Our Route 66 Adventures: Birthplace of Route 66 Roadside Park

Date of Visit: April 30, 2026

The Birthplace of Route 66 Roadside Park is a small park on one of the Route 66 alignments through Springfield, MO. The park has a few picnic tables, a butterfly garden, and a replica of the famous Giant Hamburg sign.

The original Giant Hamburg sign was in front of Red's Giant Hamburg which was on Route 66 in Springfield, MO. It was meant to be Giant Hamburger, but it was made too tall, so the ER were cut off making it Giant Hamburg. Red's Giant Hamburg was possibly the world's first drive through restaurant.

On the other side of the street from the park is some more local history as it is where the city of Springfield started. There is also The College Street Great Mosaic Wall.

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

Destination Info:

Birthplace of 66 Roadside Park

1200 W College St

Springfield, MO 65806

Our Route 66 Adventures: History Museum on the Square

Date of Visit: April 30, 2026

The History Museum on the Square has five floors of exhibits related to the area's history including Route 66. The main route through the museum starts by taking the elevator to the 5th floor and then working your way down.

The first exhibit on the 5th Floor was "The Birthplace of Route 66," which features Springfield, Missouri, Route 66 history including the telegraph that led to the it being named Route 66.

There was also an exhibit about Wild Bill Hickok on the 5th floor. The shootout he was involved in on the same square as the museum is the first documented in the west.

The "Trains, Trolleys, and Transportation" exhibit on the 3rd floor had an interesting game to play.

On the 1st floor, there is an exhibit about the Trail of Tears and the Native American experience in the Ozarks. The information desk has a National Park stamp for the Trail of Tears NHT (year is expired, though).

At the time of our visit, the current special exhibit was "Only in Springfield! From Hometown to Headlines” in honor of America's 250th.

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

Destination Info:

History Museum on the Square

154 Park Central Square

Springfield, MO 65806

Our Route 66 Adventures: Steak 'n Shake

Date of Visit: April 30, 2026

While exploring Springfield, Missouri, we stopped at the Steak 'n Shake on St. Louis St. (Route 66) for an early lunch.

This location still has the old style look. It is also different from the typical Steak 'n Shake in that it has table service. They also have some carhop spots.

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

Destination Info:

Steak 'n Shake

1158 E St Louis St

Springfield, MO 65806

Our Route 66 Adventures: Route 66 Car Museum

Date of Visit: April 30, 2026

Over the years, we have ended up at quite a few car museums because they are among the few places Mik actually asks to visit. Sometimes I find them boring because they are just cars to look at and not much info about the cars. The Route 66 Car Museum, though, had a sign with details for most, if not all, of the cars that were on display, which made it feel like a real museum and not just a car collection. However, in the end it is just one guy's car collection and he has decided to retire, so the museum is expected to close in April 2027 and the collection is to be sold off.

My favorite part of the collection was this gas pump with the lit up white crown.

c.1900 Springfield Wagon

This Springfield wagon was also an interesting piece of local history in the collection.

1926 Hudson Truck

This vehicle has a connection to Route 66 in that it was originally a 1926 Super Six truck used in The Grapes of Wrath movie.

1934 Ford Brewster

1934 American Bantam

1907 REO Model G

Polly Gas Pump

1966 Ford Bronco

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

Destination Info:

Route 66 Car Museum

1634 W College St

Springfield, MO 65806

Our Koffee Trail: Liberty Brew Coffee

Date of Visit: May 30, 2026

Location: Liberty Brew Coffee, Conway, SC

Rating: ❤️ (Love)

This weekend's coffee outing was to Liberty Brew Coffee because we wanted to try their Salted Caramel Toffee Latte.

Mom and I had the Salted Caramel Toffee Latte hot. Mik had it iced. Dad had the Golden Hour Latte (white chocolate, raspberry, pistachio) from their May seasonal menu.

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

Check out some of our other Myrtle Beach area posts:

• Be Known Coffee & Roaster ❤️
• Benjamin's Bakery & Cafe ❤️
• Grand Strand Coffee ❤️
• Rustic Roast ❤️

Our Route 66 Adventures: Springfield Visitor Center/Springfield Route 66 Welcome Center

Old location

Date of Visit: April 30, May 1, & May 2, 2026

We stopped at the Springfield Visitor Center multiple times during our weekend exploring Route 66 in the Springfield, Missouri, area. Our first visit on April 30 was to get the stamp in the Mother Road Passport and we found out they had just moved their location to be near the square as the Springfield Route 66 Welcome Center. However, that morning access to the new location and the square was closed down due to The Today Show taping and we were able to get the stamp at the old location as some of the staff there let us in since they could not currently direct people to the new location.

New location

On May 1, we stopped in at the new Springfield Route 66 Welcome Center after we had enough points in the Ozarks Coffee Trail and The Birthplace of Route 66 digital passports for stickers. 

We also had enough points in the Springfield 66: Sculpture Series Route digital passport for a pin.

After we found all the Springfield 66 sculptures, we returned on May 2 to get the other two pins for the digital passport.

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

Destination Info:

Springfield Route 66 Welcome Center

318 Park Central E, Ste. 106

Springfield, MO 65806

Our Route 66 Adventures: Boots Court Motel and Visitor Center

Date of Visit: April 29, 2026

We stopped at the Boots Court Motel and more specifically their visitor center for the stamp in the Mother Road Passport.

The Boots Court Visitor Center is in a former service station next to the Boots Court Motel. It serves as the motel's front office (also did so when it was a service station) and uses the service bay area as a store with a variety of Boots Court Motel and general Route 66 themed merchandise.

Near the Visitor Center is a Route 66 Shield Statue.

The Boots Motor Court was also along the Jefferson Highway, which was a north-south route from Winnipeg, Canada, to New Orleans, LA. It pre-dates Route 66 and in this area of Missouri the two routes crossed.

The Boots Court is known for its Radio in Every Room advertising. They have modernized and now the radios in the rooms you can connect your smartphone to for playing music.

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

Destination Info:

Boots Court Motel

107 S Garrison Ave

Carthage, MO 64836