St. Louis to Lebanon: Gettin’ our Kicks

Mini Golf in a Rainstorm – just outside Springfield, IL
Pro golfer George Knight opened the Action Park as a driving range in 1952. Today, it has a water park, batting cages, and miniature golf – which offered a disjointed theme of life-size, plastic animals, Chinese pagoda, and giant mask straight out of Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Patriotic Lightshows in a Missouri Cave – somewhere near Stanton, MO
As legend and about thirty billboards outside of Stanton, Missouri will tell you, Jesse James used the Meramec Caverns as a hideout in the Civil War era. But Philipp Renault actually discovered the caves in 1720 after the Osage Indians told him about a giant hole with “veins of glittering yellow metal” (which turned out to be saltpeter, not gold). Lester Dill bought the caverns in 1933 and they’ve since been a major tourist attraction.

We did the full tour – complete with a sarcastic teenage tour guide, plastic figures of Jesse James, and shrines to characters from movies filmed in the cave (our favorite was Lassie). The pinnacle of the tour, however, was a patriotic light show against giant stalagmites, to the soundtrack of God Bless America – sung by Kate Smith - and the click-clack of buttons as Sarcastic Teenage Tour Guide orchestrated the whole thing.

Stickin’ It to the Man – somewhere near Rolla, MO

Tim and Alice Jones have owned the Totem Pole Trading Post for forty years, moving it twice because of new Route 66 alignments. The Post sells vintage machines, cold Route 66 sodas, fireworks, and just about everything else – including this bag… which we will take back to Washington on Missouri’s behalf.

 


Bowling and Brits – Lebanon, MO

As Joe began to mercilessly beat me in a game of bowling across from the Munger Moss, and as we opened our first cold beer after four hours on the road, we saw two familiar faces – Darren and Allie, the British couple we met at Henry’s Rabbit Ranch. While waiting for pizza, there wasn’t enough time to properly share our stories – or laugh about all of the “American Weird” we’d witnessed on the road - but we hope to see them again.

Quotes of the Day:
“You think I can get airborne on this hill?” – Joe, somewhere in rural Missouri

“I read the rider to make sure we aren’t liable for acts of God.” – Joe, talking about Elvis (our rented Sonata) while watching storm radar over Missouri

“I think that’s a freakin’ eagle!” – Lindsey, scrambling to get the cap off the camera
“That’s a vulture.” - Joe