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Taking the Long Way on Route 66

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by sillisoup in Photography, Travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

road trip, route 66, travel

Route66-07-2015-0204

(Click on images to view full size.)

The drive on three Interstate highways from home to Albuquerque is fast and long.  Boom, boom – hundreds of miles of Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico roadway flying past.  However, if you’re willing to slow down, you can drive most of this on the old Route 66, the Mother Road. I’ve driven the 1208-mile Interstate route several times and viewed sections of Route 66 at 75 mph, thinking, I need to take this trip on the old road one day.  That day came this summer.

Planning a drive to Albuquerque to visit my daughter and her family,  I decided to to add an extra day to the trip and spend part of the drive there on Route 66.  I kept thinking about how much more fun it would be if someone went with me, but couldn’t really ask anyone since I planned to be in Albuquerque for two weeks.  I was bemoaning this fact over lunch with my friend Jane. When it dawned on us that it was possible to book a one-way fare with frequent flier miles, she was suddenly coming with me!  My best friend was sharing the adventure! Road trip! The planning continued in earnest as we both studied maps and books and online resources.

Day One: Saturday, July 25, 2015

Route66-07-2015-0001About two weeks later, we hit the road.  We joined Route 66 in St. Louis with, appropriately enough, ice cream!  Ted Drewes Frozen Custard is famous for both its location on the old Route 66 and for its “concrete” shakes.  We opted for the special of the day, a tricked-out butterscotch sundae, and acquired our first Route 66 souvenirs.  While we were thrilled to be at this famed iconic temple of frozen confection, our consensus was that the ice cream tasted a whole lot like, well, pretty good ice cream.

Route66-07-2015-0026On a sugar high, we proceeded, partly on the old Route 66, partly on Interstate 44 to our next stop, Meramec State Park, home of the famed and totally kitched-out Meramec Caverns.  Among the caverns’ claims to fame are their service as a hide-out for Jesse James and assorted outlaws and as a filming location for episodes of the Lassie TV series.  The caverns are truly magnificent and their discovery and history is a fascinating story. Hundreds of people are led through the caves daily on guided tours that highlight their natural wonders and their legendary past.  Cameras and iPhones snap away in the dark capturing dim memories of the natural wonders and the lit displays of scenes depicting early miners and outlaws.  It was a refreshingly cool break from a sweltering summer day, and we felt thrown-back to the heyday of Route 66 when families flocked to roadside wonders guided by beckoning signs all along the route.

Jane orders road food.

After a couple of hours of cave exploration, we were ready for an another authentic Route 66 eating experience, and we found it a few miles down the road at the Circle Inn Malt Shop in Bourbon, MO.  This diner was satisfyingly Route 66 in its black and white tiled decor and was peopled with locals most of whom sat at the counter in overalls and plaid shirts smoking and visiting.  In a nod to road-food tradition, we ordered hamburgers and fries, and Jenit (Dutch spelling), our waitress, provided background history while we waited.  The Circle Inn, she told us, has been family owned and operated for four generations.  Jenit and her husband owned the local drug store.  After her husband’s death, she ran the business until competition from the chains caused her to sell.  The Circle Inn owners are family friends and they lured her into helping at the restaurant for Fish Fridays, their busiest night.  This led to her eventual full-time work, which she loves.  While we were there, locals wandered in and out chatting, smoking, even occasionally eating.  It was a bit of culture shock to be in a restaurant that still allows smoking, but it added to the sense of throwback to the heyday of old Route 66! And I suspect that the local smokers appreciate a haven for their habit.

Our goal was to reach Carthage, Missouri, by evening where we had a reservation at the Boots Court.  So we headed west on I44, planning to get off the Interstate onto the Old Road for Devils Elbow, a stretch much admired by the writers of our tour books.  We did drive through part of it, but missed quite a bit of it, as it was a struggle to find the route on our maps, a common situation we found throughout the journey.

