On The Road - Day 4 - St Louis to Lebanon

9th May, 2012

All set and refreshed for another day of adventures - we never really know what will capture our attention most, even though we do have priorities - there are some "must see's" on our list anyway. Farewell St Louis. 

I will be posting many of these old neon signs of days gone by.  One can only imagine the amount of colour on Old 66.

Departure from St Louis was uneventful (thankfully) Nev has this all worked out!!  We get back onto Route 66 within the St Louis city and drive past Ted Drews Frozen Custard – yes we could have had our concrete on the way out instead of driving across the other side of town on arrival yesterday.    On the way out we have another Giant to capture - the Farmer and Son at Sappington Farmers market

The Slovakians - just three of them, we keep meeting up with the boys -  departing St Louis same time as us.

Gray Summit area.

Gardenway Motel classic neon sign - once home to the Diamonds Restaurant.

The Lewis Cafe in St Clair Mo.






We have plenty of time to get to Lebanon so decide to take a side trip to the Meramec Caverns at Stanton Mo. The owner paid for the restoration of many old barns to advertise his Meramec Caverns.  The caverns are still privately owned.  Lovely camping grounds, boating facilities, the caverns and  antique toy museum next door. 

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Oh wow– we had no idea – just awestruck. Tour was 1 hour 20 minutes, in amazing dolomitic caverns. ($20 each - would be $50 at least in OZ).  This cavern had been the main hide out for the Jesse James gang who were in business for 26 years! The massive stalagtites in particular were nothing less than spectacular

The finale was Kate Smith singing the National Anthem with alight show over these massive natural formations.  Hmm I am sure you guessed she wasn't acutally there singing??

Bourbon Mo. Infamous for its water tower labelled Bouron.

The Circle Inn Malt Shop – Stopped quickly to take a photo – that sign looks so tempting – ok lets do it, our first malted milk.And yes it may well put true meaning to the comment oh I have died and gone to heaven – just not for a little while please.

The best chocolate/caramel malted milk EVER!  Trust me and I am not going to show it to you.

Cuba Mo. famous Wagon Wheel Motel great neon sign - pity we had to take these photos during daylight hours - it would be so much better to travel at night to see all these beauties.

Beautiful mural on a brick wall in a park in Cuba.  I have fallen in love with all the fabulous murals in these towns - dozens and dozens of them - I am hooked on them.  The artristy is magnificent. 



Cuba is proclaimed the Route 66 Mural City and you can certainly see why.

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And here it is - The giant Rocker in Fanning.

I dont think I have mentioned yet that every day we have managed to get lost!  One would think it is impossible to get lost of Route 66.  Believe me even with maps and the EZ guide giving specific directions, we still manage to miss a sign.  Turning back is part of the journey now.  U turns, pull overs, walk back - you name it - thats all part of this game.  Devils Elbow was a good example.  We had just driven through Hooker Cut, covered in kudzu was once the deepest road cut in Missouri.  (This 4 lane stretch of Route 66 was the first on 66 in Missouri, built in 1941-45 for wartime traffic to Fort Leonard Wood).  Then suddenly there is a narrow left turn toward Devils elbow which takes a loop around a beautiful back road that arrives back on the four lane highway.  (This bridge was built in 1923 across the Big Piney River.)  Quick thinking gets us around the corner without too much drama.  It was such a great drive we did it TWICE!!



Lebanon is our destination for the night and oh yes I have really been looking forward to our stay here at the Munger Moss Motel.  I spoke to Ramona from Australia when I made the reservation and she sounded great.  On our arrival, she was exactly what I had expected, it was more like arriving at a B&B.  We chatted for a while and then found our room.  It was so nice, it was the Route 66 themed room filled with beautifully displayed photos of the Motherroad.  Finally we get to photograph a neon sign lit up.

Dinner and bed for us. Goodnight.