Today’s destination was city of Springfield, Missouri a trip of 426 km (264 miles),
- Meramec Caverns, Stanton
- Route 66 Mural City, Cuba
- Missouri Hick BQ Cuba
- Fanning 66 Outpost, Fanning
- Devil’s Elbow
We kicked off the day by visiting Bourbeuse Valley Harley-Davidson it wasn’t too far from where our motel was. To get there we made sure we navigated onto Highway 100 which was once the 1926-1930 Route 66 alignment. That short section of road was fantastic riding. A lot on long sweeping curves going in opposite directions. I nearly turned around and rode it again.
Trying to ride Route 66 can present it’s own challenges as we found out again today, one sign we missed and we ended up riding about 16km (10 miles) before having to back track. The next two times we veered off Route 66 was due to either lack of signge or the signage was missing. Out of the 426km we did today we spent maybe 150km of it on the interstate. One good thing about the interstate you can open that throttle up and move at a good pace
One of our touristy things for the day was a visit to the Meramec Caverns in Stanton, Missouri. They are a truly amazing natural wonder, if you are ever in the area call in and do the tour.
From the caverns we headed to Missouri Hick BBQ Cuba, Missouri. You pull up outside and you can smell the meats being smoked. The pulled pork sandwich is my go to meal here. Mind you I’ve only been twice now, it hasn’t disappointed me so far.
Close to the Missouri Hick BBQ is one of the iconic Route 66 motels the Wagon Wheel Motel. It lays claim to being the oldest continuously operated Motel along Route 66.
A bit further down the road is Fanning Outpost, it once laid claim to the world’s largest rocking chair. Another person elsewhere in the U.S.A. has now taken that crown. It’s worth stopping at the Outpost just to see all the things they sell.
Our ongoing quest to visit as many Harley-Davidson dealers as possible continued as well. Today we managed to visit the following dealers:
Tomorrow we make our way to Oklahoma and continue our Route 66 journey.
Our motel for the night was the Comfort Inn South, located at 3776 S Glenstone Avenue, Springfield, MO. This motel was a surprise for us as it was similar in price to others we were staying at during our holiday. It far exceeded any of the others we stayed at though. The staff were helpful and friendly, the rooms are clean, great comfy bed and a good range of items for breakfast.