Joplin, Missouri to Tulsa, Oklahoma

We left Joplin and drove the last stretch of the Route in Missouri. Before long we crossed the State line into Kansas which has the shortest stretch of the Route- 13.2 miles. This area was booming during the 1920s thanks to lead and zinc mining but nowadays the towns are mere shadows of their former selves.

We drove through Galena first.

Next we came to Riverton where the main store is run by 93 year old Forrest Nelson who has done a huge deal to highlight Route 66 in Kansas.

We then drove through Baxter Springs

And soon after that we crossed the State line into Oklahoma which has the longest stretch of the Route. The road changed after we passed through Commerce ( boyhood home of the late, great Yankees player, Mickey Mantle). Soon we were on what is known as the "Sidewalk Highway" because when it was built in 1926, Oklahoma only had the money to build it one lane wide.

Fortunately, the road soon improved. We stopped in Afton for a picnic lunch. Then it was on to Catoosa which is surprisingly a major port, being linked by impressively engineered improvements to
the Arkansas River system, to the Gulf of Mexico. We didn't stop to admire these feats of
engineering but to see the quirky, giant Blue Whale built as an animal- themed attraction during the 1970s.

Look what the whale swallowed!!!

It was then on to Tulsa where we were to spend two nights.

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On the Road with T and S

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