Missouri – Jen's Highways and Horizons Travelogue

Seeing the Sights on Route 66 – Missouri – Part 2 (Uranus to Joplin)

Jen — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 02:55:48 +0000

GETTING YOUR ROUTE 66 KICKS IN URANUS

Okay, technically its in St. Robert, MO, but does anyone really come to St. Robert to see something other than Uranus? This place has it all: HoMade & Hand Dipped ice cream, a sideshow museum, they’ll pack your fresh made fudge (really? fudge from Uranus?), the Uranus zoological park, a tattoo parlor, jail, escape room, dinosaur, double decker pink bus, a giant rocket, and a water tower that boasts “Home of the Pirates.” I don’t know about you, but I have concerns with pirates in Uranus. Was it the pirates that stole the mayors head? (actually, no, it was the extreme wind or possibly a tornado that knocked his noggin off in April of 2024 – it is beyond repair and a new head is being created) I hope you enjoy this fantastic photo op as much as I did!

: The famous Uranus sign with a giant rocket out front

: The other side of the Uranus sign has a vintage truck and a sign for HoMade Ice Cream

: Being greeted by a T-Rex

: The Zoological Park - where everyone here is an a..ahem..Uranus

: Uranus storefront

: Can't miss the big pink double decker bus

: Uranus water tower - "Home of the Pirates"

: The Mayor of Uranus "Muffler Man" located near the Uranus Putt Pirates mini golf course

: Uranus Route 66 Mural

WAYNESVILLE, MO

Waynesville was a nice looking town that provided us with a few great murals. One was a nice photo op for Smurf-vette while another was a glimpse of her 65 year old ancestor, a striking red and white Corvette with another car behind it. This mural is so realistic, it looks like someone opened their garage door and there they sit! The Pulaski County museum is in the old 1903 courthouse complex and has a very cool clock out front and a Route 66 shield.

: Americana mural in Waynesville

: A Corvette and its friend mural

: Pulaski County Museum and clock

: Waynesville Route 66 mural

LEBANON, MO

The Munger Moss Motel oddly enough started out as a sandwich shop on the original Route 66 near Devil’s Elbow Bridge. Relocation of the sandwich shop to Lebanon happened after WWII when the new Interstate moved traffic off the original route. The business grew and cabins were added. The original 14-room cabin court is now 44 rooms. The famous neon sign was restored in 2010 with assistance from a National Park Service matching grant. The outside looks well maintained. Just down the road is the BowlMor Lanes, a classic bowling alley built in 1950 and is now wrapped in murals inside and out.

: Munger Moss Motel famous sign restored

: Munger Moss Motel distance marker

: BowlMor Lanes bowling alley

: BowlMor Lanes murals

SPRINGFIELD, MO

While we enjoyed the drive through several more towns I didn’t get very many photos. We picked the camera back up in Springfield which is considered the birthplace of Route 66. The idea of the Mother Road was born in the Colonial Hotel in 1926 as a highway connecting Chicago to Los Angeles. The Rail Haven Motel was opened in 1938 and was expanded several times over the years. We also encountered another Muffler Man, this time a chef (who still had his head, and his chef’s hat thankfully) at the Route 66 Food Truck Park. The historic Steak ‘N’ Shake sits on the original alignment of Route 66, was opened in 1962, is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is still in operation. Bud’s Tire and Wheel was established in 1958 and has several car themed murals on it. A roadside park has the Giant Hamburg sign and tells the story of how the business name was supposed to be “Red’s Giant Hamburger” but they mis-measured the special ordered T shaped sign and cutting the “er” off to create their business legend. They made their giant hamburgs and homemade root beer from 1947 to 1984 and the restaurant was torn down in 1997. There were a few old filling stations, the 1927 established Shamrock Court where the cabins are currently apartments and not open to the public, and a 1935 Graystone Heights Modern Cabins & Conoco Filling Station (now private property).

: Springfield, the birthplace of Route 66

: Rail Haven Motel

: Muffler Man Chef at the Food Truck Park

: Steak 'N' Shake on National Register of Historic Places

: Springfield Visitors Center & mural

: Bud's Service Center and murals

: Bud's Service Center murals

: Bud's Service Center murals

: Buds - Established in 1958

: Route 66 Hubcap sculpture

: Giant Hamburg Roadside Park

: Giant Hamburg legendary sign

: Story of the Giant Hamburg

: Can't pass up a Cheech and Chong mural

: Rosie the Riveter mural

: Bigfoot, walking behind real tree

: Old Texaco and a Barber Shop

: Old Shell Gasoline and Rockwood Motor Court

: Shamrock Court office and sign

: Shamrock Court cabins (now apartments)

: Graystone Heights Modern Cabins & Conoco

PARIS SPRINGS, MO

The Gay Parita Sinclair Station is a recreation of a historic service station, created by Gay Parita. It includes many artifacts of Route 66, the Sinclair dinosaur and an antique car and pumps. A nice site as part of the Route 66 revitalization projects!

