2geonomads

First have the by now all too familiar Days Inn breakfast and we are able to get away at about 8.30 for the long trip south-west.
I am the driver and Doug the navigator we  immediately see an improved performance on the 2 amigos of the previous day when we surpass their 1 km without getting lost . In fact, through superb teamwork we manage to get to the town of Carthage without a single glitch.
Carthage an attractive town with a small but very educational Civil War Museum focussing on the Battle of Carthage.
At long last we found a coffee shop serving high quality coffee, the Mother Road Cafe. The owner explained that an Australian tourist had previously educated them on what was a ‘ flat white’ and this was now on their coffee menu. For obvious reasons a ‘ long black’ was not on their menu!
Following their advice we next visited the Jasper County Court House, a magnificent building on the town’s main square.
A very pleasant elderly ( well, our age!) lady operating the historic elevator in the courthouse gave a quick teach-in on the courts and the area. She had previously owned a store in the town but in a familiar story the arrival of the large chains had sounded the death knell for them.
She stressed that we should check out the local drive-in on the way out of town, which we did, albeit at a speed of about 90 kms an hour!
On to Joplin, with the primary target being the apparently famous Red Union Cafe. We were unable to judge whether it deserved the ‘famous’ tag as we couldn’t find it. Moreover, we tarnished our reputation as the driver/navigator team par excellence when DOUG missed our turn- off into 7th St and ended up at 25th St. Had to perform the dreaded u-turn and headed off to Galena in Kansas.

Mick had again identified the iconic Eisler’s store as a must-see so after lunch at a cafe in town we drove own to Riverton,the supposed site of Eisler’s, nowhere to be found. Spoke to the owner of a store who told us Eisler’s was on the way into Galena from the north. We backtrack into the nearby Galena and seek advice from another store owner who tells us that Eisler’s is in fact 2 doors away from the store which had given us the previous advice to backtrack. This proved to be true and we duly ended up at Eisler’s which proved to be something of a let-down, although we all managed to buy some Route 66 memorabilia. It would probably help if the Eisler name appeared somewhere on the signs outside the store but no, it’s just marked as a General Store.
As for the old guy who first misled us, he is either scared of competition or a moron.

Riverton is also the scene of another u-turn as we struggle to find the Rainbow Bridge. We finally locate it and wonder why we bothered as it is certainly not one of the World’s Wonders.

After cutting across a corner of Kansas we enter Oklahoma and stop at Miami to check out the historic 1929 Spanish Mission styled Coleman Theatre. This was unfortunately closed but from the photos outside the foyer we were able to gain a fair idea of the splendour of the interior.
Fred stopped to chat to a group of locals who had a real whinge about the theatre. It was, they opined, poorly supported, a drain on the local finances, and should have closed down year’s ago. So much for it being a local icon! One of the locals did inform us that Willie Nelson was due to appear in town that evening but even if tickets had been available such a delay would have upset our timetable.
Our thoughts move to where we will stop for the night and Mick ( who comes up with these gems on regular occasions ) mentioned that we might like to check out the lovingly restored eponymous Chelsea Motel . Sadly , the restoration seems to have come to a grinding halt as we were confronted by a couple of ramshackle buildings which would not double up as a pig sty.
The World’s Largest Totem Pole at Foyil disappeared into the ether although we do manage to catch sight of the Blue Whale at Caloosa as we fly past at speed.

As we continue on in Oklahoma we come across the justifiably famous 9 Foot Road,( 9 feet wide as the name implies ) paved in 1922 and used regularly until 1937 when an improved road was built.
Arrive in Tulsa about 6.30 and find a Days Inn.
Relying  on advice from the receptionist at the hotel we head off to Ramsey’s Take-Out for dinner. Unfortunately it is only a takeaway restaurant , funny that!

Western County Diner a perfectly adequate substitute.
Return to hotel for drinks after a long day ( 373 kms ) and turn in at a respectable hour .
Tulsa and Oklahoma City the main targets for the next day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.