Day 31 – Oklahoma City, OK – Amarillo, TX

Day 31 was a day of epic rain! EPIC! Thunder, lightning and massive puddles on Route 66!

You might remember El Reno from our previous post! But we had to re-visit El Reno at the start of our day!
This was an endless bridge that we drove over! It covered a very small river but a much larger marshy area!

This was a small puddle (we drove through much bigger and scarier ones) that we had to drive through! Okay, Sigrid just wanted to play in the puddles!

Each town has their own style for how they celebrate Route 66! Weatherford has good game!
Sadly the National Route 66 Museum was closed!
Another neat old bridge! This photo also shows the rain and how the old timey Route 66 path sometimes parallels the more modern interstate highway!
This woulda been a cool neon sign to see at night! Sadly we drove by during the daylight hours!
Another cool mural!
It took us a while to find this restaurant and it had been on our to do list! Google maps said it was open, the restaurant was closed! Bummer! Last thing to do before…
…no fancy sign but still it’s State #23!
Yes! There is a Shamrock, TX! We stopped for a Mexican lunch, ahem!
They have a piece of the Blarney Stone in Shamrock, TX! We visited Blarney Castle on a prior journey! See our Table of Contents above to find the link to that post!
An epic refurbished gas station in Shamrock!

We drove past it and took a video for you all to enjoy!

More mural!
A refurbished but very very old gas station!
Another old gas station that’s been less refurbished and less cared for!
From 1930!
All over OK and TX, we’ve seen hundreds over very large windmills! We knew to expect them, but there are more than we expected!
The famous leaning tower of Groom, TX! Yes, it’s leaning on purpose!
Bug Ranch! Remember this place, it’s meant to mock something we’ll see tomorrow!

E has a message for you all!

Yep! Those are buried VW Bugs! The artist and caretakers have left cans of spray paint with which visitors can leave their impact on the cars!
A structure near the Bugs that visitors have painted as well!
E with a different type of car that has been painted as well!
We recognize that RVs are in short supply as Covid travelers have taken to the road! But the home made RV might be a bridge too far! This was only one of many that we’ve seen on the roads!
Just to the east of Amarillo is The Big Texan Motel and Steak Ranch! Damn right we’re staying there! Just like Wall, SD, these signs are everywhere! Please note the free 72oz steak challenge!
The view from our motel room!
Part of the motel!
More of the motel! There is an RV park as well and accommodations for truckers!
This place is straight kitsch and we loved every minute of it!
Why the big dinosaur? Why ask why?
Dinner time! Please join us!
All you have to do to get a free 72 oz steak is to eat 4 lbs of beef, a garden salad, a baked potato, bread roll with butter and shrimp cocktail! Oh and you have to eat all of it in one hour!
The owner of The Big Texan is a big beer guy and it shows! Everything we tried was very good!
Our taster!
Other beers we tried – the Amber and an IPA!
Some of the decor in the waiting area outside the restaurant!
More decor! The gentleman in the hat is an employee, not part of the kitsch!
The view of the dining room from our upstairs table!

They really make a spectacle of attempts to make the 72oz steak challenge!

End of day odometer – 7,162 (268 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 6,515 miles

Day 30 – Tulsa, OK – Oklahoma City, OK

Horse drawn carriage versus the horse-less carriage! Great way to start day #30!
Tulsa has a Neon Park! Unfortunately, they don’t light it up at night anymore, so we had to get them in the daytime!
Another item from the Neon Park!
Last of the items in the Neon Park!
Another Route 66 Mural!
The bookend to yesterday’s Tulsa Route 66 marker!
Cool Route 66 marker in Sapulpa, OK!
Another Route 66 Mural!
You don’t see Tornado Shelters everyday! We turned around and went back for a photo!
A giant old timey gas pump!
We stopped for breakfast at the Rock Cafe! This place has been a Route 66 classic since 1939! The cafe sees less Route 66 traffic these days, but now mostly caters to family reunions for soldiers returning from overseas deployment! Amazing place!
Interior of the Rock Cafe!
Proof we wuz here!
Other people were there too!
The marketing budget remains at zero!
Another Route 66 Classic!
Who lives here?
Jerry McClanahan! He authored our Route 66 guide! He invites all Route 66’ers to stop by! He autographed our book and made adjustments based on changes to the route since our version was published! A very delightful gentleman and a cool part of our day! Incidentally that’s not his home but his art gallery! Some of his work is on the walls in the above photo!
Another mural!
More mural!
Another old timey bridge!

