Today is the only day we'll be in three states. We crossed the border into Kansas of which we just clip the corner. A mere thirteen miles of Route 66 pass through the state or, if you ask some people - fourteen miles).
Our first stop was Galena. I went into a flea market to see if they had any brass knuckles (for a photo idea) and that lead on a discussion on the second amendment with the owner. "They're coming for our guns" type thing. Kansas is an open carry states so the terrorists would never come there, apparently. Let's hope he's right.
Up to 'Four women on the route' which was closed but we looked at cars on the forecourt, one of which was the inspiration for Pixar's "Tow Tater" character from cars.
From there we went up to Baxter Springs where the main street was always used in the 'Cars' movie. "Angels on the route' cafe that James and me had visited a few years back was still there so we popped in. It's changed hand, but still a nice place. I ordered a coffee and a frozen custard. For reasons unknown I got Rocky Road ice cream instead. It was nice, but I'm still none-the-wiser on what frozen custard tastes like.
We "NEEDED" to get a Kansas sticker for the suitcase before we left the state. Alas, no stickers to be found.
We were warned from the guy in the tourist information office in Baxter Springs that the cops in Quapaw were big on giving speeders tickets so we kept to the speed limit as we drove through (not that we don't always do that, officer.) If you can read about the Quapaw Tribe here.
We drove through more towns that didn't really warrant stopping. Commerce, I'm looking at you - sorry.
As we entered Miami (not that one) we saw a nice sign so pulled up to take a photo. Seemed rude not to go in for some food (I'm eating WAY TOO MUCH food on this trip). I had a nice burger, and Jane ordered a nasty, greasy, inedible fish burger thing. I won.
Through more and more towns; a nice shack in Narcissa, a closed down blue hotel in Vinita - its paint peeling off in a nice way.
We had our eyes on a BIG THING in the form of a large blue whale. As we entered Catoosa there it was. Much bigger than we thought. Try and find Jane for scale.
Yesterday we went rogue and decided not to book a hotel/motel for today as (a) we didn't know where we'd be, (b) we wanted to stay somewhere other tha a chain. We stopped off at a Subway to use their wifi and Jane found two options within striking distances. The first was the Skyliner so we jumped in the car and within twenty minutes or so we had a room.
Everyone recommended the Rock Café for eating so we strolled the fifteen minutes up the road. I ordered fried green tomatoes and abuffalo burger and Jane went for some sort of cheese based toasty thing. Again, I win.
We were both knackered after being up at 6am or so, and with the prospect of trying to get close to the Oklahoma border by the end of tomorrow we settled down by 11pm.