DAY 5...We're Still Alive!

Dan and I thought we needed to work off some of the fatty road food we've been eating, so we went on a three-mile run before leaving the motel that morning.  It felt so good and refreshing to get some exercise!  Now if we can just start the Pilates we planned on doing....hmmmm.

And as Nancy said as we loaded into the car, "It's day five, and we're still alive!  Yippie!"  After a quick stop at the gift shop at the motel in Lebanon, Missouri, we traveled about an hour to the sprawled out city of Springfield to grab lunch at one of the earliest and most stylish Steak n' Shakes in the country.  And boy, were we glad we did!  I hate to say it, because we've tried a lot of delicious food from mom n' pop type restaurants, but this was probably Dan and I's favorite meal so far.  The food was just so delicious and the shakes to die for!  Thanks, Steak n' Shake for not letting us down.

Get your kicks, on Route 66

From here, we continued along Route 66, The Mother Road, for what was probably the most interesting and strange leg of our journey so far.  After winding through Carthage, which felt eerily similar to the fictional town of Hill Valley from the "Back To The Future" movies (perhaps it was the stunning limestone courthouse in the deserted town square donning a magnificent clock tower which provoked this comparison), we headed onto Joplin, the city which was struck by the horrific F5 tornado just under a year ago.  We didn't see any signs of damage, but then again we stuck right to the highway and didn't look around much.

After this we skimmed through Kansas for a non-eventful 14 miles, Dan took a photo with his "ruby slippers", and we headed right along.  Then we were in Oklahoma!  (And no, we didn't break out the tune from the musical believe it or not).  Here we twisted through some of the most odd little towns we've seen so far, holding some of the most classic Route 66 roadside attractions...can you say KITSCH!  We stopped in Foyil to catch a glimpse of the world's largest totem pole.  At a whopping 90-feet tall, it really was a sight to see- covered in beautiful paintings of Native American artifacts.

World's largest totem pole- Foyil, OK

OMG I LOVE TOTEM POLES!

We continued onto Catoosa, which held my personal favorite attraction of the road trip so far- a Big Blue Whale!  This adorable fellow was constructed over a pond and once allowed people to dive off it's tail and slide out of it's ears into the water.  After seeing the gross state the pond was now in, we thought it best to just walk on the whale, grab a few snapshots, and keep dry and happy...ok, girl!

OMG I LOVE WHALES!

We arrived at our destination for the night in Tulsa quite hungry and decided it was time for some Mexican food!  We found a place that our "Road Food" book recommended and cowed down on some pretty tasty burritos and horchata.  After dinner, Nancy headed back to the hotel for her beauty sleep, and Dan and I decided to check out the nightlife.  Dressed in our best, or the best we could do in the southwest, we ventured to a gay bar to see a local drag show.  Let's put it this way....after about 45 minutes, some extremely watered down beverages, a very rough-around-the-edges type of clientele doing their  best Beyonce on the dance floor, we decided it was time to sha-bop back to our room and call it a night.


We're having an amazing time, but we can't help but miss the glamour of the big city just a tad...after all, Sunday nights are our regular night out at Greenhouse.  <3

Total travel time: 8.5 hours
Total miles: 296.6

Cheers,
Andy