Day 21 Bolivar, MO to Rt 66 on our way to St. Louis

Today started out with our first real rain on our trip.  We had a thunderstorm with rain and some small hail in the Bolivar campground.  By 9:00 we were able to head east to hop on parts of Rt 66 on our way to St. Louis.

The first stop was at the Rt 66 Museum in at the Lebanon-Laclede County Library in Lebanon, MO.
It had great exhibits of what you would see and where you would stay on this, the "Mother Highway" of the U.S. --  before the Interstate Highway system was started during President Eisenhower's administration in the early 1950's.

Most of the pictures today (and there are A LOT) are of the exhibits from the museum.

the beginning of the thunderstorm at sunrise at the Bolivar campground

Going on Rt. 66 in Missouri has kind of a wild west feel.  I'd like to visit the Missouri History Museum when we get to St. Louis

The Rt 66 Museum is in this library in Lebanon, MO.  The next (many) pictures are of exhibits at this museum.

Replica of a Rt 66 gas station.  Vernon thinks this car is an old Ford.  The gas price was 46 cents a gallon. at these pumps.  Vernon says he remembers his dad complaining that he can't fill up a 5 gallon can for a dollar!

This is a replica of an intersection in Lebanon the way it was in the 1940's.  We went through this intersection to get to the Rt 66 Museum.  It doesn't look anything like this anymore.

A bird's eye view of the intersection showing a Rt 66 motel which usually consisted of several one room cottages (with a small bathroom).  Notice the tavern/gas station across the street with gardens to the right.  Pretty snazzy for a motel and gas station!

a 1940's roadside restaurant

The roadside restaurant replica had a pinball machine and a soda machine

Grilled cheese sandwich for 40 cents.  And of course an ashtray on every table

See pictures of the replica of a tourist cabin in the 2 pictures below:

Replica of a the one room cottage described above

Replica of the tourist cabin

RV camping in the 1920's and 30's!!  See more pictures of this early rv camping below

An old wood spoke wheel.  Vernon says that the yellow can was a tire patch kit

Early cooking equipment and old thermos with a spout (on the left)

A thermos with a cork -- probably for hot beverages

metal lined lunch basket with the ice container on the left

These maps of early roads (this one from 1915) are so cool.  See the detail from this map in the 2 pictures below promoting the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway from Florida to southern California as opposed to taking the Panama canal to get from one coast to the other.

Hey Pennsylvania neighbors, this is the Lincoln Highway in 1916.

In 1916, the Lincoln Highway went from Philadelphia to San Francisco! (not just from Lancaster to Philly)

Stuck in the sand out west

Pulling the car through the mud road

Vernon and I were complaining about the condition of the Interstate 40 particularly between Kingman, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ, but check this one out!

Ok, back to our Rt 66 drive:

Judy's Place -- a bar/restaurant on Rt 66

A view from a bridge near 'Devil's Elbow' -- a point in the river named by the loggers who floated logs down the river.  When they would come to this bend in the river the logs would get backed up by a large boulder in the bend of the river.

Our windshield wiper was in the middle of this picture of a restaurant in Devil's Elbow.

We made it to St. Louis and we are camping right in the middle of the city!  We walked out for dessert.  I'm having "Gooey Butter Cake"  a St. Louis specialty.  The helpful lady at the St. Louis RV Camp gave us maps and trolley routes for our tour around the city tomorrow.

Day 21:  Bolivar, MO to St. Louis, MO -- 215 miles

Tomorrow:  touring around by foot and trolley in St. Louis (we're keeping the truck hitched to the camper in the campground)