KIT™ Day 4

Today was a simpler day, so ya'll get a break from a lengthy post.  As I mentioned yesterday, we needed to double back a bit today to get back on plan.  So we packed up our things from our little bungalow, not quite a cottage [hehe], and bid a farewell to Munger Moss.

We re-entered our adventure with the first four lane section of the Mother Road in Missouri, constructed from 1941-1945 to provide a route for wartime preparations at Fort Leonard Wood.  This was necessary to provide a bypass to the Devil's Elbow.  The original Devil's Elbow was a reference from 1870 to a bend in the Big Piney River.  The original road had lots of twists and turns, and curbs were even installed to try and keep folks from going off the road.  But for wartime transit, a more straightforward approach was necessary.  As part of this new route, the Hooker Cut was needed, a 90 foot path through the Missouri hills.   This whole section of the trip was spectacular as you can see from this view.

As we made our ninety mile plus sojourn today, we passed this unidentified, what we think was a motor court, and had to do a Ken-We-Need-To-Go-Back maneuver.  It was worth the effort.  Not part of the information books, and that is part of what made it interesting.  Nothing like new discoveries :o)

Once we got into Springfield MO, we did some driving around.  In the spirit of absolute candor, we had spent more than an hour hoping to find a spot to have a pint and a bite, but the smaller towns  during a holiday weekend did not cooperate.  So we finally ended up in the downtown and found a great place, the Bistro Market.  We scored a pizza and a pitcher for $10.  How can you complain?

After we checked into our hotel, we went back out and found some Route 66 landmarks, one of which is shown here.  It was a fun afternoon, but we will be glad to get out of the city and back onto the local and more rural routes.

We were especially pleased to have the chance to meet up with my sister and her new husband tonight, and have some great discussions and laughs.  


All in all, a pretty good day :o)