Route66-07-2015-0035The Boots Court proved to be one of the highlights of our trip.  Lovingly restored by two history-loving sisters, it is managed by their childhood friend Debbie, who came out of retirement to live and manage on-site after they completed the first phase of the old motel’s restoration.  The sisters used grant funds from the National Parks Association along with their own resources to restore the property to its 1949 condition.  With an emphasis on authenticity there is “a radio in every room” tuned to the local station playing music from the era and providing local news.  So far, eight rooms have been restored, including the one that Clark Gable slept in with its adjoining private carport.  The restoration is both authentic and incredibly clean and fresh.  We felt transported to the fifties! Debbie is filled with pride for the project and generously shared information about the local history and Route 66 “must sees.”  After checking in, we took a walk to nearby downtown Carthage and viewed the beautifully ornate old courthouse on the square before purchasing snacks and retiring to our room for the night.

Gallery of Images from Day One.  (Click on image to view full size.)

Frozen custard launches our Route 66 adventure in St. Louis
So many menu options!
We’ll keep the lights on for you. Boots Court.

The Prius loved Boots.
An actual key! To quote Richard Geere, “I miss keys.”

Clark Gable slept here!
Mid Century furnishings in our room.
Deb shares her love of Route 66 from Boots Court.

Coffee shop in Carthage, MO
Courthouse in downtown Carthage
Meramec Caverns

Counting their loot? Meramec Caverns
More Meramec kitch.
The Circle Inn displays their history.

Day Two: Sunday, July 26, 2015

Route66-07-2015-0143After breakfast at The Pancake House next door, we discussed nearby points of interest along the Route with Debbie.  She highly recommended Red Oak II, built outside of Carthage by local artist Lowell Davis.  She told us that if we were lucky, we might even get to chat with the artist, whose home is there.  Deb’s enthusiasm convinced us that we had to visit Red Oak II before we left the area.  We weren’t wrong and we were lucky, for shortly after we arrived and began wandering around this fascinating living work of art, we ran into Mr. Davis, and he became our tour guide. Here was a man who relishes the role of eccentric old artist – and does it very well indeed!  He beganRed Oak II some thirty years ago on his farm property there.  Primarily a sculptor and a painter, Davis had grown up in the original Red Oak, which by that time had become a virtual ghost town. He began buying up old buildings from there and other abandoned towns in the area and moving them to his farm property.  He restored the buildings and added his own sculptures to the site, creating a living whimsically historic work of art. As we wandered the property with him, he shared stories of his life, his artistic philosophy, and of his ongoing and constantly evolving project.  Red Oak II, he said, is created from materials other people have thrown away.  One of the buildings he purchased, moved and restored is the small country church that sits on the property. He felt that the hillside next to it would be perfect for a small cemetery.  In addition, he wants to be buried “where I lived my dream and made my art.” So he placed a stone there that will ultimately be his marker.  He surrounded it with grave stones he “recycled” from a local carver.  These markers had been rejected for one reason or another by the families who had commissioned them.  He had to agree that he would either obtain permission from the family of the deceased to use the stone, or he would obliterate the actual name on the stone.

Lowell Davis enjoys his pipe while we eat popsicles he provided.

The artist in his garden.

It was hot that morning as we wandered through the village, so Mr. Davis offered us popsicles and we ate them in the eccentric garden behind his house as the roosters wandered through and he told us how he met and married his third (present) wife. He met her on a trip to Korea with his artist friend, Samuel Butcher (the creator of the Precious Moments figurines and the nearby Precious Moments Chapel).  He and his wife live in the house once occupied by old west legend Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen.  His wife, he told us, was presently visiting in New York to “restore her sanity,” but he invited us into the house to view it and his art that decorated the walls.  There we met his daughter who lives nearby and was helping out in his wife’s absence. (For more information about Red Oak II, click here.)

More images from Red Oak II (Click to view full-sized images.)

“Town Hall”

The last Mail Pouch barn painting in Missouri.
The farm across the road.
He’s working on a bed and breakfast apartment in one of the buildings on the property.

