2019 WB Day 7 - Three States in a Day

Breakfast at Mother Road Coffee in the Carthage Town Circle revealed a great cup!.. and got us well on the way for our seventh day of adventure, as we left Missouri, bound for Kansas and eventually Oklahoma.

At Cars on the Route Linda came in early for our small group and explained the background and connection to Cars - the movie, with both Tow Mater and the inspiration for Mater parked outside.

Dean Crazy legs met us there too and showed us his trick that inspired the producers to enable Mater to go backwards so well!

He escorted us to the Rainbow bridge and explained how it was built, the passing owl a bonus...

... and he then opened up the Baxter Springs Info Center for the day.

It was once a thriving Phillips 66 Gas Station but now, thanks to folks like Dean, it serves as a reminder of what those days once were.

The walls are covered in signatures from many who have passed through its doors and we found Deb & Lyndon from Christchurch, previous Down Under On Route 66 tourers!

At Vinita we dined at the McDonalds / Subway that hangs over the interstate and learned about the contribution Will Rogers made to the road and America in general.

Chelsea was special for Euan and Lynne, one of his daughters so named.

Walking the main road pedestrian underpass highlights our journey across America...

... and down the road in Olive St is the 1913 Sears mail order house, that came by train, complete with 42 page instruction booklet! It's still standing proud.

The Blue Whale hasn't moved in more than half a century either and one wonders just how many kids have slid down her back into the pond.

These days it's purely fishing and even that's catch and release... not sure just how healthy even they might be!

Signs of another drive-in movie theatre extend from the undergrowth as we pushed further into Oklahoma, over the 1924 Ozark Trail Bridge and on towards Depew.

The main street is deserted. Is it the time of day or just the way things are around this almost ghost town with her wide, double lane thoroughfare?

A sign showing at least one side of the town still seemingly alive and well.

Nearby in Stroud we find the famous Rock Cafe for dinner, where the original oven from the 1930's still fires the food up on a daily basis. Even an interruption to trade a decade ago due to a fire that severely damaged the popular eating house couldn't destroy the oven. It, and the stone walls were all that remained. And little more remained of our seventh day on the road as we settled in Stroud for the night.