Location: Eastside Coffee (Vinita, OK)
Rating: 👍🏻 (Like)
We enjoyed visiting Eastside Coffee last summer, so when we ended up staying in Vinita on our Route 66 trip, it was an easy pick for this morning’s coffee.
I got a Brown-Eyed Girl (Nutella, Chocolate, Hazelnut) and Dad got a Honey Latte.
See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.
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Today we started in Miami, OK, backtracked to see some things in Commerce, OK, and then continued along Route 66 back through Miami and ending in Vinita, OK.
We started the day with coffee from The Frozen Elephant, which is located in an old gas station building
Next door we took photos of an old Marathon station, which behind they are working on building a mini golf course.
With our coffees, we strolled up and down checking out the murals and Route 66 Park while we waited for things to open.
The first place we went to on Main Street was the Myaamia Heritage Museum & Miami Nation Gift Shop, which has a good exhibit about their ribbonmaking.
We stopped in at the Coleman Theatre right when it opened at 10am. They were getting ready for a tour group, but gave us a very quick tour including letting us hear the Wurlitzer.
Our last stop in Miami was at the Dobson Museum and Home, which had good exhibits about the local area's history.
After the museum, we headed to Commerce, OK, for lunch at Dairy King, which included a Route 66 cookie.
After lunch, we went across the street to take photos of Allen’s Conoco Filling Station.
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Next we visited Mickey Mantle’s Childhood Home.
Before leaving Commerce, we also checked out the Mickey Mantle Memorial Statue.
As continued on Route 66 back through and past Miami, we drove on the Ribbon Road remnants of the original Route 66.
Next we stopped at the Buffalo Ranch Travel Center, which used to be where you could see buffalo, but seems to just be a regular truck stop gas station now, although supposedly there are still some buffalo nearby you can see, but we didn't.
At Miller Pecan Company, we got some pecans.
A little bit down the road we found one of the Will Rogers Memorial Highway markers and some more remnants of the Ribbon Road.
We made a brief stop at Nowhere on Route 66 for the stamp in the Oklahoma Route 66 passport (too many places too close together to eat at all the food stops in the passport).
As we drove through Afton, we stopped to take photos of their Route 66 mural.
Before leaving Afton, we checked out the Crosstar Flag and Tag Museum.
Not much farther down the road, we found one of the older Will Rogers Memorial markers.
As we ended up in Vinita earlier than expected, we visited the Cherokee Nation Anna Mitchell Cultural & Welcome Center today instead of our original plan of visiting tomorrow.
Our last stop of the day was for dinner at Clanton's Cafe.
See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.
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Today we drove from Carthage, MO, to Miami, OK, spending about 6 hours of the day doing things along the 13 miles of Route 66 in Kansas.
We started the day with breakfast at Pancake Hut.
We then drove around the Carthage area to find the rest of the Roots of Carthage: An Open Road Gallery maple leaves (ended up finding 20 of 22 as at two places we could not figure out where the maple leaf was located).
Next we drove Route 66 to Joplin and got coffee at Joplin Avenue Coffee Company.
We made a quick stop at the Joplin Visitor Center to get the stamp in the Mother Road Passport, which we missed getting when we visited back in April. We also got a map to go find the 2024 and 2026 Joplin Street Art Painting galleries (saw the 2025 in April).
While in Joplin, we also found the Joplin Route 66 Shield Monument.
At the Missouri-Kansas border, we stopped for Dad to put the Kansas license plate sticker on the car and take photos with the Yellow Bricks on 66.
Our next stop was at Luigi's Pit Stop just a little bit inside Kansas. Here there is a Galena Route 66 Drive thru Shield and a Centennial Arch across the road.
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In Galena, our first stop was at Cars on the Route. It was not open, but we still got photos of the vehicle that inspired Mater in Disney Pixar's Cars.
Next we headed just a little down the road to Pappy Litch Park, which has a Will Rogers Highway marker.
Nearby we then visited Gearhead Curios.
Again we went just a little more down Route 66 to find the Galena Route 66 Shield Monument.
Not much farther along Route 66, we made a stop at the Galena Mining and Historical Museum.
Our next stop was actually a few miles down the road at Nelson's Old Riverton Store, where we got some sandwiches for lunch.
Next stop was a little Kansas Route 66 Information Kiosk with a Kansas Route 66 Sculpture.
We then drove and walked over the 1923 Marsh Rainbow Bridge.
As we entered Baxter Springs, we stopped at a info stop with a Route 66 sunflower monument.
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We then stopped at Punkins Place for some coffee, so we could add a Kansas coffeeshop to Our Koffee Trail.
Next we spent over an hour just barely skimming through the rather extensive local history information at Baxter Springs Heritage Center & Museum.
As we continued through Baxter Springs, we stopped at their Route 66 Visitor’s Center and Heritage Spirit Park.
For an afternoon snack, we got ice cream at Monarch Pharmacy.
We then went back to the Route 66 Visitor's Center (needed a Kansas postcard to have at least one to mail from this state with the Kansas Route 66 stamp) and also browsed the nearby Sleepy Girls Collectibles, where I found a 1944 Kansas license plate to display back home with my 1944 North Dakota license plate I have with my 1940s book collection.
After taking about six hours to do the 13 miles of Route 66 in Kansas, we made it to Oklahoma, where Dad added the Oklahoma sticker to the car.
Before heading to Miami, OK for the night, we stopped at Dallas’ Dairyette in Quapaw to get their stamp in the Oklahoma Route 66 passport. We also got some cheese balls.
See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.
