Clinton, OK

The Museum and Tour
Here I am at my first Route 66 museum. I have no idea what I’m doing here, but I figure that I got to spring for the $4 for the movie. The plan is starting to gel… maybe. After passing through the rooms of the tour, each has its own soundtrack, accessed by pressing a button on the wall, and getting the tune. Glenn Miller, Elvis, and of course, Get Your Kicks... The movie is okay and somewhat informative. Maybe it’s just that I’m eager to get back on the road and see the sights and sites, but the movie seems to bog down the last five minutes. Long, slow, takes of lost highways and bridges with weeds growing up through cracks in the pavement, pictures of rusty barriers and ‘dead-end’ signs. This is Route 66 today but I have to get out of here, The Mother Road is calling.

Monday, October 27th

This is where I first start to pick up Route 66. I’m flying down I40 at 75 MPH when I notice a gas station. I’ve done some quick browsing, and I’ve seen the film 'Cars', so this gas station sticks out. If you know Route 66, you know Lucille's. It’s right there, with a two lane road, directly in front of it. That must be Route 66, I think. I exit directly, and beat a hasty return down the two lane blacktop that rolls up and down, just north of the westbound lanes of I40. The exit is a few miles past the building.
Easy to see how the interstate could just bypass towns and businesses.
I’m somewhat reluctant to turn around myself. After all, the road lies west, and there’s a strong pull to push on, not to backtrack a single foot. After all, this is the open road and something better always lies ahead… For me, on this trip, this is the first hint of the draw of Mainstreet America.

Downtown Ottawa, KS

Night 2 - Sheraton Suites - Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO

I met an interesting couple at the hotel bar while watching the game. Shawn (or Sean) and his girlfriend. They’re from Black River Falls, WI and are surprised that I’ve heard of it. I told them that I’d driven from Madison to Minneapolis on Friday night, and went though Black River Falls. We chatted as we caught the last half of the World Series game (Game 3). There are tons of restaurants in this part of town, mostly the over-priced, mid-tier chains like Cheese Cake Factory and Mccormick & Schmicks. Way too pricey for my budget (I’m looking at $ hotels, rather than $$$ hotels).

On the Road

The desk clerk gave me some directions to the nearest I35 on-ramp, and said I should just follow the detour signs from there. I stopped just across from the I94 on-ramp, and snapped some pictures of the Minneapolis skyline.

When I got to the freeway, there were no detour signs for the I35W, just signs that said it was closed and a sign that said to take Hiawatha to get to the Airport. Since I figured that was as good as I’d get, that’s what I did. I went to school here for a few years, so I had a rough idea how to get to the airport. I guess they figure that if you're going to be hanging around Minneapolis in the fall, you better know where you're going or else...

Traffic was hell and I got really lost. Plus, I had a really bad cramp in my left leg. That’s fine for an automatic, but since I’m driving a stick in traffic, I had to stretch before I crashed the car. I stopped at Minnehaha Falls Park to snap some pictures, and asked for directions. I stopped in Albert Lea for lunch and to catch some college football. No need to break out the camera here, nothing to see as far as I could tell. No offense Albert Lea

The Plan

Before I go too much further, I should post the original plan. I wrote this the morning of October 24th from my hotel room:

The Plan
Well, there is none, really, since this is a game-time decision… Before I leave, I’m going to have a quick look online and see what Starwood hotels I can use points for my journey. Looks like I have some choices in KC and Oklahoma City, or I can go through Denver. I’m a bit worried about the weather in Colorado. I’d seen lightning from the Denver airport on my earlier layover on the way out from LA. I figure I can get down to Oklahoma City and catch the 40 from there. That will give me the chance to do some side trips exploring The Mother Road. The budget is small. I have a few hundred dollars and some credit cards that I don’t want to use for meals. I’ll pay cash for meals, points for hotels, and credit for gas. Gas is $1.00 - $1.50 less here than it was in LA when I left!
The trick is to see if I can break the trip up into reasonable stretches. I want to drive 5-10 hours per day, including stops. I want to stop where I can stay for points (or cash and points), which means I’ll have to stay in larger cities. Since I don’t know these cities, I’ll have to check online and see where I’m going to stay each night. I’ll print up directions to each night’s hotel (or first choice at any rate) so that I have a destination. Worst case, I can get to one Starwood hotel and book a room and get directions for another. A quick check on the Starwood site proves that there are no Starwood hotels between Albuquerque and LA. In my mind, anyplace closer than Needles doesn’t count, since I can’t justify spending money or points on a place so close to home. Oh, and I'll travelog the whole thing.

Minneapolis, MN

Night 1 - Westin Minneapolis

I went out for a steak with my buddy Bill, and then we went to a place called “Nye’s” for live music. The ‘live’ music at Nye’s consists of a piano bar with bad Karaoke. On the way back to the hotel, I decide to head back out west instead of driving back to Madison. I share this with Bill, who encourages me to make the drive.

When Bill drops me off at the hotel he casually mentions that I35W is closed until Monday. Since this is the main road out of town, I'm tempted to call the whole thing off, and head back to Madison. Nah, I figure I can ask for directions at the desk when I checkout.