Rock On!

Todays miles on Route 66: 200
Total miles on Route 66:     729

Tonight we are in the Hard Rock Hotel in Tulsa. Excellent accommodation.  We have chairs and indeed a table to spare and no need to use the beds to sit on. The (now) traditional rollaway bed has been delivered and we are have had a good meal and toured the casino.

We got off to an unusual start. After a buffet breakfast in the Best Western in Springfield we headed literally just around the corner to PFI Western Wear. A superstore of western wear. We worked our way through it over a couple of hours. Brendan has now worked out how to fully use the temporary credit cards you can buy in stores here. When they are all used up they just take them back. At least the work. And we have our gear. Boots, jeans, belts, shirts, hat. Not each of us has all but between us we have an outfit and a half. Tomorrow we will try again elsewhere. Send more money!

Oh yea, the road trip. We were back in the car with Seamus behind the wheel by mid morning. And the rain stayed away - excellent. He found the car to be an excellent one to drive too.   Our first target for the day was Power's Museum in Carthage. The Powers have decided (without telling us) to postpone their opening while they do a bit of refurbishment. Huh! Anyway it was lunchtime so we keyed in 'food' to the GPS and found the Sirloin Stockade. Really great team of people there and food that just hit the spot.

The rest of the day brought to life the lines on the map and the small towns we had noted over the years as we planned the route. We were quickly out of Missouri and into Kansas.

The Galena Museum was something else. Run by a lovely couple on a voluntary basis is is a eclectic collection of memorabilia ranging form soldiers uniforms though mining equipment and samples of minerals through to old Ford cars in the process of repair and even a horse drawn hearse.

We even got Seamus to do the loop around the Rainbow Bridge in order to capture this last of the Marsh Arch bridges on the route. It looks much better than the replacement a few yards away

All that took place in the 13 miles that Route 66 runs through Kansas. Then we were into Oklahoma. Back on the road we were chasing the clock to Claremore. We got there at 5:10 pm. The JM Davis Arms and Historical Museum closed at 5pm. Pity. A couple of miles on to the Will Rogers Memorial and Museum.

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So be it. There will be no panic this trip. Onto Tulsa and the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. As noted above our Suite is brilliant. Great day. See you tomorrow.