An impromptu blue grass band!

Yep! It’s a round barn!
The gentleman who built the round barn basically did it because he reckoned the round shape would make it tornado resistant! The science doesn’t back up the supposition, but it’s cool nonetheless!
A giant Coke bottle! Well it’s supposed to be one when it’s lit up at night!
El Reno is famous for the Oklahoma Onion Burger! During the depression, travelers had less money so clever proprietors made burgers with half the usual meat to lower prices and replaced the volume with cooked onions! They are a historic treasure and delicious! Coincidentally, we found a food blog posting about the Onion Burger during the pandemic and made them at home! When planning the road trip, we knew that we had to stop at Sid’s – the best Onion Burger per locals!
Sadly Sid’s was closed – the staff was on vacation! A local couple was also trying to eat lunch at Sid’s and they accompanied us to Johnnie’s – where Sid once worked!
Johnnie’s!
The couple that told us about Johnnie’s felt so bad about Sid’s being closed (as if it was their fault) that they treated us to a Coney dog – another local favorite! It’s a hot dog smothered in chili with American cheese and coleslaw! It was awesome but the gesture from the couple blew us away! We tried to reciprocate but they would have none of it! Travel confirms the world is awesome!
We ordered onion rings as our side!
There it is! The Onion Burger! S ordered a double, E a single! The proper way to eat one is with pickles and mustard! That’s it!
Yummy! Pinkies up might not be proper technique!
As we approached OKC, we passed by the home town of Garth Brooks!
The legend even has a Boulevard!
Once in OKC, we stopped at the Oklahoma National Memorial & Museum!
Visitors still leave mementos along the fence that marks the old federal bulding’s floor plate!
A very solemn place! The museum and the grounds are impressively done! A must visit when in OKC!
The artists made these light fixtures out of chairs! Big chairs for adult victims and small chairs for child victims! It’s a powerful statement!
OKC has been revitalized post the 1995 terrorist attack! Bricktown (where we stayed) seems to be the center of that revitalization!
You had to know it was coming! After a long day of driving and an emotional visit to the memorial, we needed some down time and simple dinner! This brewery did the trick with their excellent beer!

End of day odometer – 6,894 (187 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 6,247 miles

Day 29 – Carthage, MO – Tulsa, OK

Another signature day on Route 66! Stay tuned for lots of photos!

But first coffee! Route 66 is sometimes also called the Mother Road!
Hard to see but a chart of distances on Route 66 from Carthage, MO!
The famous Boots Motel in Carthage! Notable for its Art Deco style!
One of the many town murals that we’d see today!
This old timer was hiding behind the mural!
Juxt outside Carthage we passed by the local Drive-In! Sadly these are the movies playing! It was only open over the weekend so we couldn’t attend a showing!
The backside of the Drive-In screen!
A fairly typical roadside marker on Route 66! This one in Carterville!
Webb City! Another mining town along Route 66 in MO!
A bit off Route 66, we found this set of Praying Hands in Webb City! Unlike others along Route 66, this one is cheering for World Peace!
We found this Kneeling Miner statue in the same park as the Praying Hands! A tribute to the Webb City’s heritage!
We stopped at the Joplin, MO, City Hall for their Route 66 Visitor’s Center! We met a nice woman inside who gave us lots of tips and a gift bag with lots of Joplin themed gifts! The future of Route 66 depends on what the individual towns do to support the history and encourage visitors! Joplin is very much doing its part!
Small mural!
One of the scavenger hunt items on Route 66 is to find giant items like this! We passed a Crayola Crayon but was hardly a giant!

