Two Beers and a Pretzel

Steve Martin does that line better than I do…

Just in case you didn’t know what Oklahoma looks like…

However, I started in Missouri, took a short hop thru Kansas, then into Oklahoma…  The other night I saw Jim Greeninger in concert after spending an extra day in Branson.

The guitar in the background of that picture is what he calls his ’50 ft guitar’.  He has an individual pickup for each string – all separately amplified.  He spread 6 amplified speakers across the stage left to right (low to high strings).  You had to sit about 1/2 way back in the theater, but having the sound spread across the stage was amazing.

He also had a really cool folding travel guitar for sale, but it was well more than I was willing to pay.  He did let me play it, and it was surprisingly rich and balanced…  much nicer than the 2/3 or 3/4 size travel guitars.

Turns out, Branson got on my nerves a bit – aside from the occasional good act, it’s like a cross of the Lawerence Welk show and religious TV programming where the obviously wealthy family sits in a luxurious set talking to a mass audience like best friends, then asks average people to give them money.  However, the biggest problem in Branson is the exceptionally mediocre food.  For example, I ate at one of the ‘best’ BBQ joints in town, and the pork was a bit chewy, and they used KC Masterpiece sauce.

In Kansas, I found one of the few remaining original bridges on the old route.

There are only a bout 13 miles of Route 66 in Kansas, so I quickly moved into Oklahoma.  The   Rt 66 book I have talks about the grreat scenes along the “old road” which is usually a pre-1930 alignment.  Sometimes it’s worth it…  Sometimes you shouldn’t take a sport sedan down these roads…

Although turning off the traction control and drifting around a few gravel corners was definitely fun!

Oklahoma City has a pretty neat downtown bar district called ‘Bricktown’ – with a canal running between a bunch of revamped warehouses.

Then I swung by the Myriad Botanical Gardens.

…and then to the Memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing.

When you see the parallel monoliths and the shallow reflecting pond between them, it’s very obvious that something sad happened here – even before you see the remnants of the old federal building.  The memorial is inside the old foundation.

To end this post on a happier note – many of the streets in the city have been renamed for famous bands and atheletes from the area…

St Louis. was the commercial hub and the last large city for the West-bound pioneer back when riverboats ruled the waterways.  Then trains came along and bypassed St. Louis for years – until a bridge was built downtown.  The Eads bridge was actually the first steel cantilevered bridge in the world.  The bridge used steel arches to support the cantilevers, thus inspiring the more familiar Gateway Arch.

I rode in the cramped elavator-like cylinders to the 630 ft peak of the arch to take in the view on a cloudy day.

Then spent some time in the pretty nice underground museum facility which held some interesting and well designed exhibits on westward expansion and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Back outside, I found a good use for my super wide angle lens on the SLR…

Around 2PM I hit the road again to continue on Route 66, but every time I tried, the traffic was horrible and there were way too many stoplights, so jumped on I-44 and drove for a while.  Taking a 40 mile diversion from Route 66, I figured that I was too near to Branson to miss the ‘Vegas of the Midwest’, so I shot down 65 and arrived in time to see a show called ‘SIX’.  A bunch of brothers (six of them – go figure) have a pretty good acapella show.  Think of it as a gospel / barbershop quartet with a ‘human beat box’, and the soud effect guy from Police Academy.  It was about what you’d expect from Osmond-esque variety show fare, but some of the songs were pretty good and the beat box guy was amazing.

I’m sticking around Branson tonight and tomorrow night because there’s a great classical guitarist playing late tomorrow afternoon (seriously, go to YouTube and search for ‘classical guitar’ and this guy comes up #1) – and it’s low season so it’s only $30/day for a decent motel with wifi.  And there’s all kinds of goofy tourist stuff to do here.

There are a surprising number of quality attractions in Springfield, Illinois. Many were even open on Sunday.

The old state capital building is pretty nice, and is surrounded with Lincoln statues.

The Frank Lloyd Wright “Dana” house was quite impressive.  I took a tour (no cameras allowed).

