Day 7 - Carthage MO to Arcadia OK

* This entry was delayed because there was no WiFi internet connection or telephone in our room in Arcadia……
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Today we started off on the right foot by achieving our all-time family record of being in the van ready to go – 9:03am! Mark was very happy….

Our first stop was the tri-point of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. A cairn (a stack of rocks) was built as a monument to mark the meeting point. Of course, our navigator extraordinaire found this site – it is down an unmarked dirt country road, literally in the middle of nothing. In 2004, the site was resurveyed and a corrected cement plaque was placed on the ground marking the precise tri-point. The original was just a bit short of the actual Missouri line, pretty good for “way back then”. So, we all got to take turns being in three places (states) at once.

Route 66 takes you through the southeast tip of Kansas, so we drove on from the tri-point to Galena. The route takes a left as you get in to Galena, and below the official Route 66 sign was a handwritten poster which read “Look Across The Street”. There we saw a small gas station-type building, and guess who was parked along side of it? Mater! The real Tow Mater was sitting there, looking at all the cars passing by. We stopped and Mark and Trajan went over to take pictures and visit with the folks who own the place. Because of the popularity of the movie Cars, the owners of Mater bought the old station site and are converting it to a gift shop and tourist stop. They couldn’t have been more friendly. If you ever find yourself in Galena, do stop by.

We continued on Route 66 through the remainder of Kansas and in to Oklahoma – a new state to all of us, and Mark’s only new state on our trip. Our next stop was at the world’s largest McDonald’s – which is at a rest area on the Will Rogers Parkway. The building is so large is crosses over the parkway, so you can enter from either side.

In Catoosa, we stopped at the Blue Whale, an old Route 66 attraction which basically was a swimming hole with a (fiberglass?) blue whale as the entrance point to the water. You walk through his open mouth, there is a slide out of one of his sides, and you could climb up and dive off of his tail. Wacky fun!

We drove through Tulsa and out into the countryside once again. Then we arrived at our place for the evening – a very cool B & B in Arcadia. It is called Hillbillies, and we are staying in The Bunkhouse. It looks like a real bunkhouse, with four single beds, raw lumber walls, old time stove and ice box. The oddest thing is in the corner – a 60 inch screen TV – it looks so out of place here! This room is probably the coolest one we will stay in on our trip. Great idea, Dad! http://home.att.net/~nleebraxton/index.htm

We had dinner at a buffet/steakhouse – I had some killer greens and cabbage, cooked southern style (which means cooked with ham hocks and til they’ve died and gone to heaven).

We have completed 35% of our trip, and have seen 10 Waffle Houses.