Sometimes on Route 66 the state markers are more modest than we’ve seen in other places! That gold line is the state marker for Kansas! State #21!

The first sign in KS!
We love signs like this! Only 1700 more miles to the Santa Monica Pier and Route 66’s end!
If you love the movie Cars, this old timey gas station is the reason why!
The tow truck on the right was apparently the inspiration for the movie! The others followed later!
Another old timey gas station!
This small store has been operating since the early 1930’s! It’s recently been purchased by a new owner hoping to keep this part of Route 66 history alive! We stopped and had a sandwich!
The side door of the Old Riverton Store!
Bridge from the 1920’s! Still part of Route 66!
The Rainbow Bridge from a different angle!
State #22!
Another small mural!
1505 miles to Santa Monica! Why blue whales you ask?
Another giant to cross off the list!
Probably from before same day delivery!
Route 66 marker found just outside Tulsa!
Karen and Noel! Mother and son who live in Tulsa! Good friends from our Habitat Build in Nepal! We also built with Noel in El Salvador! He’s a world class triathlete who is doing big things! He’s got an inspirational life story and someone we’ve grown fond of! Karen is a big part of that inspirational life story! Her curious nature, cheerful attitude and love for Noel are infectious! So happy to spend a bit of time with them!
We had a quick dinner in Tulsa at McNellie’s Public House! Yet another brewery! They had something like 350 beers on the menu! Only a fraction on tap, but still an awesome find by E!
Near sunset, we hopped back in the car and went to look for neon signs along Route 66!
See the muffler man hiding behind the neon sign?
There it is!

End of day odometer – 6,707 (168 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 6,060 miles

Day 28 – Branson, MO – Carthage, MO

Once again, you’re going to need to sit down and grab something comforting to drink! This is going to be a long picture post!

Just outside Springfield, MO, we stopped for breakfast! The menu was beyond healthy! An excellent start!
What’s the most visited tourist attraction in MO? The Gateway Arch in St Louis? Nope! It’s the very first Bass Pro Shop in Springfield! It’s huge! That green ceiling building in the background has everything you could imagine for an outdoor adventure including services for travel and lodging! To get some measure of how large the place is, please watch the following video!
The entry! It’s a remarkable visual feast!
E made a new friend!
The Hunting Hall is enormous! Guns, Archery, Knives, Clothing! Everything you’d need to enjoy a trip!
A whole section for antiques and high-end equipment!

There are water features everywhere! Waterfalls and nature scenes! A huge fish tank! And petting areas for kids…this one with turtles!

The store even has a full acquarium! It’s $45 per adult to visit! I hope it’s amazing but we chose not to enter!
Everybody who works in the store was kind and helpful! This fella thought that we should press on that-a-way!
We hooked back up with Route 66 in Springfield, MO! Halltown is supposedly an amazing town for antiquing!
One of the most famous gas stations on Route 66! Gay Parita!
If only gas was that cheap!
There is a lot of memorabilia on the gas station site!
A reminder of where we’ve been and where we’re going!
Sadly the couple that kept this paradise so nicely passed away a few years ago! This is a theme that we’ve found on Route 66! The older generation is passing on! In many cases the next generation is shutting things down! Some municipalities are taking over but too many of these towns are on the decline!
A reminder to stay mission focused!
Route 66 has officially been de-commissioned so the roads are falling into dis-repair! But this bridge from the 1920’s is still going strong!
There is a lot of Civil War history in this great town! But it’s the post War history that makes this place special! Between 1880-1920, this was one of the richest cities in America! Their mining operations created numerous millionaires! Specifically, their limestone quarries produced stone that built the Capitol building in Washington DC!
But we first, we need to show you Red Oak II!
The vision of an artist to create an outdoor art exhibit!
Lowell Davis! He moved houses and building to create an art installation that also houses people! Yes, people live here!
Some quirky art!
A water fountain made with bathroom plumbing materials including shower heads and faucets!
It was a very hot and humid day! We needed water badly! But the General Store was closed!
Iron Horse vs Iron Horse!
Outdoor movie theater!
Restored gas station!
Town Hall!
The Court House! Seriously! That’s pretty epic!
This home and the homes and church that follow were all built in the 1880s through the 1920s by the local wealthy families! They’re all a bit different but built with local materials (notably stone)! I wish we could go inside because we’re certain that the insides are as stunning as the outsides!
Last one to share! There are many more but some didn’t photograph well or have fallen into disrepair! There is a turn by turn guide and was well worth the effort! Hope you enjoyed it!

