Angie and Mike's Blog

The Mother of all birthday road trips to the Mother Road deserves the Mother of All Blog Posts. And with 25 photos, that's exactly what this is! I don't actually turn 30 for nine more days but we had last weekend open so Angie went all out planning a Route 66 road trip as a surprise for me. I love driving and highways and maps so for me it was a very fitting way to spend a milestone birthday.


We headed to Baxter Springs first, where Route 66 entered Kansas from Oklahoma. There's an abundance of Route 66 memorabilia along Baxter Spring's downtown strip which was the original alignment for the highway.


The route has two alignments on the southern end of town. Prior to 1940, it followed this curve in from Oklahoma. Today it sits behind a Wal-Mart. After WW2, the route moved slightly west to where the highway currently is located.


It rained on Saturday but it didn't rain on our parade. We took our first self-portrait while sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot during a brief downpour. Yes, my shirt does say "chimpin' ain't easy." It was also part of my birthday gift. My photographer friends should get it.


What is said to be the only remaining rainbow bridge left in the country is located along Old Route 66 between Baxter Springs and Riverton. Heading north through Baxter, turn left at the defunct Conoco station (see previous post) and follow the old road. The bridge is open to southbound traffic only but a bypass bridge has been constructed.


On the bridge, we paid tribute to our friend, Gerry.


Again, the rain couldn't spoil our fun!


In Riverton, we stopped at the Eisler Brothers general store. Not only can you buy just about any piece of Route 66 merchandise there is, you could also quite easily buy all your groceries there, too. I asked the clerk if anyone did and he just kinda gave me an annoyed looked and said "not really."


Even as you enter the front door, the place is a visual overload.


I think I need some of these if I'm going to build a Route 66-themed bar.


We didn't spend much time in Riverton because we needed to get to Galena, a former mining town that in its heyday had a population somewhere around 30,000. This is the northern end of downtown, which was part of the pre-WW2 alignment. After the war, Route 66 followed what is now 7th Street into Missouri. In fact, the alignment of K-66 follows that of Route 66 when it was decommissioned.


But, back up on the north end of downtown is a shop called "Four women on the Route." It's also where you can meet "Tater," the inspiration for "Mater" in the movie 'Cars.'


We visited with one of the owners for nearly two hours. She insisted on taking a photo of us.


Then she insisted that I sit inside Tater. What, do I look like a big kid? I'm 30 for cryin' out loud!


Signature prints are available for $300. ;)


Angie made reservations for us to stay the night at the Leggett House Bed & Breakfast in Carthage, Mo. This 8,500 square foot mansion was built in 1901 and is built from native carthage stone.


It wasn't raining in Carthage. This is a water feature in the front yard.


And as if the entire day hadn't been surprise enough, Angie had one more trick up her sleeve. Carthage has one of the last remaining drive-in theaters! And it's right on the old highway!


Again, signature prints are available for $300. ;)


The birthday boy (on the 18th). But I had such a great weekend that I think I'm going to start observing my birthday on Sept. 6, the day of our roadtrip.


I liked the 66 Drive-In much better than Wichita's Starlite because it only has one screen, seemed more family-friendly and had cheaper concessions.


I spent too much time making photos of the clouds that I missed the first 20 minutes of the movie and had no idea what was going on.


Angie sends a text message to a friend in Chicago. On this night, I'm glad I was in Carthage.


We skipped out during intermission and Angie went quickly to sleep.


I stayed up a couple of more hours going through the photos from the day, reliving the fun all over again.

Labels: Birthdays and Holidays, On Location, Route 66