Each year I plan part of the trip so that I am traveling alone. You really have more flexibility and can be more spontaneous when you have no one to think about except yourself. So the first 3 days, driving from Indianapolis through Illinois, Missouri, and into Kansas I was on my own. My only constraint was that I had to be at the Wichita airport by 3:55 pm. on Saturday, July 30th to meet the plane on which my son Greg and Granddaughter Rachael were flying in from Orlando.
When I began to plan the trip I thought I would follow closely old Route 66, either going out or coming back, through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. It's no fun to go and return the same way. Rachael had to be back in Florida by the 2nd Monday in August to start school, which meant she and Greg would be with me on the way out and Marcia on the way back. The best plane connections and rates I could find giving the fullest "Western Experience" to all were to have Greg & Rachael with me from Wichita to Albuquerque and Marcia from Albuquerque all the way back to Indianapolis.
I got gifts of several guide books and maps of Route 66 for Christmas and studied them carefully. I found most of the information assumed you were traveling from east to west, but I would be driving from west to east through Texas and Oklahoma. And the guides indicated that much of the old route had been built over by the Interstates, I-44 in Missouri and Oklahoma, I-40 in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. So following the old road actually called for crossing back and forth many times over these highways at various exits, or actually just staying on them where the old route no longer exists. In the motel room on Thursday night I decided to take county highways and work my way northwest from Salem to the Devil's Elbow on old route 66 east of Waynesville, Mo.
I had a poor breakfast at the Red Hen Cafe in Salem Friday morning, July 29th. The coffee wasn't very good, eggs were passable, but the tiny bacon strips were mostly fat and stuck together. I sat at a long table where a group of 5 guys were sitting at the other end and nodded at one as I sat down. I couldn't get much of what they were saying, some talk about how they had to pay cash for their first cars and kids now days have it much easier. A couple came in with 2 kids under school age; the mom was wearing a tee shirt that had Indiana across it and something below. I wanted to see what it said so stopped by their table as I was leaving to ask if they were from Indiana and to find out about the shirt. No they were not; the line I hadn't been able to see said something about "country butts". She had been smoking, and explained the shirt was a gift from her sister.
An add on the place mat in the restaurant was interesting. It was for a product "E 7", "your natural solution for: Low energy, Diabetes, Headaches, Poor Digestion, Stiff Joints, Pain, Skin Problems, Brain Fog, Much More ...".
The county roads from Salem to Devil's Elbow were paved, mostly good and not too crooked, pretty scenic in fact, particularly one stretch right along the Big Piney River. Parts of old route 66 and the divided section built during WW II to accommodate troop movements out of nearby Fort Leonard Wood were rough right around Devil's Elbow, but from Waynesville to Lebanon it was a good road, fairly easy to follow and mostly away from I-44.
Shelden, who owns the store where the Devil's Elbow Post Office is, has lived in the area all his life. He told me that what the locals call "the middle road", a newer divided 4 lane section of Rt. 66, was built during World War II, because people would sometimes have to wait up to half a day for troop movements from nearby Ft. Leonard Wood to cross the narrow, old road bridge. He said I could take a side road just beyond the narrow bridge to see the sharp bend in the river which gives the town its name. I could see it through the trees but not well enough to get a picture.
The old route 66 from Buckhorn to Lebanon Missouri was a pleasure to drive, mostly away from I-44 through scenic, rolling country side. I stopped in Lebanon at what is called "Barrels of Fun" where the AAA guide said you could get a tour of the Independent Stave Co. wooden barrel manufacturing plant. A young lady who was pouring for the free wine tasting said they no longer give tours, but she took me over to a window overlooking the plant floor and spent several minutes describing what we were seeing. The company produces more than half of the wooden barrels used for wine and whiskey in the world wide; they have plants in Australia and several other countries including a new one in Chile. She said that bourbon and whiskey actually get their color from the charred oak in the barrels.
They make a lot of barrels for wineries. One of the wines I sampled was Coopers Legacy Merlot, which is made for Independent Stave by Rodney Strong. You can only get the wine at the plant or have it shipped to you. I said they probably couldn't ship to Indiana, but she said yes they could because they are not a winery. I bought a bottle.
