easy riders

Tuesday morning, we left our damp little room and set back out on Route 66, determined to make better progress than a state and a half in two days.

A mural in Cuba, Missouri:


One little shop in Fanning, Missouri was a taxidermy drop-off, archery range, and a resting place for the world's largest grandmother:



Rolla, Missouri was named after Raleigh, North Carolina, with the southern accent spelled phonetically:


Calf on the road near Devil's Elbow, Missouri. He about had a panic attack when the camera shutter clicked:


"Frog Rock," near Waynesville, Missouri:


We decided to stop for breakfast in Waynesville, and first tried a German deli, which turned out to be pretty authentic, as everyone in there was speaking German to one another, but they weren't serving breakfast anymore. In a thick German accent, the owner of the shop directed us to Westside Cafe for breakfast. She said the cafe was on the way out of town, said you can't miss it. It turned out to be quite missable, in my opinion, but we did find it, tucked away in a little strip mall. We had coffee, Brie got an omelette and I got hotcakes, which came out burnt. Brie and I both thought the waiter looked like an LA actor/waiter, but the rest of the cafe was all Missouri.


Lebanon, Missouri:


A sort of morbid display in an outdoor store in Springfield, Missouri:


Spencer, Missouri:


Heatonville, Missouri:





The Precious Moments Park in Carthage, Missouri:


All through the trip, we had a rule that we couldn't stop to eat at any chain restaurants. Then we decided to bend the rule, because I miss going to Steak 'n' Shake in Muncie and studying all night, and we don't have Steak 'n' Shake in Los Angeles. The last time Brie and I ate at a Steak 'n' Shake together, we were studying for our last day of finals freshman year. We split a Frisco Melt and both got food poisoning. Ah, memories. So, we stopped in Joplin, where Brie had an inordinate amount of trouble deciding what type of shake to get. Here's the waitress trying to help:


Route 66 only goes through Kansas for a tiny thirteen-mile stretch, but it's a very picturesque thirteen miles.


In Galena, Kansas, I stopped to take a picture of this cool wall:


When I finished taking the picture and turned around, I saw:


Tow Mater! Just hanging out in front of this cute little restored gas station. I was so sad Sean wasn't there. I was taking a picture of Tow Mater when this woman came out of the little shop and said, "That's the real Tow Mater! He inspired the character in the movie! Come in, I have proof!" I went and got Brie, and we went inside and the woman showed us her scrapbook of the Pixar art directors taking pictures of the tow truck, and told us how they got it, and showed us an award she and the other three woman who run this shop received for restoring the gas station. She also had us sign her guest book, which was actually a petition to save a nearby Route 66 bridge scheduled for demolition. On the page we were signing, I looked at the various names, and all of them were from Australia and Germany. As we were talking, a couple walked in, and the woman asked them where they were from, and they didn't understand the question, but after some slow-talking and miming, they answered "France." The funniest thing I learned on this trip is that driving Route 66 is not a big thing with Americans, but it's a big thing with Europeans. Especially, for some reason, Germany and Holland. I would say only about 20% of the people we saw at various sites were American.

Later we drove through Commerce, Oklahoma, where Mickey Mantle grew up. This was his house and the barn he used as a backstop:


Near Miami, Oklahoma, we found a stretch of old 66 that was paved in the early 20s. Money was tight and the state didn't have enough to pave the road completely, so the decision was made to make the highway the right length, but half the normal width. This stretch of highway was barely wide enough for one car:


After Miami, it was getting late and we wanted to get to Dallas to see our friends Heather and Bruce, so we had to get off Route 66 and take another highway into Texas. We didn't get in until 1 am. We are very rude house guests. Heather was very kind and let us stay in their beautiful guest room anyway.

The next day we just took a break from driving and hung out with the MacFadyen clan. Price, the baby, did his impression of the little girl from The Others for us:


Brie put on a little show of her own. We were all enthralled:


Quade loved her so much he decided he wanted to be in the band:


When Bruce got home from work, he offered to watch the kids so we could have a girls' night out. Heather was teasing her hair in the bathroom, and Bruce said, "Oh, so you're going to go Dallas, then." Because it's a rule in Texas that you have to have big hair. I think I might get kicked out of the state.

Heather and all of her boys:


We went to a cute restraurant called Sangria and ate tiny bites of tapas. Later we walked around the corner and had huge bites of frozen custard at a place called Wild About Harry's. It was a fun evening and so nice to catch up with Heather.

Thursday morning, we wanted to get back on track as much as possible, so we left Texas and drove straight north for three hours, back to Oklahoma and Route 66.