The Abraham Lincoln presidential museum and library were also pretty good… I saw the museum.  It was kind of ‘Disney-fied’ with animatronics and visual effects.  I think the best part was the “Civil War in 4 Minutes” exhibit.  It shows a map of the USA with a timeline (1860-1865) along the bottom of the screen.  You watch as states secede to the Confederacy by changing color.  Then the line between North and South starts fluctuating as major drives and battles are highlighted.  Morgan’s Raiders and the Push to the Sea were both made very vivid to the viewer.

After realizing that is was almost 4 PM (central time), I got back on the road to St Louis.  This stretch of Route 66 is pretty dull.  After arriving in St Louis, I drove around in the rain for a bit looking for a Motel 6 (still not willing to break in the tent in the rain).  In the process of searching, I ran across about 4 totally different roads on different sides of town claiming to be Route 66 from various time periods.  Confusing at best…

After sleeping in a bit, I got on the road at about 10 AM from Lincoln Park on the North side of Chicago.It took about 30 minutes to get to downtown where westbound Route 66 begins – At the Art Institute of Chicago in Grant Park.  The beginning of my day was marked by light rain and overcast skies, so I opted to skip the observation deck of the Sears Tower.  It’s OK, I’ve been up there a few other times prior to this trip.

After driving the confusing maze of streets that used to be Route 66 in Chicago, I took a side trip to Bolingbrook, IL to get some more camping gear at the Bass Pro Shops, and ate a quick lunch at the nearby Famous Dave’s BBQ.  When I got back on the road, the clouds were starting to break up, and the skies were clear by the time I reached Wilmington.   One past that milestone, you pass a new town every 5 miles or so, and start to see some of the nostalgic things you expect on this road.

Rocketman…

A popular old jail with only 2 cells…

Ye Olde Texaco Station…

Ye Olde Standard Oil Service Station…

The Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum in Pontiac, IL.  A very nice old lady talked to me for quite a while and gave me all kinds of Route 66 SWAG – like maps, buttons, fliers, magazines, guidebooks, etc…

After saying goodbye for the umpteenth time, I finally got away and pulled out of the parking lot to find this cool sign on the pavement…

Between the small towns, there are places where you drive on the original road (repaved as a county road or state route), places where you are on the new road and parallel to the dilapidated classic route, and a few places where the original road was overrun by I-55.  All in all, the byways in Illinois are not that bad, although not as nice as the interstate.

In the next town, I found the giant hot dog guy…

It was getting late, so I had to hurry to get to the Springfield KOA campground…  As it turns out, I arrive 15 minutes after the front desk closed, so I backtracked a bit and I’m staying at the Motel 6 on the South side of Springfield.  I was looking forward to a sub $20 campsite, Grilled sandwiches in the sandwich press, and some smores at a campfire.  Instead, I had a $45 hotel room (with tax), $3 for 24 hours of wifi access, and a meal that was way too big at an unremarkable chain eatery.  The upside is that I got to upload my pictures and watch Mythbusters.

I plan on hitting a few sites and the Lincoln museum before getting back on the road tomorrow.

I’ve got the itch to travel m and my house is still occupied by admittedly only for another week or two), so I’m in Chicago to meet up with my cousin Luke, then drive to Los Angeles via Route 66.

Granted, most of Route 66 was decommissioned decades ago, and it does not actually exist on maps anymore – so I’ll be following the same general path, but not sticking to a strict path of the old, dilapidated roadways.  That might not be good for the ol’ suspension and tires.

I’ve bought a guide to the national parks since I’ll be passing a number of them along the way, as well as a campground index, book of senic drives, and firld guide to North American birds.

Last night we went to a phenominal blues bar and heard an amazing blues band – The Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings.

I’ve had to park at a metered spot and feed the meter every 2 hours – or risk a wheel lock…

Hopefully we’ll have some better weather tomorrow and I can get some pics of the travelling bunny at some iconic Chicago locations before I leave town…