Tulsa

Another day on the road today and we woke to a very damp chilly morning. On the plus side, that did mean that any tornadoes were less likely to happen.
We thought we were in for a long, damp day but by the time we came across our first stop at Carthage, the rain had mostly dried up and just left things chilly.
From Carthage we headed onto Joplin and took a small detour to see the Grand Falls. Turns out there wasn't really much of anything 'grand' about them, but the boys enjoyed climbing around over the rocks. Again, it amazes me how few things are clearly sign posted and also how limited the car parking is for them. We ended up parked in what was more of a gravel area to the side of the road that was apparently the Grand Falls Park.
Back onto Route 66 and finding our way thanks to numerous little road side signs. Route 66 itself is not particularly well sign posted most of the way but we did find that Kansas in particular kept it clear and relatively easy to find. (A little ironic really as Route 66 only just enters the southern east corner of the state - check it out on a map!)
Thanks to the sign posts though we made our way into a little town called Galena. This place had a little store on the corner and takes credit for being the inspiration for some of the buildings and vehicles used in the movie Cars. "Melba the Mouth" came out and introduced herself, told us a little about the cars and the buildings and then invited us to have lunch in the little diner they've set up in their store. Glad we stopped here, it was fun and the boys

particularly got a kick out of Mater and Red.
From here Route 66 became a lot easier to follow. We found the old Rainbow Bridge, one of the last of it's kind left and drove across it, then it was on through a number of other small, falling apart towns.
At one point, just after Atlanta, Craig and I were both pretty convinced we were lost because the road became gravel and then turned into a one lane cement road that was full of potholes and surrounded either side by deep, wet, red clay. After a quick check on Google Maps we decided to keep following it out to the next main road, as that was where we needed to be anyway. Just as well we did, because it turns out we were still on Route 66 - part of the early 1930's section of the road. We only discovered this about 100 metres from the turn when we came across one of the Kansas 66 signs painted on the road! Quick stop in the middle of

the road and everyone out to see the sign and get a photo (bonus of few cars following actual Route 66).
Soon after crossed into Oklahoma and again, the roads are actually decently sign-posted which makes it a lot easier. We came across a couple of "historical markers" (these just pop up, are tiny and give you no warning - makes for lots of sudden braking and crazy u-turns) and pulled over to check them out too. Another couple of bridges and old stores that were integral to Route 66.
Our last stop for today was at Catoosa to see the "Big Blue Whale". This is quite literally a big blue whale that was built over the edge of a pond with the purpose of being used as a swimming hole in summers. At the moment it's not able to be swam in due to algae but apparently it's in the process of being cleaned up so that a movie can be filmed there in the not too distant future.
Tonight's stop was Tulsa. The clerk told Craig about a steakhouse for dinner called The Spudder. By far the most expensive meal we've had so far but it was definitely worth it. Yum! The expense was not helped by Craig mis-reading the menu. He ordered the porterhouse, thinking it was $26. Nope, try 26 oz FOR $46. Just as well he enjoyed it! Haha!