A place to sit and chat.
Mr. Davis’ grave marker, the taller dark stone in the background, is waiting in the cemetery on the property.

Sculpture/fountain in front of his house.
Repourposed as art.

Mr. Davis takes materials others discard to create his art in the village.
Back yard with one of the pet roosters.
Jane bought an autographed copy of his autobiography.

Lowel Davis next to a self-portrait.

Route66-07-2015-0156-EditAfter spending most of the morning at Red Oak II, we headed for the Kansas stretch of Route 66 around 11 AM.  The Old Road cuts through just a corner of Kansas and includes Galena, home of Cars on the Route (formerly 4 Women on the Route until only one of the original owner/operators remained).  The “Cars” of the name refers to assorted vintage vehicles parked in their lot, including the tow-truck which they claim inspired the character depicted in Disney’s Cars movie.  Disney, of course, with their usual copyright paranoia, will not allow them call him “Mater.”  Included in the vintage gas station building was the requisite gift shop featuring Route 66 memorabilia and a small diner with the classic Route 66 black, white, and red chrome and tile decor. Here the short-order cook served up our second hamburger lunch of the trip from the minimalist menu: hamburgers, hot dogs, fries. Later, while we were browsing the gift shop, the attendant was making a count of visitors who had signed the registration book since the beginning of the year.  On one side of her sheet were ticks for US visitors and the other side for folks from other countries.  Surprisingly, the ticks were about even, with hundreds of visitors counted on each side of her page.  Indeed, we had seen a number of foreign visitors at the various sites we visited along the way.  It seems that the Route 66 journey of nostalgia is very popular among visitors to our country.  It made me wonder if their vision of the US is of a rural landscape with small towns along two-lane highways dotted with dusty neon-lit motels and cafes filled with simple folk selling fried food and kitch.

Cars on the Route
A little bit of hamburger heaven.

Route66-07-2015-0166

Swimming is no longer allowed, but you can walk in the belly of the whale…and his mouth and tail.

Our intention was to visit Baxter Springs, Kansas, in a bow to Jane’s last name, but we realized that if we were to reach our motel in McLean, Texas, before nightfall, we need to boogie on down the Interstate.  So we hopped onto I44.  We did decide to get back on Route 66 to visit Catoosa, Oklahoma, home of Mother Road icon, the Blue Whale. With all the hype typical of tourist attractions along Route 66 we expected the the road to the Whale would be well marked.  However, we wandered through quite a few miles of countryside, then some of it again before finally asking a local for directions.  And there it was…a somewhat faded version of it’s blue glory.  It was formerly a delightful giant mammalian entry to a small lake, but no swimming is allowed any more.  But we could walk into its mouth and onto the diving platform of its tail.  And, of course, there was still a souvenir shop on the property.  Onward to Texas!

Route66-07-2015-0174As we approached the McLean, Texas, exit off of I44 a little after nine that evening, we saw an enormous column of smoke ahead.  Police were routing traffic through McLean at what was fortunately our exit for the motel we had booked for the night.  When we arrived at  the Cactus Inn, the receptionist was clearly shaken.  She told us that she had seen the huge explosion on the highway from where she was.  She saw a truck drive by, then it exploded.  We were sick, sure that there was no way anyone could have survived such a huge explosion and fire.  When we left our room to check out the next morning, however, the clerk pointed out a couple using their cell phone on the parking lot.  They were, she told us, the occupants of the truck. They had survived the explosion and had been brought to the motel the night before by the emergency responders.  I spoke with the couple to tell them how happy and relieved we were that they had survived such a horrible fire. They told me that they heard an explosion and suddenly the truck was on fire.  Both managed to flee the truck but her cell phone was all they had left. Even his shoes had been provided by a volunteer fireman.

Route66-07-2015-0178Route66-07-2015-0183A word about the Cactus Inn.  It, too, is an historic Route 66 hotel.  But unlike the Boots Court, which is old and restored, this one is just old.  However it was adequately clean, very inexpensive, and ultimately a significant addition to our Route 66 adventure. (Click on pictures to view full size.)