From Lebanon, Mo. I headed west on Mo. 32 to find a place for lunch, stopping in Buffalo, Mo. at the "Time Out". This place was designed to attract the younger crowd with pictures of local athletes and some pro players under laminate on the table tops. The manager was wearing a Milan High School, Indiana State Champions 1954 T-shirt, so I asked him where he got it, thinking he might be from Indiana or know someone there. He proceeded to say he got it at the local Wal-mart, seeming to think I had asked because I wanted one. I told him that I was from Indiana and remembered well when Milan had won their championship. He did seem to know that the movie "Hoosiers" was based on the Milan story, but I don't think he was much impressed with what I told him. West of Buffalo I went through the small town of Midway and past a church with the sign "Halfway Baptist Church." I don't know what all of their other beliefs are, but I guess they are halfway Baptists.
My next planned stop was at Ft. Scott, Kansas, where the fort established there in 1842 to control the Indians and then used during the Civil War has been restored to much like its original facilities. I spent nearly an hour going through some of the buildings and found it very informative. While I was in the book store I mentioned to the clerk that I was looking for a book on Charles Quantrill who led confederate raids against abolitionists in Lawrence, Kansas and elsewhere in this area. Another customer began giving me suggestions on what books might be interesting. Because of Quantrill's pro slavery position I found it necessary to point out to him that I was interested in Quantrill but not as an admirer. Later in the conversation this man revealed that they were related; Quantrill had been married to his great great aunt before being killed during the Civil War at age 26. At his suggestion, I bought "Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865" by Jay Monaghan. (It is a very enlightening and interesting read.)
I got into Chanute, Kansas a little after 6 pm. and found the very reasonably priced and comfortable Guest House Motel. Found a place called Booner's on mainstreet downtown and had a satisfactory dinner of blackened cat fish. It is a popular place with the locals, of all ages. Five teenagers, three girls and two guys came in and sat at a table next to mine. Of course the girls were talking none stop, getting up to go outside and talk on a cell phone etc., while the guys hardly said anything. They knew the busser, who was wearing a high school wrestling team tee shirt, and I think one of the girls was interested in him. Meanwhile, a group of really old people, older than me, came in and sat several tables behind me and laughed so loud the whole time that I was really annoyed.
Chanute is about 110 miles east of Wichita, so I figured I should get there easily by noon on Saturday and have plenty of time to find the airport and pick up Greg and Rachel at 3:55 pm. I drove just over 300 miles today.
July 30, Saturday
I had breakfast this morning at the T&R restaurant in Chanute on south Santa Fe St. near the motel. It obviously was formerly one of those tiny restaurants you see in the south, called Waffle House. They have a counter and a few booths, and the grill is right behind the counter. Rachel says Waffle Houses are the ones where you sit down and if you put your arms on the table they stick and you can't get them off. My breakfast and coffee were much better than yesterday.
Driving to Wichita this morning I saw several fields of what I later confirmed was Milo, though at first I thought it was sorghum. It grows about 3 feet tall and has a large head shaped sort of like an artichoke. The heads apparently turn a rust color when they get ripe. I took a picture of a field of it and kept looking for a farmer to stop and ask about it, but never saw anyone close to the road until this afternoon after I had picked up Greg and Rachel at the airport. We were driving along a county road I found which paralleled US 54, when I saw a pickup pulling a hay wagon pull into this farm barn lot. I pulled in behind him and followed around to the barn where he was stopped. I'm sure he and his wife were apprehensive at first about what I was doing there. He spoke friendly enough at first, but hesitated when I asked him what that crop was I had seen in the field up the road and described it to him. He finally said it was his field of Milo and asked me if I was looking for land. I said no, I had just grown up on a farm in Indiana and wasn't familiar with the crop. I told them this was my son and granddaughter with me and we were headed to Albuquerque. The lady said they had had heavy rains and flooding out there, which of course I didn't know.
I got into Wichita and drove to the airport to check out the route, etc. and then saw there was a Best Buys across the road. I stopped there and bought a wall charger for my IPOD shuffle, which so far I haven't used on the trip, but am sure I will. Then I got a sandwich, stopped at an ATM to replenish my cash and found a shade tree in a school yard to park under and read for the couple of hours I had to kill. Of course I was overtaken by a brief nap.
Greg and Rachael's plane was 20 minutes late and it took a while to get their luggage, but we were on the road just before 5 and drove the 80 miles to Pratt, Ka. by 6:30. We stayed in the Economy Motel, had a clean, large room with two double beds. We had an alright dinner at Rick's on the west side of Pratt, then went back by the motel to Wal-Mart to pick up a swimming suit for Greg, some snacks and beverages, and some hair care items for Rachel. The motel had a nice, clean pool but it was late when we got back and no one used it. Drove 235 miles on day four.
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