: Gay Parita Sinclair Station

: Gay Parita Sinclair Station

SPENCER, MO

Spencer is practically a ghost town. The town was founded in the late 1870’s but was abandoned in 1912. Route 66 rekindled this small strip of businesses until it was bypassed by the Interstate and abandoned again. In 2022, a well-known Route 66 preservationist bought the Spencer Garage and has begun restoring it with vintage signs and pumps. This is all that remains of this small spot on the map.

: Spencer Station

CARTHAGE, MO

Carthage showed more life than Spencer did and had a few more interesting things to see. We saw the unique FoxFire Farm display at the Tire shop. The Boots Court Motel was built in 1939 by Arthur Boots. Its a famous Art Deco-Streamline Modern building that was saved from demolition and restored to its 1949 glory. The neon sign was restored in 2016 – we were there just as the sun started setting and we could see the neon around the top of the building starting to show. On the other side of the Boots Court is a Welcome to Carthage mural with a sneaky (but antique) policy car sitting behind it. There was also an old dealership building with a De Soto Plymouth sign on it – you don’t see that very often! On the way out of town was the 66 Drive-In Theatre which opened on September 22, 1949. It showed Two Guys From Texas as its first film.

: FoxFire Farm Display

: The restored Boots Court Motel with the neon starting to show

: Side view of the Boots Court Motel

: Po-po sitting behind the Welcome to Carthage sign

: Old De Soto Plymouth dealer

: 66 Drive-In Theatre - still in use

CARTERVILLE, MO

As the sun was passing lower in the sky, it shined its rays on the Bulger Motor Company with a few fun cars out front reminiscent of the famous Cars movie.

: Bulger Motor Company

JOPLIN, MO

Joplin had one of my “must see” items – the mural with the 1963 split window Corvette! It was dusk when we arrived (I refuse to admit that it was fully dark) but the murals were well lit so that helped. Found a few more murals around town, but to be honest, I wish we had a little more time and a little more daylight to appreciate this town more. There were some more murals around town we didn’t get to see, a few museums and even a Bonnie and Clyde hideout. We were there on a Wednesday night and felt like we were the only car on the road. While we were pulled in at the last mural in the gravel parking area with the high beams on taking a picture, a young boy (probably around 10 years old) rode up on his bicycle and told me he thought my car was cool. Thanks young man – you grow up and do good things and you can have a cool car too! What a way to end our Route 66 drive through Missouri.

: A colorful Joplin mural

: A mural made of tiles - the top half of the display I was after

: The mural is made of tiles and half of a 63 Corvette split window

: Another bucket list item checked off!

: Another bucket list item checked off!

NEXT UP...KANSAS

Stay tuned as we see what the whopping 16 miles of Kansas that Route 66 travels through has to offer us. One might think its not much, but we were pleasantly surprised!

Seeing the Sights on Route 66 – Missouri – Part 1 (St. Louis to Devil’s Elbow)

Jen — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:38:24 +0000

ENTERING MISSOURI & ST. LOUIS

The last stop in Illinois was the Chain of Rocks Bridge which is where Route 66 used to cross the Mississippi. The bridge still crosses the river, but only for foot and bike traffic. Instead, you wind your way back through several spaghetti bowl Interstate mazes and cross the river on I-55 where you get off and maneuver through city streets. On our route we encountered construction and detours plus plenty more areas of the roadway that were in dire need of construction. You are very close to Gateway Arch National Park, Laclede Landing District and the St. Louis Riverfront. The Old Courthouse at the National Park was still closed to the public for renovations and we had previously been to the top of the Arch so we skipped them for this trip but we highly recommend taking the time to visit if you’ve never been before. Route 66 picks up by Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. We’ve been to several baseball stadiums around the country and the Cardinals were in town while we were there so we met up with a friend and enjoyed a game before continuing our journey. We also spied the St. Louis landmark, the Donut Drive-In, that was opened in 1952 and retains is period signage.

: Route 66 takes you very close to the Gateway Arch.

: Busch Stadium is an open air park with a great view.

: Donut Drive-In with its original 50's era signage.

PACIFIC, MO

Leaving St. Louis, there was not much to see on the newer stretch of Route 66 that we were following until we reached Eureka, MO where you could see the ruins of an original Route 66 bridge structure and a Route 66 state park (we didn’t get any pictures). If you choose the older section of Route 66 there are a few places to see in Webster Groves, Brentwood, Kirkwood and Wildwood. In Pacific we saw the Beacon Car and Pet Wash. It sits at the bottom of a really unique cliff that looks like it would be fun to explore.