End of day odometer – 6,539 (129 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 5,892 miles

Day 27 – Little Rock, AR – Branson, MO

In researching trips, through the Ozark region of Arkansas, our conclusion was that Arkansas Scenic By-Way 7 was the way to go! It did not disapoint! Beautiful road with excellent scenery!
This is simply a huge park that cannot be conquered in a short trip! You’d need more than a week to see it all!
It doesn’t photograph well but there is an unbelievable amount and diversity of flora! Add in the rolling hills and rivers and you have an amazing park!
This is not our photo but it is what we are supposed to see on the Pedestal Rock hike! It’s bear country and we were lucky to bump into a very nice couple (Hello Paul and Theresa!) from Minnesota! We mutually agreed to hike together and to keep the bears at bay with happy conversation!
The vegetation is lush and dense! We could tell this was a natural bridge rock formation but it was hard to photograph!
The 4 of us adventurers decided to go off trail and visit the bridge!
Looking at the bridge from ground level!
After returning to the trail, we continued on our merry way to see the Pedestal Rock formation! Well that’s it! Quite a bit more vegetation than we envisioned!
Being adventurers, we walked back to our bridge formation and walked around the base of the cliff to find a better angle of the Rock Pedestal! Sadly, this was our best photo!
Undeterred we continued on our hike and continued to find marvelous vistas!
We stopped at this restaurant (correctly named the Cliff House!) offered spectacular views of the valley below! Sadly it was closed and we had to make the best of it! We ended up eating at a nearby restaurant that was 120 years old!

End of day odometer – 6,410 (225 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 5,763 miles

Day 26 – Memphis, TN – Little Rock, AR

State #20!

On our trip, we’ve seen several of these planes! The first couple of times we thought they were random stunt planes flying around! Then we realized that they were crop dusters doing their thing! Agressive fliers!

Lunch time! Brewery #18!
They also make their own hard seltzers!
Our taster and an IPA!
Sure I’ll smile, but I don’t want to miss any of the Olympics!
Hard seltzers came in a can! We preferred the Black Bing Cherry to the Raspberry Meyer Lemonade!
Where we ate for dinner! We’d seen one of these regional favorites in Memphis, so we decided to try one!
Grilled Mahi with lots of veggies and, of course, red beans and rice! Delish!

End of day odometer – 6,185 (138 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 5,538 miles

Days 24-25 – Tunica, MS – Memphis, TN

On 47 day trip, Day 24 is the middle day!  23 days before and 23 days after!  But I assure you all, Day 24 was one of our best days!  We took Day 25 as a much-needed rest day!  We gave Sigrid a rest day and we used the day to catch up on work, emails, laundry and exercise!

