I made it to the IL/MO border a bit before noon on my second day. I’d never been to St. Louis before, and the skyline is pretty spectacular with the arch – even in the overcast foggy morning. I had originally planned to stop and check out the arch, but the weather was pushing me to move a bit faster. I will return, though!
Uranus, MO – Y’all, when I say these workers committed to the bit… I don’t even know how to express that in a way to really drive it home. 😂 When I stopped to ask about a restroom, the guy said hopefully they’re not too busy because “Uranus really gets packed with people.” Then inside the general store, anytime someone comes in, they all yell “Welcome to Uranus!” I bought a magnet, and when I checked out, I was instructed that I could tap, swipe, or insert my credit card. I tapped my card, to which she said, “Thank you for tapping Uranus. Please be sure you wash your hands.” How any of them kept a straight face, I will never know.
Springfield, MO – I opted to check out the history museum in Springfield, MO, as the city is considered to be the birthplace of Route 66, and the top floor was dedicated to this history. I did check out the entire museum – I mean, I like to learn. One floor talked about the ‘first shoot out in the old west.’ I’m not sure how they can know/claim it, but they do. 🙃 In fact, the square right out front of the museum, which has been turned into a tiny park, is the location of said shoot out. (It was also, unfortunately, my experience of seeing someone shoot up for the first time. In broad daylight. Needless to say, I did not dawdle in the park.) This first shoot out was between J.B. “Wild Bill” Hickok and David K. Tutt over a gambling debt and the value of Wild Bill’s watch (which he said Tutt continued to wear in public to embarrass him). Tutt died in the shoot out, and Wild Bill was acquitted of manslaughter after a three day trial.
I made a super quick stop on my way out of Springfield to check out the 66 hubcap sculpture.
Ash Grove, MO – This was a stop I’d seen a lot in photos posted to a couple Route 66 groups I’m a member of online. The Sinclair station is no longer in use, of course, but has been preserved as a museum of sorts. There is also a small Route 66 merch shop and an owner who is very willing to tell all about the history of the place, the route, and himself.
Red Oak II near Carthage, MO – Lowell Davis was born in Red Oak, MO. A number of years after he left his hometown, he learned that it had become a ghost town. He bought the buildings and moved them to his family’s land near Carthage and created Red Oak II – a collection of these buildings and his own sculptures. It’s a fun little stroll. But it was SUPER hot and humid the day I was there, so I wandered, but did not dawdle too much. Would be fun to revisit with lower temps.
Joplin, MO – This is Ryker. He’s a very good boy. In fact, he and his human (Tom) are a search and rescue team. They just so happened to be my neighbors at the KOA near the MO/KS border where I was to stay my third night. I’m an introvert who despises small talk, so I’m not one for chatting up random folks. But I knew I had to tell my writing buddy, Jack, all about this German Shepherd. So when the human came back to his site after taking the pup for a walk, I had to tell him what a beautiful dog he had. He was thrilled to talk about his pup, and immediately told me about all about their work. Their presence, however, meant that the storm I was worried about would be much worse than I had originally feared. We had a good chat, and he allowed me to check out the high-res radar on his equipment, which showed yet another storm that would follow this one (so a total of four tornado-producing storms in three days…). The storm was too long to skirt around this time, and my choices were to stay put and hope for the best or head east. I opted to head east and had hoped it would break up before reaching St. Louis, but it didn’t. Long story, lots of questioning, but I ultimately ended up back home.
That first storm that I skirted around my second morning? Ryker and his human saved a woman’s collie who had gotten buried in rubble during a Tornado. (Tom has a heat-seeking drone to find people/pets in the rubble. Ryker goes in to comfort them until they can be rescued.)
The meeting of storms near Bloomington, IL (on my drive back):
I was super bummed that I was SO CLOSE to marking off another state. I have a goal to visit all fifty states, and I would have marked five new ones off on this trip alone. I was only a couple of miles from the Kansas border, which would have been the first new one. [sigh] Next summer.
Ami Maxine 