We are glad to see that today we start with a clear sky and sunlight. We’ll traverse into Missouri today, and aim to reach Springfield (not the one in Illinois, but the one in Missouri). To this end, we head South on Route 66 and encounter Mount Olive. Here we find an old service station where we manage to park the Volvo right in front for a nice picture.

The next location of notice we encounter is Henry’s Rabbit Farm. This is another of these spots you find along Route 66 where people who live here are passionate about the Mother Road and actively help make traveling it a special event. Henry is a pensioned guy who operates his bunny ranch as a hobby, and with passion. He takes care of rabbits from the shelter and also his “”Rabbit” Volkwagens (in The Netherlands we know them as “Golf”).

He also tells the story of Montana, the rabbit who ran for president in 2008. You can read more about that here : http://www.henrysroute66.com/montana.html

We stay at the Ranch for at least 45 minutes and leave with a smile on our face. This is what Route 66 is all about. Driving the road and finding all these special spots and people.

From here on it is unavoidable to encounter St. Louis if you drive further along Route 66. St. Louis is a bigger city, and although it has the lovely Gateway Arch, it does not come across as a nice city. We first try to find the Chain of Rocks Bridge (which we do) but we cant find the lookout point, the only way to look at the bridge would be to park the car in a shady location and walk for a mile or so, which we don’t see as a good plan. Once we are in downtown St. Louis and walk around the Arch (we don’t go up, Jonathan prefers to stay below), we get hit by nasty smells all the time. This city stinks! We move on.

Luckily, on the Western end of St. Louis, where we find Ted Dewes Frozen Custard, it does smell better so we can enjoy a delicious and famous frozen custard.

South of St. Louis we take another break just past Pacafic where we eat some lunch. Here we also see rocks again for the first time since we left Alberta.

Slowly, the landscape is changing. We no longer drive on the prairies, and are entering the Ozarks. Rolling hills with loads of forest. A totally different landscape, and feeling when driving.

We drive off and on the interstate here. At one of the stretches where we do not drive on the interstate we encounter a memorial for the Trail of tears. The man who lived here got someone knockin on the door often, but there was never anybody there when he opened the door. Eventually, a Cherokee Chief visited him and told him his house lay right on the Trail of Tears, and the knocking on his door was ghosts of the deceased natives who died on the trail and couldn’t move on because his house was in the way. So the house owner built a stairs over the roof of his house, and the knocking stopped. He got interested in the history of the Trail of tears and started working on a memorial around his house. After he passed away, the property was sold and now it stands empty.

The Trail of Tears was a forced move of thousands of Native Americans from their lands to Oklahoma, where they were forced to live in reserves. Many died on the march, hench the name “Trail of tears”.

The last stretch to Springfield we drive on the Interstate, but we work our way into the city to Steaks ‘n’ shakes, another classic Route 66 diner, where we have …well…..a stake and a shake!