Memphis borders on the Mighty Mississippi! After we leave Memphis, we will have spent 5 nights along the Mississippi River on this trip – 2 in Memphis, 2 in St. Louis and 1 in Tunica! And we also saw the Mississippi River in Minnesota!
When in Memphis, you have to visit The Peabody Hotel! S first stayed here on a business trip in the late 1990s!
The architectural details and woodwork is truly stunning!
Gorgeous!
Here’s the other reason you have to visit The Peabody! There are ducks in the water fountain INSIDE the hotel! At 11am every morning, the ducks are led to the water fountain and they march out at 5pm!
The ducks always stay in and around the water fountain, so the outer wall is fair game!
We had to sit and watch the ducks! We grabbed a nearby table and ordered cocktails! E ordered the blueberry mojito but it didn’t come with a rubber ducky! We had to special order that! They were happy to oblige!
The old fashioned didn’t come with a rubber ducky but it did come with duck themed cocktail picks!
A little light reading on why there are ducks in the lobby!
The ducks are fun for kids of all ages!
The legendary Beale Street!
The King!
Yep, they have a Hard Rock too!

Our next stop was the BB King Blues Club! We enjoyed some BBQ and some great music!

Between songs and acts, we spent some time talking to the couple in the next video! They’re locals and hang at the club most Sundays! They knew everybody and everybody knew them! A very special couple!

Not everyday you get to meet an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! The truly great Leroy Hodges Jr! He and his brothers have literally helped form what we know as rock and roll! The man is 78 and still has it!
Feeling inspired!
We have really taken to a new Marriott brand of hotels called the Moxy! They’re all over the world but their presence is growing in the US! They’re primarily aimed at millenials but we try to stay at them when we get a chance! They generally offer up a welcome drink and we chose the Old Fashioned! Funnily enough, they’re mixed in a traditional way, but poured into a take away container? Is that we call this?
Yup, still delicious!

End of day odometer – 6,047 (37 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 5,400 miles

Day 23 – Muscle Shoals, AL – Tunica, MS

This is going to be a big post, chock full of fun photos! So grab a coffee or tea or your favorite beverage and we hope you enjoy!

Yup! The capitals of American music are generally considered to be Detroit or Memphis or Nashville, but Muscle Shoals is very important to American music! The Who’s Who of American music have all recorded in Muscle Shoals! Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Bob Dylan, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding! Also Alicia Keys and Demi Lovato! And of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd!
Small Town! Big Sound! Indeed! They call it the swamp sound! Whatever it is, it’s central to American music!
FAME Recording Studios! Where it all started! Central to the sound of FAME was the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, but more on them in a moment! Hello Sigrid!
The Front Door!
At some point, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section aka The Swampers decided to strike out on their own and founded the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios! This is now a museum, as the primary recording studio has moved! Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded their first album here and immortalized the Swampers in their epic song – Sweet Home Alabama!
The Front Door! Ever wonder why Cher named her 6th album 3614 Jackson Highway? Us neither, but there it is!
Another reason to come to Muscle Shoals!
Originally 640 acres, the Keller family estate is now down to 10 acres and owned by the local municipality!
Helen’s childhood bedroom, which she shared with her teacher, Anne Sullivan!
The famous water pump! Where Helen first started to connect a word she remembered from before she went deaf and blind with water and sign language hand signs for water!
It’s been a busy morning and we needed a bite to eat! Nearby Ivy Green was this place!
MMM! Yes! It’s amazing!
Almost as good as the food was the story behind it’s proprietor!
The menu is amazing! The food was excellent as was the service!
The star of the meal was the Bourbon Waffles! The “syrup” was a Bourbon infused caramel! Being from Louisville, the chef uses Maker’s Mark! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Oh yeah, we had a veggie omlet and the candy’d bacon! Also delightful!
We had to be dragged out of Superhero Chefs, but we continued on our way! MS! State #19!
Tunica, MS! One of the gambling capitals of the US. S has been wanting to visit for years to complete…um…research! We came to the Horseshoe because it’s the only local casino to have Pai Gow Poker! Sadly due to staffing problems, the tables didn’t have dealers! Oops!
The Gold Strike!
Not sure what this casino was, but it’s being refurbished!
Hollywood Casino Tunica! Our home for the night!
The gaming floor!
A little razzle dazzle at night!

