Editor’s Note: This is the third column in a series featuring the author’s travels along Route 66

If you have never considered a road trip on Historic Route 66, especially if you are 50 years old or beyond, you should start thinking about it. Not that I am hinting that your days are numbered, but you are old enough to relate and maybe even remember, much of what you will see on the trip.

I had read that it takes a week to drive the route, but two weeks is better and four weeks is best. I would say, since it was our fourth day and we were just nicely getting into Missouri, the second state on our journey, we were starting off on the right foot.

The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, named after a treacherous stretch of rapids formed by underwater rock ledges described as a “chain of rocks,” was the original “Gateway to the West,” linking Illinois to Missouri. The bridge opened in 1936 and closed in 1965, the same year St. Louis Gateway Arch opened a few miles up the Mississippi River. The mile-long span, originally a toll bridge, was a memorable passage for Route 66 motorists with breathtaking views and a sharp 22-degree bend.

From there we traveled to and settled in Cuba, Missouri, a town noted for, actually designated as, “Route 66 Mural City.” The designation came about after the commissioning of 12 outdoor murals depicting scenes of local and national history. Area business owners have added their own murals inside and outside their business establishments.

We stayed at the historic landmark Wagon Wheel Motel, which started in 1935 as a place to get food and fuel and to spend the night in one of three stone buildings in a room with an attached garage. Over the years, since vehicles became larger, the garages have been converted to guest rooms and the gas station is now an office and gift shop. Seven years ago the property was purchased by Connie Echols, who completely renovated the structures.

“It has been open since 1935 and never closed. There were four owners before me, with one group owning for just one year. The last owner, Pauline Armstrong, had it until she passed away,” she said. “We kept it open as we were refurbishing. We gutted everything down to the stone. The stonework saved it. We rewired. It had the old two wires. We left the boilers and the registers (radiators). They were very heavy to move, but they still work.”

“I refinished 40 doors and there are 78 windows and I think I worked on every one of them. We had to get the white paint off and it was everywhere! We put new storm windows on and each was a different size.”

When the original Wagon Wheel sign was installed the road was one way, eastbound, therefore the neon is only on one side. Mrs. Echols has seen much more interest and more traffic in the last three years and says the release of the movie “Cars” has definitely helped business.

“This (Wagon Wheel Motel), along with a restaurant in California, was the inspiration for the Wheel Well in Cars,” she says.

A few miles down the road in Fanning, is a huge red rocking chair labeled “World’s Largest Rocker” deemed so by Guinness 2008-2016.

A brief stretch of four-lane through Hooker was the first on Missouri 66 built in 1941-45 for wartime traffic to Ft. Leonard Wood. Hooker Cut, as it is referred to, a 90-foot opening cut through rock, was once the deepest road cut in Missouri.

“We had a nice chat with Francis Ryan at a little strip of stores he has been restoring for the last eight years in what was Spencer, Missouri, before Highway 96 was built.

“We would come to visit my best friend, who moved here from Salinas, Kansas. One time he told me he had something that I should buy and brought me here.”

Ryan said the roofs had caved in and showed pictures of the set of buildings in disrepair. He has replaced most of the roofs and several windows and was able to reinstall some of the original wavy glass windows he found in one of the structures. He and his wife have purchased period items to display in the finished units.

The strip that once held a cafe, grocery store and post office and a feed store and garage has been the perfect location to hold cruise-ins with classic cars lining both sides of the concrete road that was poured in 1926.

We stopped at Boots Court when passing through Carthage. Deborah Harvey and her sister, Priscilla Bledsaw, are the owners.

“We are attempting to return this property back to its appearance in the 40s,” says Deborah. “The current lobby was built in 1939 for a gas station. In the early 1940s the owner, Arthur Boots, built the first four rooms onto the building. He took out the pumps because he was busy with the only motel in this vicinity.”

“He added the next four rooms, but lost the Boots through a divorce. His ex-wife sold it to the people who put up the back building. The person who purchased it in 2001 would have sold the lot to Walgreen’s, but he couldn’t buy the corner lot. He went into bankruptcy and we bought it in 2011.”

“The first nine months were spent restoring the back building. So far we’ve only restored one room in the front building, because this building requires more repairs. We have restored six of the eleven rooms. We don’t intend to restore two of the rooms as we’re using them for offices.”

It was considered the top of the line when it was built, with its window air conditioners and individual floor furnaces along with thermostats allowing the occupant to control the temperature.

“I was responsible for finding a buyer for the property,” said Ron Hart, Director of Route 66 Chamber of Commerce. “I told the buyers I would help with the restoration. At the time the new owners lived in Georgia and Illinois. My wife and I stayed on the property and kept an eye on it while doing the work. We refinished all of the woodwork with shellac, not polyurethane. The black molding around the floor was automobile glass painted black on the reverse side. It is thought that the reason the shower heads are so low in some of the older motels is to keep the ladies hair from getting wet.”

The restoration of neon that trims the building was a $25,000 expense. They received funds from the Route 66 Corridor Grant Program. The National Parks Service gave them matching grants for the wiring and removal of a gable roof that was added in the late 70s.

“We had a fabricator who knows the shade of green neon. This is the color they would have had before 1984, when the shade of green neon changed,” Hart stated.

“We have people from all over the world. This is a world famous Hotel,” said Deborah.

After spending two nights in Joplin, we followed the Mother Road as it crosses an 11-mile span in the very southeastern corner of Kansas.

A vintage concrete post viaduct crosses over railroad tracks as we enter Galena. It is here, on a street corner, where we come face-to-face with the 1951 International-Harvester tow truck, Tow Tater. It is thought that Pixar got their inspiration for Cars the Movie’s Tow Mater from this tow truck with a similar name.

From here we take a slight detour between Riverton and Baxter Springs to cross the Rainbow Curve Bridge, with its arched sides resembling a thick grey rainbow. It was constructed in 1923, is the only remaining Marsh Arch Bridge on Route 66 and was listed on the National Registry in 1983.

We said “Hello” and “Good-bye” to Kansas in less than 45 minutes.

To be continued …