2023 EB Day 14 - Back on the Road

Paul Mullan
May 31, 2023
2 min read

It was a quick run north on the i65 to rejoin our journey on the historic road, which paralleled the i44 most of the day.

Marshfield was the birthplace of Edwin Hubble who gave us the first glimpse of the galaxies beyond the Milky Way. In his honour the town erected a 1/4 scale model of the telescope that made him a household name.

There's more evidence of what were once thriving businesses, although we're not seeing as many now.

But there is certainly no sign left from one of the most visited places back in the day.

The centre of Lebanon is no longer home to the gas station, cafe, garden park and motel,

but a diarama at the town's R66 display shows how cool it must have been.

The Munger Moss Motel is there though, one of the icons of accommodation for decades...

There were more abandoned bridges

and a 'frog' on the hill outside Waynesville!

That wasn't the only wildlife though. For the first time in a decade we spotted a deer, emerging from bushland only to disappear quickly back into the undergrowth.

The jokes hit rock bottom in Uranus.

Fortunately we were just passing through.

Devil's Elbow, the twisting bottle neck in the Big Piney River is concealed by trees...

...but the tide mark on The Elbow Inn tells of the recent past when the river was in flood.

In the same area further east, one of the best bits or original concrete dual land cuts a swath through the rock... the deepest cut in the state of Missouri.

Rolla is home to a mini me Stonehenge built by the Missouri Uni with the aid of a waterjet! Must be the first thing that isn't 'bigger in the USA'!

The same can't be said for Fanning where the world's largest rocking chair imposes on the background.

It's not far out of Cuba, home to some of the most impressive murals we've seen en route.

They all illustrate a story of a go ahead town and some driven leaders.

Cuba is also our home tonight, the famous Wagon Wheel Motel is still going strong, thanks to the huge effort by Connie to bring it back to life a decade ago.