The Mother Road -Route 66

Trip Date :November 13,2010


We spent most of our time in Missouri, just over the border in the Joplin Area. Visiting the Marlin Perkins statue in Carthage,another wonderful courthouse in Carthage. The George Washington Carver National Memorial in Diamond is of interest to Kansans as he Homesteaded in Ellis County.But the Kansas focus here is 13 miles of the great and legendary Route 66 that took millions from Chicago to Los Angeles from the 1920's to the 1970's.


Cherokee county touches Missouri to the East and Oklahoma to the South. The route of 66 takes from Joplin,Missouri the home of Dennis Weaver and one of Bonnie and Clyde most famous shoot outs through Galena,Riverton and Baxter Springs to Miami,OK where Mickey Mantle was born.Souvenir shops exist in each little with shot glasses,coffee mugs,T-Shirts and Maps. The main landmark is in Riverton where the Rainbow bridge,built in 1923 still stands on the Old Route 66 Road, the newer road is a few yards to the South. Few miles of the Old Road still exist. I traveled the old road in Seigleman,Arizona several years and now have seen the bridge.

Another Kansas Court House in Columbus on our way home and dinner at Chicken Mary's in Frontenac. To go back to a trip last year in Pittsburg, a chicken restaurant was started by 2 sisters to feed coal miners, the sisters feuded and Mary opened her own restaurant literally next door to her sister Annie. The Restaurants have been featured on the Food Channel and both are part of the 8 wonders of Kansas-Restaurants.

I have been to Hays House,Bobo's Drive in Topeka,the Chicken Restaurants of Crawford County and Brookville Hotel in Abilene. Trips scheduled to the rest soon.