day on the road.   Unfortunately, I have to head back towards Maryland today, but not without getting a bit of 66 in here and there!

  

We left The Boots and headed towards Kansas.   There are lots of "ghosts" among the buildings of the towns on Kansas 66.   It affords a few good photo ops, which I took advantage of.   I had hoped to stop at the Golden Rule shop, but it was closed.

Dad and I noticed a customized 49 Buick (his first car) is still for sale in one of the lots.   It was there last year too, same lot, same parking space.   If it's there my next time thru, maybe I'll make an offer!

They have a nice gift shop, and I picked up a copy of Shellee Graham's Coral Court book.   I can hardly wait to get into it!   Needless to say, we also picked up two delish sandwiches, which served us as lunch.   Also, during our trip, Dad's been talking about looking for a 64/5 Mustang Fastback.   Ironically, they were selling chances for one there!

We continued into Oklahoma, thru Miami and we also did a part of the 8 ft. road by the Tech Center, before hopping on 44 and starting our long trek back.

But, 66 didn't end there for us.   We took a few side trips here and there.   I picked up a cap at Route 66 Motors in Rolla.   We ended our 66 journey this year in Stanton, where we took the tour at the Jesse James Museum.   I also picked up a booklet on the J. Frank Dalton - Jesse James story.   They say he was Jesse, but Dad seems to remember some DNA study done this year that disproved the man's claim.

After leaving the museum, we hit the road running, drove thru St. Louis and took I-64 thru Illinois, Indiana and ended up in Kentucky for the night.

64 has been surprising, very isolated and not cluttered with fast food and self serve gas at every intersection.   Tomorrow we'll be leaving early, a stop in West Virginia to visit my grandmother and back to Maryland.

Well folks, that ends my Y2K 66 journey.   I hope you've enjoyed reading my travel journal.

EPILOGUE

Just a few observations off the top of my head...

Most expensive gas - Chicago city, between $2 and $2.19 

Least expensive gas - Springfield Illinois, with $1.32

Favorite spot of the trip - Devil's Elbow

Least favorite spot of the trip - anyplace the Interstate took a bite out of 66

Best trip discovery - stopping off at Shea's Museum by the Springfield Illinois Fairgrounds.

Worst trip discovery - Seeing more road icons closing or being demolished in just the past year.

Nicest folks on the trip - Annice at Hit the Road, Scott Nelson at Eisler Brothers, and the owner of The Boots Motel

Worst folks on the trip - didn't meet any.

Best part of the trip - getting to spend some quality time not only on 66, but with my dad too.

Worst part of the trip - missing the wife and realizing it'll be at least a year until I'm back on the road.

Things I'm glad I brought on this trip (take note!) - took along the "My Mail Station" so I can keep wired to the eMail and post to the Route 66 Mailing List- not only my trip logs, but questions that were answered by list members and made the trip better!

Things I WISH I'd have brought on this trip - MORE TIME!!!   I wish I could have got to California this year, but just didn't have the time.   Plus I found myself wanting to take my time and "soak it all up" but I still wanted to hurry and get to the next thing to "pack it all in" with my limited time for the trip.

Next time, I'll allow three weeks to a month.   And it still won't be enough time to do it all!