Joliet

We thought we'd visit the bar at the bowling alley next door to the Best Western we were staying at in Lincoln, Illinois last night after we had leftover pizza for dinner, only to find out that they close early on Wednesdays.  Dang!  Made for an early night.

Since it was a hot, muggy day yesterday, it turned out to be a pretty good day to have spent five hours indoors at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield.  Today was mostly overcast, but in the seventies, so it was a pretty nice day for the top down and the wind in our hair, even though we did have to run the heater a little bit.

We finally finished off the pizza from the night before last for lunch at a picnic table in a park in Towanda, then we stopped in Lexington at Dat Bar for a couple of screwdrivers (mainly to use the facilities since the park in Towanda had none).

Managed to make it as far as Harrah's in Joliet before we called it a day.  It might be nice to stay two nights, just to vary our two-week routine of moving it along by checkout time.  (It's probably going to depend on how well the casino treats us.)

Springfield Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

Found a sports bar looking on the internet for someplace to eat in Springfield, Illinois last night.  It was called Stadium Bar & Grill.  I was expecting something a little more sophisticated, but it was a bit on the divey side...but we like divey.

The only thing they had on the menu for Tom to eat was pizza, which according to the menu was available on Fridays and Saturdays and it was a Tuesday.  After Tom asked about the pizza deal, the bartender/waitress verbally corrected the menu by telling us that they serve it 7 days a week now.  (Whew!)  Between the two of us we managed to finish a little over one third of it.  We're having leftover pizza for dinner tonight, and probably breakfast tomorrow and perhaps beyond.

Today we spent about five hours at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, so we didn't get very much farther down the road today.  Only made it to Lincoln to stay at yet another Best Western, but managed to be situated for the night before the rain began to fall.  No top down for us today.

Another Springfield

From the Comfort Inn in Edwardsville, Illinois where they provided a breakfast, we put the top down and took the circuitous loop that was the1926-1930 alignment of Route 66 on the way to Springfield where we planned on going to a phone museum (since Tom is a phone man).

Tried to have the oil changed at a couple of places along the way that were just too busy at the time, and their help was out for lunch.  We managed to at least have the Mustang washed, and by the time we got to Carlinville we found a mechanic who could take us in for the oil change.

We continued to Girard where we had lunch at Ron's Red Bird Café.  We found out that the phone museum that we were going to visit here in Springfield has been closed for several years, so tomorrow we're going to go to our second choice, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Don't know what's up for eats tonight yet, but I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Illinois

In order to walk to the Tater Patch for dinner last night from the Best Western where we were staying in Rolla, MO, (instead of driving), we had to cut through a little patch of trees up a small incline, and then along a well-trodden path, through a parking lot, and then across a street.  Coming back, I'm really glad I had my phone flashlight, or it would have been a little hairy to get along the uneven trail between the young, but established trees.

Today the weather was not as drop-dead gorgeous as yesterday, but it was still top-down weather, as we never did use the heater. 

Went to the Meramec Caverns near Stanton, MO where we also bought Tom a couple of shirts, and had a serviceable lunch.  After getting lost, we did make it through St. Louis and into Illinois, though never expecting to make it out of Missouri having spent only one night there.

We're staying in Edwardsville at a Comfort Inn, and where we have plans to go to the Bull and Bear for supper.

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.)

Made it to Kansas

Seeing as how we spent three nights in Oklahoma (Sayre, Weatherford and Chandler), it was kind of a psychological thing for us to finally make it to the next state.

We scrounged with what we had for something to eat in the morning from leftovers and snacks before leaving the Lincoln Motel in Chandler, and I've devised (nay perfected) a way to make drip coffee by poking holes into the bottom of a disposable cup, using a coffee filter, putting some Farmer Brothers in that I brought along, and then boiling water in the microwave.  (Better than having to put clothes on, just to fetch coffee.)  I brought along (and replenished) my Coffee Mate Hazelnut fufu juice, so I'm good.  Tom drinks his coffee black, and in that respect is pretty easy to please.

It was another nice enough day to have the top down on the Mustang for the entire day, even though it was mostly overcast, and we had to run the heater for the most part.  (We simply considered ourselves show-off Californians.)  Ironically, back home they're complaining about one hundred-plus heat for the past week.

We stopped for lunch at the Ollie's Station Restaurant and Railroad Museum in Red Fork (a suburb of Tulsa) where they have a delightful and imaginative display of mostly miniatures.

The rest of the day was windshield time, even down a couple of gravel roads that we were not expecting.  (They were NICE gravel roads, though.)

We're staying at the Baxter Inn 4 Less in Baxter Springs, Kansas and have plans to go to the Red Ball Bar & Grill for eats tonight

Chandler, Oklahoma

Tom's spectacles came apart this morning, so we had to start the day off at the ACE hardware store in Weatherford for some super glue.

We had breakfast at The Mark, next to the Best Western we stayed at, 'cuz they had a deal with the restaurant, and therefore didn't have to set up a breakfast room like most Best Westerns.

We fixed Tom's glasses at breakfast, but the glue was out of date, and not very liquid like it's supposed to be when you buy it new, so we had to go back to ACE for an exchange.

The good news is that it was finally a nice enough day to drive with the top down the whole day.  Only had to spend a little time on the freeway while we were making it through Oklahoma City.

Since we didn't make a lot of progress yesterday, we had determined that we were not going to indulge ourselves with diversions, (including stopping for lunch) and just try and put some miles behind us.  And yet we turned a bend in Warwick, only to find a motorcycle museum that Tom could simply not resist, nor should he have.  Doesn't beat the one in Solvang, but it's free with a suggested donation.

So we again didn't make a whole lot of progress, and only used about a quarter of a tank of gas, stopping in Chandler at the Lincoln Motel for the night.  Dinner was at B's in the Econo Lodge.  There's no night life in Chandler, so it's cable tv for the evening's entertainment.

Tulsa is still ahead, and I doubt we'll make it out of Oklahoma by tomorrow.