Well, we’ve returned and recovered from this adventure.  People keep asking what we like best on the trip.  Well, there were so many things it is hard to decide, but after some thought, below you will find those things we thought highly of or discovered on our trip to be really interesting.

Top Ten Favorites

10. Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant (Chicago, IL) – walked here from Grant Park and had milkshakes to start off the Route 66 experience.

9. People we met – Geoff Ladd gave us a tour of an old restaurant (Lincoln, IL); Louise of Munger Moss Motel (Lebanon, MO); Gary and Leana of Gay Parita Restored Gas Station (Paris Junction, MO), a lifeguard who gave us a tour of a period building, now the bathhouse with a turret (Sayer, OK)

8. Standing on the Corner in Winslow, AZ

7. Painted Desert (Petrified Forest Nat’l Park, AZ) and Mojave Desert (Amboy, CA) (we mentioned the hike to find 20 geocaches in about 113 degrees)

6. Chain of Rocks Bridge crossing the Mississippi River (north of St Louis, MO) – we walked across since the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic

5. Iconic wayside attractions: Totem Pole Park (Foyil, OK), sleeping in a tee-pee at the Wigwam Village (Holbrook, AZ); walldog billboard/signs (Pontiac, IL); Cadillac Ranch (Amarillo, TX); Burma Shave signs (Towanda, IL & Seligman AZ); world’s largest rocking chair (Fanning, MO); Midway Café (Adrian, TX)

4. Restored gas stations: Dwight, IL; Odell, IL; Spencer, MO; Baxter Springs, KS; Chandler, OK; Afton, OK; McLean, TX; Vega, TX and more

3. Driving on the Sidewalk Highway (Miami, OK) (one lane wide to make the construction funds go farther; cars had to drive with two tires on the pavement and two on the unpaved shoulder)

2. Seeing the real locations which inspired the movie ‘Cars.’ The town the interstate passed aka Radiator Springs (Seligman, AZ). Inspiration for Sally, the owner of the Rock Café (Stroud, OK). Inspiration for Ramone’s was a restored gas station (Shamrock, TX).

1. Arriving at the Santa Monica Pier for the end of the historic Route 66

Worst or Un-favorites

Mules walking the streets in Oatman, AZ leaving calling cards on the boardwalk

113 degrees in the Mojave Dessert and we still hiked for 2-3 miles

Traffic in California

Other “bests” on the trip!

Best Day: In Oklahoma – Saw totem poles, a whale, bridges, gas stations, old hotels, round barns, ate at Sally’s Rock Café, drove on a section of brick road, drank Route 66 pop and ended with a Priceline hotel that was actually short term apartments for FAA trainees in Tulsa complete with our own washer and drier.

Highest Elevation: Hiked to Cecret Lake (Alta, UT) at 9,800 feet

Hottest Day: 113 degrees in the Mojave Desert

Biggest Relief: Finding the strange sound the Murano was making was an easily repaired wheel bearing (Rollo, MO)

Worst Event: Stolen credit card number with 5 charges that Discover will deal with

Best Photo Ops: Tie between The Grand Canyon and Zions National Parks – both awesome, but quite different

Best BBQ: Tie – Elbow Inn Bar & BBQ (Devil’s Elbow, MO) and The Rib Company (Twentynine Palms, CA)

Most Unexpected Cool Event: Viewing Comic Con attendee costumes on the way to hear Utah Symphony “Video Games Live” (Salt Lake City, UT)

Best Science/Geology: Joshua Tree Nat’l Park including huge boulder fields, meeting of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, Joshua Trees, chance to see the moon in a 14” telescope

Best Milkshake (of 3): Bear Lake, ID – Raspberry and Banana with fresh fruit

Saturday morning in Morgontown, WV and its raining again.  Enjoying morning coffee in bed while waking up.

Yesterday’s post got lost in the ozone.   It went something like this:

We left Jackson MO about 7 AM CT crossing the Mississippi near Cairo IL.  We were in IL for about 30 minutes before reaching Kentucky.

