Religious Farmers, Smoking in Restaurants and Other Observations

At the Spencer Service Station

When I asked for directions at a post office in Missouri, the woman actually said to me, “go west young man.” Classic.

Store employees are constantly impressed by my New York license plate and how far I’ve driven.

Some nights I eat out…others I eat random foods I brought with me. Some highlights have been the tuna sandwich and lima beans night and the canned soup complimented by canned corn and microwave popcorn.

It’s crazy that people can still smoke in restaurants all across the south.

My dinner in Lebanon, Missouri, was at a local eatery and after getting what the waitress recommended I found myself face to face with two giant piles of roast beef, a mound of mashed potatoes and a swimming pool of gravy. I ate it all and it was outstanding!

The Mule Tobacco Barn man in Rolla, Missouri, on Route 66

Also in Lebanon, my breakfast at a local greasy spoon was an amazing fatty feast of a 3-egg omelet, hash browns and some of the best biscuits and gravy I’ve ever eaten.

Missouri farmers are very religious with a lot of Baptist churches and Jesus related messages on signs on their fences. Good times in the Bible Belt.

It’s tough to tell what is an original Route 66 business and what is new because most places try to replicate the look of the old shops and everyone has a Route 66 sign outside.

I have seen a bunch of amazing sunsets so far while driving. Unfortunately, since I’m driving west, before the sky gets beautiful the sun itself spends quite a while blaring into my retinas.

When giving me directions, one of the old timers at a toy museum told me to go straight until I hit an “electronic light.” As in, a traffic light?

In one area of Missouri, there is a stretch of 66 that is only one lane. I thought I had found it, but after about 10 minutes of driving down a barely paved, mostly dirt and rock, road I realized I had no idea where I was and had to go to the GPS to find my way back to civilization. Literally, I was out in Deliverance country with one farm every 5 miles.

Route 66 in Kansas

Talk about forward thinking, the guy who opened Meramec Caverns in Missouri bought hundreds of billboards on the side of the highway in 1933 for $100 per year for 100 years. So now he dominates the road for hundreds of miles and by the time you get to his caverns you have no choice but to stop.

Why is it that I always find the $20 hotel rooms when I don’t need a place to stay?

Along the way, I’m trying to count how many WalMarts I see. Making this harder are the fakeouts, like CarMart, who’s sign looks exactly like the WalMart one and from far away it takes me a few seconds to see it clearly.

There are a lot of old motel, gas station and diner signs that still stand, although the building that used to house the business is long gone.

Old gas station remnantas alongside Route 66

I sometimes feel that driving Route 66 gives me permission to do whatever I want in my car. Short stop to turn into a driveway to take a photo of a sign? No problem. U-turns, backing into oncoming traffic lanes and driving on the sidewalk? Of course! Parking my car anywhere I please to hop out and take a few quick pics? Naturally. It works because these towns have pretty much no one in them and because everyone there knows exactly what I’m doing.

So many of the old Route 66 businesses were housed in beautiful stone buildings.

I can’t believe I have been in Kansas. Interestingly, it has some of the most evocative Route 66 sights of my trip to date.

Route 66 is beautiful in late October with all of the changing leaves

I may not have made it to New England for the fall foliage, but the color changing is in full effect on my drive so far and makes the landscape infinitely more interesting and gorgeous.

Big bold arrows pointing drivers to a business are very prominent on Route 66 signs.

While standing outside my motel room talking to Carrie on the phone, a woman who clearly was a prostitute walked out of another room, went to her car, realized she forgot her keys, joked about it with me and had to go back to her John’s room to get them.