Carthage – Kansas – Tulsa

We woke up to a chilly but sunny 39F.  All day we had blue sky with hardly a cloud, with a high near 65F.

We had nice rolling scenery on our way out of Springfield, open fields with cattle or horses, alternating with wooded hills or dells.  The Route was well signed, smooth, and had a speed limit of 65 mph mostly, so it was almost as fast as the Interstate, with much more interesting sights.

We pulled into Carthage to see the elaborate Jasper County Courthouse at the center of the prosperous town square.  Think of the clock tower in the movie “Back to the Future”.  We stopped, strolled around, and went in to visit the courthouse.  They had an open cage elevator, with a very nice operator almost as old as the elevator.  We poked our nose into a courtroom, and had a nice long chat with two retired police officers acting as bailiffs (court was not in session!)  The place seems very proud of its heritage as a Confederate state, and the site of a spectacular massacre of Union troops by Quantrill’s Raiders.

On the way out of town, we stopped at the famous Iggy’s Deli.  I only wanted something small, so I ordered the least expensive thing on the menu - one scoop of vanilla ice cream for $1.69.  I received a mound of ice cream 5 inches in diameter and three inches tall!  Apparently the “2-scoop” version is even bigger.  

Our next stop was the 66 Drive-in, looking every bit as good as the ones I remember as a kid.

 (Note the implication of the sign beneath "No Trespassing".)

 

We proceeded through Joplin Missouri and into Kansas.  Our first stop was at the Kan-O-Tex gas station in Galena, Kansas.  The rusty tow truck on the site was the inspiration for the character “Tow Mater” in the Pixar movie “Cars”.

 

Otherwise, the town was very down on its luck.  Most of the stores on main streets were closed and out of business.

Route 66 spans Kansas for all of 13 miles.  We soon reached the Oklahoma border, where I could not resist uttering the famous line, “Well, Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore!”

Near Miami, OK there are several miles where the original Rote 66 is only 9 feet wide.  The state government was  given only half the funds it needed to build the road (it was Dustbowl 30’s after all) so it decided to build only one lane, with two 5 foot gravel shoulders.  The idea was that if a vehicle came the other way, you each put a wheel onto the shoulder to pass. Today, these sections are unmarked (we needed a guidebook to fiind them) and treated as simple gravel roads, although the original pavement often shows through.

 

(The Ford is starting to show some "Route cred" i.e. dirt.)

This stretch of the route seems to have been home to several famous people:  Dennis Weaver (Carthage), Mickey Mantle (Commerce), Will Rogers (Claremore).

Near Foyil is a collection of concrete totem poles made by a local artist and retired fiddle carver.  The largest is 90 ft tall and weighs 100 tons. 

On the way into Tulsa, we encountered the Catoosa Blue Whale.  We chatted with a woman whose uncle was the man who made this thing – as an anniversary present for her aunt.  Makes me think -  maybe I am aiming too low with dinner at Marcel’s...