Missouri

The Wagon Wheel Motel is one of the oldest Motels on 66, in the last few years it has changed hands and been renovated. It was nice and clean, not the largest room by any means but the key was under the mat for our late arrival and we were tired from a long day.
We start our day with breakfast at Shelly's diner in Cuba, joining us were Glenn and Dee Dee, and Hope, my Missouri Cousins! It was nice to see them and catch up on things, a pleasant way to start the day.
Rain has fallen overnight but the weather was clearing and we ended up with another beautiful day in the 80's.
Cuba is a small town known as the "Mural City", we take a quick tour

of the town and check some of them out, we also check out the giant hot dog that we are told is becoming an internet sensation.
A few more miles down the road we come to Fanning, home of the world's largest Rocking Chair, over 40' tall and a Guinness record holder!
The landscape has changed a lot since we went past St. Louis, and the 66 we are on out of Cuba has rolling hills and winding curves in a lot of areas. The road seems smaller as the trees crowd the roadway in areas, and the flowing grasses are tall on the roadsides. We see what seem to be some smaller farms and a good number of cows at each, grazing in the fields. We ramble on the road for a while and then reach a town called Hooker, where Route 66 turns to a four lane divided highway for a while I would estimate 10 miles or so? This section is very surreal, a 4 lane road that just does not seem to belong there, cracked concrete with grass peeking through each seam due to

little traffic anymore. We take a short detour from this section and go to the Devils Elbow a spot where the Big Piney River takes a severe bend, we stop along side the river at the Elbow Inn Bar. For the most part I would describe this as a Biker Bar, Dimly lit, decorated with an eclectic collection of nostalgia on the walls and I would estimate hundreds of "bras" hanging from the ceiling each with a date of donation! We enjoyed a drink, talking with a couple of local area bikers on a tour. We then headed down the road past a beautiful view of the valley and railroad trestle. We stay on 66 a good share of the day, but around 2:30 jump on Route 44 to make up a little time. An hour later we get back on 66 and a short time after that come over a hill in Paris Springs and see a restored gas station, and across the road neatly displayed in a manicured yard a half dozen or so restored Corvair cars and a couple of restored Motorhomes, including a classic GMC model. Overall we are trying to spend as much time as possible

on the old route but occasionally need to hit the interstate to stay on somewhat of a schedule, so for now we jump back on 44.
We reach Oklahoma and again jump on Route 66, and drive on really beautiful and well maintained roadways, by far the smoothest portion of 66 we have encountered we roll along at a good clip and only make one stop at the Totum Pole park near Foyil. We end our day arriving at Tulsa for the evening, we take short walk to dinner in downtown.