End of day odometer – 6,010 (191 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 5,363 miles

Day 22 – Chattanooga, TN – Muscle Shoals, AL

So we started in TN, then drove through GA, then back into TN, experienced a time change back to the Central Time Zone from the Eastern Time Zone and finally entered AL!

State #17!
What!?! That’s it?!!
There you go, AL! Sweet Home Alabama, where the skies are so blue! State #18!
As we drove through Huntsville, AL, we came across these monsters at the US Space & Rocket Center! They’re huge!
Massive, we tell you!
Champy’s Famous Fried Chicken! Brews, Blues and Bird! E found this unbelievable place as a late lunch near Muscle Shoals! Note the very bottom sign on the left hand side of the picture!
Where’s the finance nerds at? Here is that part of the photo blown up! A little financial history! BankAmericard is the founding entity that became Visa! That is an old sign!
Do we call this potty humor? Outside Champy’s!
More outside views from Champy’s! There is a metal awning on the right side (an open air area under which we sat) and a tented area taking up part of the parking lot for Covid dining!
A bit of the inside decor! From the metal awning area where we sat!
E noticed these fellas as we walked back out to the car!
More views from under the metal awning! Hard to discern from the photo but there is a stage area behind the last table! It apparently gets wild and fills up early on nights with live music!
We ordered a plate of the delicious smoked hot wings (no photo, um, we ate it too quickly) and a 2 piece fried chicken with 2 sides! Again, the food was great! The beer was great! And the staff and service was beyond friendly!

In the epic song Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd, they write…”Now Muscle Shoals has the Swampers!” Yes, we’re in that Muscle Shoals! And in tomorrow’s post, we’ll explain all about it and quite a bit more! Stay tuned (get it!), it makes for a Keller story (not a typo)!

End of day odometer – 5,819 (180 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 5,172 miles

Day 21 – Pigeon Forge, TN – Chattanooga, TN

As we left you yesterday, we started Day 21 with a drive through The Great Smoky Mountains National Park!
We started very early in the morning – hoping to catch a beautiful sunrise and to see the fog lift (the smoke in smoky mountain)!
Near the summit, we crossed over from TN to NC! State #16!
The bad air across the US continues to follow us! But made for some special vistas and overlooks! This photo is really here to remind us to tell a story! S first visited The Great Smoky Mountains in 1974! He vividly remembers (and his parents confirmed) the story that S wanted to bring the clouds home with him. So he grabbed a screwtop jar and held it out the window and tried fasten the lid quickly! Sadly, clouds don’t want to be captured in glass jars!
A tad bit after sunrise!
While still in NC, we stopped here for breakfast!
This was S’s first Waffle House! We enjoyed it tremendously! The staff was courteous, prompt and fun to chat with! The food was prepared to order, delivered quickly and reasonably priced! The team did their functions well and worked even better as a group! It’s easy to understand why these restaurants are EVERYWHERE!
We crossed back into TN and made our way to Chattanooga! Yes there is a Chattanooga Choo-Choo! The train station is now a tourist trap and shopping mall, but it’s still historic!
We found this place across the train station! Our Bourbon detour was all too brief! Back to beer!
The beer was flat out great! Our waiter (who is walking towards us in the picture above) kept calling the Belgian Wit, a clone of Blue Moon! We had to chastise him – we even rapped his knuckles to get him to stop! The White Shadow is much, much better than Blue Moon! The Bock and the Oatmeal were also standouts!
OK! This place is a ridiculously good ice cream parlor! The head ice cream maker is a converted pastry chef who gets inspiration from her global travels! And the staff knew the back story to every flavor and how they came to be! Seriously, the flavors and combos were amazing! If you’re in Chattanooga, you must go here!

End of day odometer – 5,639 (191 miles driven)

Total miles driven on trip – 4,992 miles