It was a long, long way across KY and we reached WV about 4 PM ET.  We did pass through a lot of small towns, but had little traffic until we reached Lexington.

We were on limited access interstate-like highways most of the trip in order to cover the 670 miles needed so that the final day would miss most of the traffic around Baltimore.  A really long day!

After this leisurely morning we hope to be back in Wilmington by early afternoon!

Late start to the 500 mile drive today.  Departed Saint Joseph around 9:30 AM.  There were still only a few people stirring in town.

We left via I-229 and I-29 and connected to I-435 to get around Kansas City.  Then it was the infamous I-70 (US40).  Finally we got off of the interstate network onto US 65 at Sedalia.  Now we were rollin’ across the hills of rural Missouri.   Beautiful country and little traffic.

We arrived in Jefferson City shortly after 1:00 and found metered parking.  Only $0.25/30 minutes–$1.00 for 2 hours!  Got two virtual geocaches before taking the guided tour of the state capitol building.  Lots of interesting art and facts from the park ranger.

At 3 PM we started on the rest of our journey.   We changed our target destination from Cape Girardeau to Jackson for hotel options.  First time in a Drury Inn.

After Jefferson we were mostly on state highways.   Beautiful scenery and interesting small towns along this route.

Saint James

Steelville

Shirley

Potosi (bought gas, got a cache)

Fredericktown

Millersville

Jackson

So, today we were through midsized towns, small towns, a metropolitan area and rural areas of Missouri.  Makes one start to evaluate the different lifestyles that people in this large country have.  And to compare those possibilities with what we already have and know.  Huge differences in housing, services, job potentials, income, etc.  For me, I’m thinking Wilmington, DE is still the place to be!

We left Sidney, Nebraska this morning at 8 AM-on time for us-to make a run across Nebraska.   Today’s drive was 530 miles total, not the 600 I projected yesterday.  We drove East for hours across the relatively unchanging scenery.

We entered the Central Time Zone in the middle of Nebraska around 9:30 AM MT and immediately lost an hour.  We kept on keeping on until we arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska around 12 Noon CT.  We found a post office near the state Capitol.  Joyce got a few documentary photos of the Capitol.

Then on our way! We took a state highway out of Lincoln (rt. 2) which took us through Iowa.  We had not expected to transit in this state, but a change in our route resulted in a stop at the Iowa Welcome Center.  We got a map, signed the log and found a geocache!  We were in Iowa for about 30 minutes and at least 10 of them were dedicated to extracting a nano geocache container from a park bench.

On to Missouri!  Our night is in downtown St. Joseph.  When we arrived at 5:30 PM the streets had been rolled up.  Checked into the Holiday Inn, edited some photos for submission to DPS competition.  Due by Friday midnight ET.  Joyce’s are in; Gary has to do his before Friday.  Here’s hoping we have better internet access tomorrow night!

Today, Tuesday,  was our departure day from spending 5 days in SLC.  We got a little later start than usual at 9 AM.   And just as we were getting in the car to depart, big raindrops were beginning to fall.

We drove about 550 miles to Sidney Nebraska and arrived about 6:30 PM.   We had mostly rain, heavy at times, to about Laramie,  Wyoming.   After Laramie it was mostly cloudy with just a few sprinkles from time to time.

When we arrived in Sidney, we checked onto the hotel (another Best Western) and then went out to get wine to go with dinner from our supplies in the room.  We found a geocache near the Cabela’s store just across the parking lot.  We also walked around the small lake Cabela’s has for holding classes.

I have to say that of the hotel/motel chains we used on this trip, we have been happiest with Springhill Suites (Marriott) and Best Western.  Comfort Inns (& Suites) have also been pretty good.  They meet our travel needa best at reasonable prices.

Tomorrow is another 600 mile day.  Hoping we can avoid the severe weather we’re seeing on the Weather Channel!