Our Route 66 Daily Journal: September 22, 2026

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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.

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: September 21, 2026

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Today we drove mostly Route 66 from Rolla to Carthage. As we had done Route 66 from Springfield to Carthage in April, we ended up doing the Interstate for that part to save time for the things we wanted to fit in.

We started our day with coffee at Southwend Spill the Beans.

Next we visited the Pulaski County Visitors Center.

As we drove Route 66 through Waynesville, we made a quick stop at Roubidoux Springs Cherokee Campsite, which is part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

We then visited the Lebanon-Laclede County Route 66 Museum.

On our way to our next stop, we made an unplanned stop at Redmon’s Candy Factory and World’s Largest Gift Store.

As we drove through Marshfield, we found their Route 66 Shield Monument.

In Marshfield, we also took a slight detour off Route 66 to see the Hubble Telescope Replica Statue.

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Next we took a detour from Route 66 and visited the Precious Moments Chapel and Museum.

As we headed back to Route 66, we stopped at the 66 Drive In to take photos of the Carthage Route 66 Shield Monument.

We then checked in to our room at Boots Court Motel.

We had planned to then bowl and play mini golf at a nearby bowling alley, but instead I had seen Maple Leaf art at Precious Moments Chapel and 66 Drive In and when we found there was a booklet to lead you to 22 around Carthage, we decided to instead see how many we could find (17 with plan to find 4 more tomorrow…1 we couldn’t find at the address listed).

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.

Our Koffee Trail: Southwend Spill the Beans

Date of Visit: September 21, 2026

Location: Southwend Spill the Beans, St. Robert, MO

Rating: ❤️

This morning we got coffee at Southwend Spill the Beans, which is located in the back of a laundromat. We ended up spending quite a bit of time here as Dad got to talking with the owner and he told us about how they roast the coffee onsite and a lot of the different roasts they do. Who would have thought one of our favorite koffee trail stops ever is in a laundromat?

I got a latte and Dad got a pour over.

We also got some coffee beans for the road.

See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: September 20, 2026

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Today we did Route 66 between Cuba and Lebanon and back to St. Robert to see the neon sign park in the evening.

Our first stop of the day was an unplanned one to take photos of the Giant Hillbilly in Rolla, MO.

I didn’t have a planned coffee stop this morning because I had trouble finding one on our route open on Sunday. Dad ended up finding Giddy Goat Coffeehouse to check out quite a bit off Route 66 in Rolla that would have been better if we had skipped.

After getting coffee, we headed back to Route 66 to see Stonehenge at Missouri S&T.

As we continued through Rolla, we found the Rolla Route 66 Shield Monument.

We also stopped to take photos of a Route 66 Centennial Mural before leaving Rolla.

Next we drove Route 66 to Devil’s Elbow Bridge.

As we continued along Route 66, our next stop was at Uranus Fudge Factory, where we got some fudge and saw the World’s Largest Belt Buckle.

Despite it continuing to be unseasonably hot and humid, we did play a round of mini golf at Uranus Putt Pirates.

As we drove Route 66 to our next stop, we found the Waynesville Route 66 Shield Monument.

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Our next planned stop was at Bowlmor Lanes Rt 66, where we bowled a game.

We the went across the street to take photos of the Munger Moss Motel and the Gigantapick.

As it was still only early afternoon, we decided to also check out the murals at Boswell Park, which was originally on tomorrow’s schedule.

As we had skipped lunch and wanted to kill time to see the Route 66 Neon Sign Park later in the day, we stopped and had pizza at Piney River Taproom in Waynesville.

We then checked out the Route 66 Neon Sign Park in St. Robert after a rain storm came through.

As we had a few hours before sunset, we checked into our hotel and came back to see the neon at sunset - right when the next storm started, but it was only light rain.

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.