Day 3: Monday, July 27, 2015

Before leaving McLean, in the spirit of our Old Road experience, we had breakfast at the Wagon Wheel in downtown McClean.  The food was good (who can mess up bacon, eggs, toast, and orange juice),and the decor was, guess what, black and white tile with red checkered tablecloths!

Route66-07-2015-0202Our goal for this day was to visit Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the Texas Panhandle several miles south of Amarillo.  The morning was very hot and dry, but fortunately, this site can be toured by car as you wind through the canyon to view its many layers of rock and stunning mesas.  Called The Grand Canyon of Texas, it is the second largest canyon in the U.S.  This landscape is such a departure from the flat stretches of the Panhandle along I40!

The iconic leaning water tower near Amarillo

Another Route 66 icon, the leaning water tower near Amarillo.

Palo Duro Canyon - Such a surprise in the flat dessert stretches of the Texas Panhandle!

Palo Duro Canyon – Such a surprise in the flat dessert stretches of the Texas Panhandle!

Heading west!

A few miles down I40, we pulled off onto Route 66 again, this time to visit Adrian, Texas, home of The Midpoint Cafe at the halfway point of old Route 66 between its endpoints in Chicago and L.A. We had hoped to eat lunch at the Cafe, but the kitchen was closed for the day.  However the souvenir shop was open, of course, and I purchased my requisite Midpoint Cafe coffee mug.  Obligingly, they had the perfect half-way photo op set up outside with old and new windmills and the gorgeous Texas planes in the background. We headed west toward our Albuquerque destination.

Windmills old and new.
Halfway between Chicago and L.A.!
Not everything along the route has been restored.

Our next pull-off was Tucumcari, New Mexico, because how could you not stop in a place named Tucumcari?  Once famous for its “thousands” of motel beds, it’s still filled with some of the best neon along the road including one of the most striking at the beautifully restored Blue Swallow Motel.  Sadly, it was still light out when we photographed it, but even at that, it was worth the detour.


Our final stop before arriving in Albuquerque was at Clines Corners – just because there were so many signs for it, we felt compelled. And we needed gas.  It is, as promised, a GIANT truck stop on I40 with every kind of, you guessed it, souvenir imaginable.  We managed to buy only gas and arrived at our destination in time for one of Bret’s wonderful dinners and began our visit with him, Rachel, and the world’s best grandchildren. And we still weren’t far from Route 66.  One of these days I’ll have to do a thorough pilgrimage to all the Mother Road icons in Albuquerque!

Albuquerque - flowers and Sandia Mountains

Albuquerque – flowers and Sandia Mountains

Living the Dream in Someone Else’s Dream Come True

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by sillisoup in Random Thoughts, Travel

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

bed and breakfast, England, Keswick, Lake District, travel, writing 101

lakedistrictB&B001 copy-2We’re in a rental car driving the winding English roads. We’ve just left the Cotswolds and are heading up to the Lake District.  It’s a scene out of my dreams of pastoral England.  It’s early June, after all, and the countryside is lush and blooming.  As we near our destination, the scene to our left is a landscape painting of Northern England’s sheep farming country. The land rolls up and down as far as the distant rugged hills.  Fields are delineated in an irregular scrawl by ancient low stone fences and are dotted with sheep and cows grazing on the lush green grass.  To our right is a hillside painted with a lavish display of floral abundance only an English garden can create. And winding up the hill to a structure barely visible through the trees and flowers is the drive to our home for our sojourn here.  Moving through the floral paradise, we arrive in the clearing to see a sprawling single-story Victorian house.

Our hostess, the tall, perfectly weathered keeper of the floral paradise, greets us and shows us through the house with obvious pride in this lovingly created step back into the Victorian past.  The walls are bedecked with flocked wallpaper and hung with portraits and landscapes in gilt frames.  Flower bouquets are everywhere.  The furniture would be recognized and loved by your mother’s grandmother.  And our room is spacious and sunny and an old-fashioned haven for travelers who prefer to imagine rural England as it was a hundred years ago.

