ROUTE 66: Oklahoma to Kansas to Missouri

I have always wanted to drive on this mother road and now I have the opportunity to. I am driving from Houston, TX to Bolivar, MO for thanksgiving with a friend.

I am going to Bolivar, Missouri for thanksgiving and want to take this opportunity to drive on Historic Route 66 from Oklahoma City, OK all the way to Springfield MO.

My drive is supposed to be 11 hours, if I was going straight, but because of my deviation, I think the trip may be a total of 18 to 20 hours.

I start my journey on Monday at about 10pm. I will leave work at 7pm, get home and get ready and with my friend get into my Armada which will be packed and ready a day before the trip. We drive through the night. I hope to be listening to the truckers on 19 and hope I hear some good stories.

I plan to get to Oklahoma City, OK sometime around 6am. Then, I find Route 66 and start my slow and steady journey from then on staying only on old route 66 and stopping as often as I can to see all the touristic places I can see on that road.

If you are familiar with the road and want to direct me to any attraction, please, feel free to let me know.

I don't know if I will meet any places where I have to go offroad or use 4x4, but I would be gladly looking for any opportunity to do that.
 
The different portions of the roads and what attractions I plan to see along them. Feel free to give me some suggestions;

Oklahoma City, OK to Stroud, OK; Along this route stop at The Arcadia Round Barn, POPS, Chandler OK (to buy a copy of EZ Guide from the author himself)
Stroud, OK to Sapulpa, OK; Rock Creek bridge, Rock Cafe
Sapulpa, OK to Tulsa, OK; The Golden Driller
Tulsa, OK to Catoosa, OK; The Blue Whale
Catoosa, OK to Claremore, OK; Will Rogers Memorial
Claremore, OK to Vinita, OK; Totem Pole Park
Vinita, OK to Picher, OK; Ghost Town
Picher, OK to Baxter, KS to Galena, KS; Brush Creel Rainbow Arch Bridge, Kan-O-Tex Service (4 Women on the Route)
Galena, KS to Springfield, MO; 66 Drive-in Theatre, drive through Joplin
 
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I drove from 10pm to 4:30am when I got to Oklahoma. I thought I was going to get there at about 6am, but I made good time and got there very early. Well, I just decided to start my route 66 trip and since some places were not open, I did not get the chance to go into them.

1:30am getting some gas
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4:30am getting gas and about to start my Route 66 trip from Oklahoma to Missouri
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Rainbow Bridge, KS
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Cars on the route
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Tow mater
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Having a conversation with mater, lol
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Doc Hudson in the movie Cars
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And a pic from the internet...
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brushogger

Explorer
On your return trip, be sure to see the Jim Davis gun museum in Claremore. It's one of the finest in the country.
 
Today is shooting and hunting day. Loading the Armada up with some guns and ammunition.

I never knew Missouri was going to be so much fun.

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OkieRunner

New member
Pops in Arcadia has good burgers and about a million different types of bottled soda if you are ever by there again when they are open. Looks like a fun trip!
 

keylay

Adventurer
Nice trip! Being from Houston, i know what flat roads are. At one time, my thoughts that the 'plains' of Oklahoma were all flat, too. However, having worked in SW Missouri near Springfield and driven through OK, its defiantly not flat. No wonder you stopped at a lot of gas stations ;)
 
Pops in Arcadia has good burgers and about a million different types of bottled soda if you are ever by there again when they are open. Looks like a fun trip!

Yeah, I really wish it was open when I passed by it. On my way back, I am still debating if I should go that same route to see POPS when it is open.
 
Nice trip! Being from Houston, i know what flat roads are. At one time, my thoughts that the 'plains' of Oklahoma were all flat, too. However, having worked in SW Missouri near Springfield and driven through OK, its defiantly not flat. No wonder you stopped at a lot of gas stations ;)

My Armada did ok. I was driving and stopping occasionally for gas or restroom. Whenever I stopped, I did not actually need gas, but it always made sense to fill up at any time. Gas is pretty fair now and to fill up my Armada cost me only $46 from empty with zero miles to empty showing. So, not bad at all.
 
Today I decided to drive 2 hours away to Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO to eat bbq from the 2 well known places there and just to drive around and see other attractions like the World War I museum. A great museum telling the story of the war that many are not familiar with. Really touching. A great place to visit.

Joe's bbq, Kansas City, KS. It has some great reviews, but since I have eaten at tons of bbq places in Texas, I can only say the I personally prefer the Texas bbq to this one.
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From there, it was time to cross state line into Kansas City, MO.
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Since I was full already, I went to Jacks Stack bbq and got a carry out. But I had to reach into the carry out to eat some of the meat. Now this was good. I like it better than the bbq place in KS. I definitely recommend this place as it is better than the one in KS.
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