Rolla MO

So, the Red Ball Bar & Grill in Baxter Springs, KS for dinner last night was not what we were expecting, since it was hardly a Bar OR a Grill.

My first clue would have been that I couldn't find out that much about it online.  My second clue should have been that it was in a residential area, and were it not for our untrustworthy Magellan navigation device (that had previously sent us down a dirt road to farmland instead of a club), we surely would have never found it on our own. 

The Red Ball did have a beer license, and they thankfully offered Blue Moon, so we didn't have to settle for regular Coors, the way we did at the 66 Lounge in Sayre, Oklahoma.  Although when I asked the waitress, "Blue Moon is a hefeweizen, right?" she kind of responded like I was speaking in a foreign language (which I suppose I was momentarily). 

I could tell from the moment that we walked in that karaoke would be on for that night, probably at nine o'clock.  I wanted to eat and get going while the going was good.

Their special for the night was a cheeseburger and fries for five bucks, which was as appealing to me as anything else on the menu.  Tom (being a pescatarian AND a god damn pain in the ass to feed) could only find nachos on the menu to fill his needs.

No complaints about my cheeseburger, I ate the whole thing.  It's probably a good thing that the fries were soggy, even though I ordered them well done, otherwise I'd have eaten more than I did, and I don't need to.

Tom's nachos were reminiscent of the kind you'd get at a professional sports venue, but without any jalapenos.  Still, he ate it all.  Had to circle back to the Subway for Tom to eat at least somewhat properly for the evening.  (Some things just don't work out the way you planned.)

Since Kansas has the shortest amount of Route 66 within its borders, and seeing as how we were already spending the night in Baxter Springs, and seeing as how it had been a day and a half of mostly windshield time, I thought it might be nice to plan an outing at the Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum, if for no other reason than to prolong our stay in Kansas, BUT.  It was Sunday, and it didn't open until one o'clock, and we needed to put some pavement behind us by then.  Dang!

So on to Missouri.  First off, it was a drop-dead-gorgeous day.  Most of our time was spent going 45 mph or less by lush green countryside, a lake here a stream there, an impressive home here, a dilapidated and abandoned one there.  Even so, we managed to go a couple hundred miles.

Stopped in Springfield at Tubby's for lunch, then got as far as Rolla, MO to stay at yet another Best Western.  Have plans to go to the Tater Patch for dinner once Tom awakes from his nap.  He doesn't know it yet, but we're going to the Meramec caverns tomorrow.  ('Cuz I said so, that's why.)