Saturday Drive
- Natasha
- Jul 12, 2015
- 2 min read
Get your kicks, on Route 66. Time for a, as Dad says, Sunday drive. It’s ok that it’s Saturday, it still totally counts. Our KOA is right next to the road, so we were basically on it right away. Our first stop ended up being in Kirkwood, a little town where Dad spotted a coffee shop so we had to stop for snacks, it was necessary. We sat for a bit in the plaza and Kizzy had many admirers. The next place was the Route 66 State Park along the Maramec river, which used to be a popular summer destination in the early 1900’s, and became a full time town during the Second World War, when housing options were scarce. At the visitors centre, we went through the little museum they had in the back. Apparently, the town, Times Beach, was completely incinerated in the ’90’s because the oil they’d put down on the road to temper the dust was contaminated with dioxin. I read through a time line of Route 66, and I learned it was a path frequently used by the Natives in the 1500’s that was later gravelled and then paved, a path from Chicago through to Santa Monica. When they decided to bypass it with an interstate they wanted to name it the I-66, but the government turned the proposal down. It’s now the I-44. It was also customer appreciation day at the visitor’s centre, so each visitor got a cookie and a drink. That was quite nice. I bought my keychain for Missouri there, and a postcard for Route 66. We spoke with the people working there for a bit, and they told us that the cars in Radiator Springs in the movie Cars are all based off of real people along Route 66. It was a very informative day. After we’d stayed for a bit, we continued on our drive, next stop being Maramec Caverns. The caverns were where Jesse James hid out with his fellow guerilla members. The entrance was very cool, because as soon as you walked through the gift shop, you were in the caverns. We decided not to take the tour, because it was really expensive, but it was quite cool. By this point our drive had a deadline, because Dad had ordered BBQ from Pappy’s Smokehouse and we had to be back in St. Louis to pick it up by 6:30pm. On our drive back, we stopped at Ted Drewes, a famous frozen custard selling shop. I got cookie dough and Isaac got Root 66, which tastes like the candy Whoppers. Kizzy liked the end part of the frozen custard she got to partake in. We managed to get back into the city on time for our pick up. The food was really good, but I personally prefer Mum’s recipe for ribs. After supper, we had a game of Cross Crib, Mum and Isaac against me and Dad. My team was winning at the beginning but the enemy pulled through to win at the very end. The universe hates me sometimes. Peace out m8s.
