Change of plans, the restaurant we were planning to ride to this morning ‘lost its permit’ and could not serve us breakfast. So Conner whipped up some PacTour oatmeal. Toss in raisins, fresh berries, and brown sugar and you’ve got rocket fuel for the ride! The only problem; since the trailer isn’t set up for breakfast there was no thermos for the coffee. They rinsed out the warm soapy water jug (used for hand washing at SAG stops) for coffee. There was a definite Dawn soap flavor to the coffee!
Just a few miles down the road, we passed the Lebanon I-44 Speedway. This one was locked and I had to scramble down an embankment to get a shot of the paved oval.
We are following the Old Route 66 alignment so we will see the I-44 several times today. Our first cross over headed into beautiful farm country.
Mike bombing down a long descent
Road Ends? No worries, the cue sheet says there is an old bridge ahead, closed to traffic, but available to pedestrians and cyclists.
Here’s the bridge…
…but this is not part of the plan
Craig was waiting at the bridge when Mike and I arrived. After a few minutes of surveying the fence, we found a way to climb over and pass the bikes through without too much difficulty!
Crossing the bridge!
It was even easier to go around the fence on the east end of the bridge, so we got the bikes through and celebrated our success!
Route 66 connects a couple of Missouri cities along the Cherokee Trail of Tears, Springfield and Rolla. We saw a number of trailheads. Here at Roubidoux springs the trail was under water!
1923 Bridge over Roubidoux Creek
Today’s route used some I-44 frontage roads. Here you can see the tan colored original 1924 pavement. Traffic was so heavy around this interchange, we used the adjacent bike path.
No words for this one!
Across from the fudge establishment this Muffler Man stood in an empty lot. Not sure what a headless polo player with Mayor sash means!
We left the I-44, fudge, and headless muffler man as old Route 66 headed toward the town of Devil’s Elbow and the Big Piney River. Established in 1870, it was named for a bend in the Big Piney River.
SAG#2 was set up just across the bridge. The bridge and road were on the 1926 alignment. In 1944 a concrete four lane divided highway replaced the old alignment. This alignment required a substantial amount of blasting through ‘the notch’ pictured above. The old road went around this hill, and is now gravel. This was the first four-lane segment of Route 66 and in 1981 it was the last segment supplanted by I-44.
A few miles later the four lane dumped us back on the I-44 frontage road. The original alignment is now under I-44 in this area. Lon selected a route that used several beautiful county roads to avoid the congested highway as we continued eastward.
The Western Star Flatwoods Restoration Project was one of several nature preserves as our route took us through portions of the Mark Twain National Forest.
Little Piney Creek outside Newburg
We headed back toward the I-44 and the town of Rolla. My plan was to find some lunch and I saw this sign on the Totem Pole Trading post so I went in to check it out and see if they had any food.
No luck on food, but I did meet the owner, Tim Jones. Harry Cochran started the post in 1933. Tims family bought the business and property in 1950. In 1967 the business had to move due to changes in the highway infrastructure and as Route 66 diminished in importance due to the interstate. 10 years later Tim and his wife move the post to its current location on Martin Spring Drive, near an I-44 exit. At one time it was a service station and restaurant. I signed the guest book, bought a soda and continued my lunch quest.
Bingo, a full parking lot at the Tater Patch, so I jumped in. I sat at the bar and the bar tender recommended the seasoned fries over the tater tots, and she was right!
I guess we are in wine country
The World’s Largest Rocking Chair!
Look, my Calfee fits right in!
Cuba is our destination city today and is nicknamed Mural City. There were dozens of murals all over town!
Our motel tonight is the Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba MO. Cute well maintained cottages set on a huge grassy lawn. Once the manager found a key that would work for #24, I was in business.
Dinner was next door at the Missouri Hicks BBQ. The pulled pork plate was fantastic and peach cobbler a la mode was even better, for a perfect end to an awesome day.
Tomorrow we ride 15 miles to Denny’s for breakfast (the local diner in Cuba is closed), then on to St. Louis. Coffee and pastries tomorrow at 0630, load and depart at 0645, see you then! Oh, and Lon said he found a different container for the coffee!
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