Day 7 - 'Cars' on the Road
In a country where coffee connoisseurs are few and far between, Mother Road Coffee in Carthage is the best on the road so far (according to Donna anyway!)
Like the coffee, the fuel's cheap here too. None of us have spent over $22 a day and the average is about $15! Memories of driving all day on that down under are long gone!
Our entourage was escorted for the first 50 miles by the Stang Gang, first to the 1920's general store that's still trading...
Then on to the Rainbow Bridge which was under water a week ago.
Debbie from Boots Motel also joined in and she showed us a tortoise she'd stopped to pick up off the road en route.
In Galena - Cars on the Route is the home and inspiration of Tow-Mater and just across the road is what clearly is the structure that is Radiator Springs in the movie Cars.
Crazy Legs Dean did his thing in Baxter Springs to the amazement of everyone.
The Tattoo Man Ron Jones came to greet us at the Afton Packard Museum.
Of his 160 something tattoos, all but a handful are all about the Mother Road.
Most things are bigger in America and lunch was at the McDonalds (and Subway) straddling the eight lane i44!
From the Pryor Bridge to the Chelsea Tunnel, old and new evidence of another time.
The intrigue of old motels and other buildings, long since abandoned and left to die litter the roadside.
Somehow the Blue Whale in Catoosa lives on though.
An unusual amusement park towering above the road, designed to catch the attention of young and old.
It was a long drive through the afternoon, some of it on the oldest section of the road... and gravel in places.
There was time for final look through the almost ghost town of Depew, with it's main (only) street full of disused buildings, before we settled in to Bell Cow Ranch on the outskirts of Chandler over looking its small lake... with a home cooked meal, thanks to the girls.
That was followed by our own personal screening of Cars, the movie so we'd better understand the connection.
