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Wednesday, May 17, 2023
"And Joplin, Missouri"
Granite City, IL to Joplin, Missouri
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARK!
Yes, I made sure he had a fun B-Day today. Starting with a tasteless card (a
Korst family tradition), he also received: Matchbox cars - Thelma & Louise and
Starsky & Hutch (both Ford products); a Virtual Railfan Flagstaff, AZ Tee shirt;
and the pièce de résistance, a Seinfeld/Kramer New York license plate "ASSMAN"
from Season #6, Episode 15, "The
Fusilli Jerry".
I bought him breakfast at the nearby
Waffle House (a Southern institution).
Our first stop today was a public park in East Saint Louis that had a beautiful
view across the Mississippi at the Gateway Arch. And ooo...The Prairie Line
#3001 with its Puma tennis shoe paint scheme - a former Soo Line SD40-2 sans
dynamic brakes. How did that get here? ;p
To REACH this park, you have to first navigate the deserted former downtown of
E. St. Louis. Ghost signs and graffiti abound. The Saint Louis light rail system
rolls through an otherwise, uninhabited wasteland.
Crossing the Old Muddy into St. Louis you can get some great views of the arch
from the I-55 bridge.
By now, our roles on this trip were established. I was the navigator and Mark
was the driver. As the Nav, I routed us out of St. Louie towards Webster Groves
and eventually back onto I-44 which we would follow the rest of the day across
the State.
A short stub of old Route 66 ended at a State Park where a bridge had been
removed from service. I like those BLUE Missouri 66 signs!
St. Clair, Missouri features a Great Northern Railway caboose X-130 (verified by
BN frame number) painted up as SL-SF (Frisco) Railroad #1212 whose tracks it
stands beside. This caboose was built in June 1968 and originally painted Big
Sky Blue! You can see some of the BN Cascade Green peeking out from under Frisco
red.
Scenes through Missouri: How's about a giant tank full of Bourbon? Just the good
stuff; The famous Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, MO; Those 3 boys from Texas -- ZZ
Top! (MO county road sign); Fanning features a yuge rocking chair!
ANOTHER ex-GN caboose can be found at Rolla, MO (next to City Hall). This is the
former GN X-109 built in 1967, so I'm not sure if it was delivered in red or
blue before getting the BN green treatment So many colors. Here it is posing as
Frisco #1501. I couldn't access the BN frame number, but the caboose has a
genuine GN Barber-Bettendorf truck!
At this point, we were running a little behind schedule, so we hopped on I-44 to
make up time. We started seeing these odd billboards for a tourist trap at
Uranus, Missouri. Nothing about it
in any of the guidebooks. We had to stop.
WOW! This was the most crowded, fun, hilarious attraction on the entire trip. My
old man would NEVER have stopped here. So many puns. We both had to get the
URANUS U.S. 66 sign. Purchasing souvenirs, we were handed our receipts with the
cheerful farewell, "Thanks for picking Uranus!".
Having experienced Uranus, our visit to the WORLD'S LARGEST GIFT STORE (in
Philipsburg) was anti-climatic, (no picture) although we did grab a couple
souvies for our loved ones.
Ahhh...Joplin. Right on the border with Kansas and the dumpiest Super 8 I've
ever frequented. How about that 1970's Partridge Family bus bedspread? And
speaking of puns, is that a great name for a gas station or what? I've seen
those as far north as the Dakotas.
Well, I had to buy the birthday boy dinner, BUT forgot to photograph the main
course (we both had spaghetti with meat sauce). Olive Garden was pretty good for
chewings and they even comped Mark a dessert!
 
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