Over breakfasts in the next couple of days, we learn more about the home from the loquacious host, a former taxi-driver and present day tour guide for the area.  It seems that many years ago, when their now grown children were young, our host drove a taxi while his wife raised the children and ran a small hotel in the nearby village. In his comings and goings he had driven past this property many times.  It was deserted and overgrown for many years, and he was intrigued.  Then one day, he saw a for sale sign in front of it. He went home to his wife and insisted that she come with him to see the property. “Are you crazy?” she replied, “I’m way too busy taking care of the children and running this hotel to come with you to look at some abandoned overgrown property!” He persisted for many days, and eventually, probably to shut him up, she agreed to take a look.  They had to fight their way through overgrown weeds and underbrush to get up the hill to the house.  She walked in, wandered through the deserted, abandoned, and somewhat decrepit house and said, “This is my home.”  They bought the property and moved in with their four small children.  At first the water and lights were not working and she would take the children across the road to bathe in a stream on the hillside. Gradually, they lovingly turned it into the home and bed and breakfast it now is.

Note: This posting is in response to the Day Two assignment of Writing 101:
A Room with a View – If you could zoom through space in the speed of light, what place would you go to right now?

More Mark and Memories of Mecca

19 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by sillisoup in Art and Creativity, Food, Lore, Travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Library of Congress, Mark Bittman, travel, Washington DC

Cooking with Mark Bittman
So this week it’s the Rice and Grains chapter in The Food Matters Cook Book.  Last week was my introduction to bulgur in a chickpea and chicken recipe, so thought I’d venture further into the great grain adventure.  After reading the introductory material in the chapter and most of the recipes (drool…..), I made a trip to Fresh Market and stocked up on ingredients like Quinoa (pronounced keen’-wah or alternatively, kee-noh’uh – I had to look it up) sunflower seeds, unsweetened coconut, chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, rolled oats, etc.

I started out the day Tuesday making Mark’s Granola.  It is a thing of beauty and deliciousness and, in spite of no added fat, calories.  I tell myself that they’re healthy calories.  For dinner the same day, I made Chipotle Quinoa with Corn and Black Beans.  This was my first exposure to quinoa and the first time I’ve cooked with chipotle chiles.   It will not be the last!  This is a hearty vegetarian – vegan, even – dish and is filling and very flavorful.  The quinoa has a slightly nutty texture.  I’m a bit of a chicken when it comes to hot peppers, so I used the canned chiles but omitted the adobo sauce, which is very hot.  Next time, I’ll use some of the sauce.  There was some heat from the chiles, but the smoky flavor is fabulous and more heat would add even more flavor, I think.  I have the ingredients for several more dishes from the chapter and can’t wait to try them.

(Re-)Visiting Mecca

"I cannot live without books."

On a dreary winter day it’s nice to remember the adventures of autumn.  Last October my friend Corinne and I visited Washington, DC.  We drove out and stopped in Charlottesville, VA, on the way to see the University of Virginia and Monticello.  Both were intriguing and a great warm-up for a visit to our nation’s capital.  Is it a coincidence that this is the mug I’m drinking from this morning?  I don’t think so. If you’re interested in seeing pictures of our trip, here’s a link.

The highlight of the trip for me, however, was our visit to the Library of Congress.  For a a hard core, card-carrying bibliophile, it was a trip to heaven.  First of all, the place is a temple to learning.

Also, it is filled with art and is an architectural feast.  We lucked out because we were there on Columbus Day and in honor of the national holiday the Reading Room was open for visitors.  Employees of the LOC were on hand to answer questions and (joy!) photography was allowed.  Usually visiting the Reading Room requires a research pass and only quiet study is allowed – and no photography.  In addition, access was allowed to the card catalog room – a huge vault with drawer after drawer of entries.  Of course, I’m sure the catalog of holdings is largely digitized now, but for someone who well remembers using a card catalog to find books, seeing this vast collection was thrilling.

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