: The Beacon Car and Pet Wash with its old school signage

: The bottom of the cliffs are peeking out behind Beacon

VILLA RIDGE, MO

Missouri is where we started seeing more of the classic Route 66 motels you think of, however, many of them were in ruins, abandoned, or converted to private residences or storage facilities (I use these terms very loosely…lets just say we didn’t stick around to take pictures). It was pretty hard to miss the Gardenway Motel sign, but the hotel has been closed since 2014. We also saw the Sunset Motel which looked respectable but it is now a private property and not open to the public.

: Gardenway Motel Sign circa 1945

: Sunset Motel Entrance and Exit signs

: Sunset Motel - Private Property

UNION, MO

The Indian Harvest Trading Post looked like a unique roadside tourist gift shop. We didn’t stop but I thought the buildings were unique!

: Indian Harvest Trading Post

ST. CLAIR, MO

St. Clair had a huge barn that sat between the Interstate and Route 66 with the Meramec Caverns sign on it. I don’t know when this barn sign was painted, but I have seen many pictures of it over the years. It looks like its got a fresh coat of paint on it. There is also the billboard for the Jesse James Hideout and Meramec Caverns.

: Jesse James Hideout & Meramec Caverns billboard

: Meramec Caverns barn sign

STANTON, MO

The outlaw, Jesse James, was a big deal in the area. In 1948 the General Manager of Meramec Caverns befriended a fellow named J. Frank Dalton who was 100 years old at the time and claimed to be Jesse James. (Nevermind that the original 1882 grave of Jesse was exhumed and DNA says its a 99.7% match). The Jesse James Wax Museum seeks to prove with the only live film footage of Jesse James, the largest collection of personal artifacts, a historic firearms collection as well as wax figures, that Jesse and J. Frank Dalton were one and the same. Unfortunately the museum is “temporarily closed – check back soon” according to their website. I hope they do re-open and this unique piece of history doesn’t fall victim to another Route 66 business not making it.

: Jesse James Wax Museum

SULLIVAN, MO

Sullivan is home to the Meramec Caverns. A word about the caverns – these are supposed to be spectacular caverns and one of Jesse James’ hideouts. Its the largest commercial cave in Missouri and has more to see and do than just the cave. As much as we love caves, our days of navigating the stairs, ramps and slippery passageways to view them are behind us. We hope you have the opportunity to see them! Instead of the caverns, we enjoyed this beautiful mural on the outside of a historic downtown building that depicts all facets of Route 66.

: Sullivan, MO Route 66 mural

CUBA, MO

The scenery in Missouri has been beautiful with rolling hills and lots of greenery (trees, not the corn and beans of Illinois). The Route 66 sights have been sporadic and sometimes a bid sad to see the state of ruin they are in. Cuba was a breath of fresh air and was just what we needed to reinvigorate our interest in this iconic byway. Cuba is known as a town of murals and it didn’t disappoint. Everywhere we looked we found more to see. Since I can’t draw a stick figure to save my life I am fascinated by the large scale art that people can create on the side of buildings. In addition to the murals, we saw the Wagon Wheel Motel which is the oldest continuously operated motel on Route 66 at over 80 years old! It is super cute and restored to its original charm. It looks more like cabins than the traditional motels. This is one place I’d definitely recommend staying at if your trip permits (they get great reviews online). There is Shelly’s Route 66 Cafe and Weir on 66 restaurant. Weir’s was originally a modern, full-service Philips 66 filling and service station in the 1930’s. It has been a variety of things but it is currently a restaurant but it has been restored and the murals depict its original 1930’s glory.

: The Wagon Wheel Motel

: Wagon Wheel Motel - looks like cute cottages

: Wagon Wheel Motel - Neon sign and an antique car by the office

: Shelly's on Route 66 Cafe

: Greetings from Cuba, MO

: Al West Tractor Sales mural

: "News and Review" newspaper mural headline "Bette Davis Visits Cuba"

: 1930's Philip's filling station is now Weir on Route 66 restaurant

: Cuba 1 Cell Jail - 1908

: Inside the Cuba Jail

: Info about the Cuba Jail

: Riviera Maya mural

: Civil War murals - In 1864, an estimated 12,000 troops under Major General Price invaded SE Missouri. On Sept 27 they surrounded Fort Davidson, a small earthwork at Pilot Knob. The Union garrison numbered 1262 troops and about 150 civilians, under the command of Brigadier General Ewing.

: The Battle of Pilot Knob - Sept 27, 1864. Price's soldiers attached in 3 waves, the final desperate assault reaching the dry moat surrounding the fort. They were repelled by a combination of fierce fire and hand-thrown Ketcham grenades, leaving behind over 1000 dead and wounded. Union casualties numbered 12 dead, 65 wounded, and 129 missing.

