Day started out a bit cool, in the 50s, but the sun was out and we soon had the top down and enjoying the drive. We again stuck to the oldest version of the route, which took us through Gillespie IL, Staunton, LIvingston, Edwardsville, Mitchell, across the Mississippi River into St. Louis MO, Kirkwood, Manchester, Gray Summit, St. Clair, Stanton, Bourbon, Cuba (not that Cuba!), Fanning, St. James, Waynsesville, Buckhorn, Lebanon (not that one either!), Strafford, Springfield, Halltown, Maxville and Carthage. Sights along the way included a giant, Kristen under some duress, some old sections of road, some old service stations (some in better shape than others) , an unfortunately named candy outlet, and an oddly juxtipositioned pair of roadside icons.
Rain held off until the very end of the day, when it biblically prevented us from finding dinner, since all the restaurants shut so people could get their cars home into their garages! But our end point in Carthage is the famous Boots Court Motel, opened in 1939, and now being restored back to 1949 vintage. The room we have is the one Clark Gable stayed in twice in the 40s.
another 80+ photos today – hard to cull any, so quite a few here…
Sawyerville, IL 
Livingston, IL 
i’m not telling… 
無料スープ！
Granite City, IL 
St. Louis, MO 
love a small town diner 
Saint Clair, MO 
Bourbon, MO 
if only…. 
Cuba, MO 
Leasburg, MO 
Cuba, MO 
Saint James, MO 
seen better days… 
Rolla, MO 
Missouri hillbilly… 
NOT in danger of being trod upon by a dwarf 
Highway Z 
Devil’s Elbow, MO 
The Devil’s Elbow 
Fudge packers extraordinaire 
rock / frog 
quite a pair 
Lebanon, MO 
Springfiield, MO 
Ash Grove, MO 
Spencer, MO 
Carthage, MO 