: Destroying the Fort - Sep 28, 1864. Shortly after midnight, after muffling the horse's hooves and cannon wheels with cloth, the entire Union command marched out of the fort and directly through the Confederate lines. To their amazement, they were not challenged and not a shot was fired, the southerners apparently mistaking them for their own troops. A few hours later a Union demolition team blew up the powder magazine inside the fort. The massive blast rained debris all around the galloping team, but left them untouched. Price's troops attached at daylight, only to find the fort abandoned.

: Battle of the Huzzah - Sept 29, 1864. For the next 2 days, General Ewing led his small command on a grueling retreat north across the Ozarks, covering 66 miles in 39 hours. Rebel cavalry attacked hotly from the rear, but could not flank them due to the rugged terrain.

: Confederates in Cuba - Sept 29, 1864. Ewing's intent was to reach the railroad at Leasburg and take his group by train to safety in St. Louis. But the confederates rapidly sent detachments east and west of Leasburg to destroy track. In Cuba they burned the depot and boxcars, as well as Sweetin's and Upshaw's stores. Price's troops, chronically short of supplies, raided nearby farms looking for food, weapons and clothing.

: Rescue at Leasburg Oct 1, 1864 - The exhausted Federals arrived at Leasburg near dusk on the 29th and took shelter in a railroad cut, stacking cordwood and ties for protection. A continual fire was exchanged through the night and following day. On the morning of Oct 1, a lookout spotted a column of cavalry. As they drew near, the stars and stripes appeared-reinforcements from the Union garrison at Rolla. The Rebels gave up and moved on. General Ewing's command celebrated the end of their ordeal.

: People's Bank mural

: Amelia Earhart mural - Sept 4, 1928 - Amelia Earhart coming to City! First woman to fly across Atlantic due here today but reported down. Miss Earhart was forced down near Cuba, MO about 75 miles SW of St. Louis, according to advices received at Hatbox field this afternoon. The extent of damage to her plane, if any, was not given. If it was not damaged greatly, it is expected she will continue her journey and land at Hatbox field tomorrow.

: Frisco Bluebonnet - WWII mural

: Indigenous people with European explorers

: Apples and Berries mural

: Apples and Berries mural

: Hayes Shoe Store mural

: Prosperity Corner mural

: McGinnis Wood Products Est. 1968 mural

: Sheetmetal & Millwork Dept - depicts the 1948 Roberts-Judson Lumber Company millworks building, the site of custom woodworking and sheet metal production. It remains one of the oldest continuing businesses in Cuba.

: Homecoming Fair 1940 mural

FANNING, MO

Depending on what map you look at, this is either Cuba or Fanning Missouri. But since Cuba already wowed us with all of their murals and the name of this place has Fanning in the title, I’m going with Fanning. Fanning Outpost General Store is a great pit stop to get out, stretch your legs, check out their mural and the worlds 2nd largest rocking chair and enjoy all of the neat treasures in their store, many of which are Route 66 souvenirs you cannot find anywhere else on the road. Yup, a few came home with me but I left plenty for y’all too. This was originally the worlds largest rocking chair in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2008 and stands 42 feet 1 inch tall and weights 27,500 pounds. In 2015, the town of Casey, Illinois made a rocking chair 56 feet 1 inch tall taking over the world record title and bumping the Fanning, MO chair into second.

: Fanning Outpost General Store - definitely has a little bit of everything in it!

: Smurf-vette with the Fanning Outpost mural

: Smurf-vette spies a vintage Corvette in this mural!

: The worlds 2nd largest rocking chair

ROLLA, MO

The Totem Pole Trading Post dates to 1933 and they claim to be the longest-running business on Route 66 in Missouri. It was first opened in Arlington, relocated to Rolla in the late 60’s then moved again in 77 to its current location.

: Totem Pole Trading Post

: Totem Pole Trading Post

DEVILS ELBOW, MO

Devil’s Elbow sits in a sharp 180 degree bend of the Big Piney River. Just before you cross the river is the Elbow Inn Bar & BBQ Pit which looks like it could have been a fun local dive bar but is currently closed. Just beyond the bar is the Devil’s Elbow Bridge which is a two-span truss bridge built in 1923 and still in operation today. Its 589 feet, has a 19.4 foot deck width, and vertical clearance of 14 feet. Once you enter town you are welcomed by an antique firetruck.

: Elbow Inn Bar & BBQ Pit

: Devil's Elbow Bridge over the Big Piney River

: Welcome to Devil's Elbow - antique firetruck

TO BE CONTINUED...

It seems pretty hard to follow a town named Devil’s Elbow so we are going to wrap up this post here. Join me in the next post as we travel the second half of Missouri and see more great sights along the way, starting with Uranus! That’s right…I said Uranus!!