Carthage MO and the Boots Court Motel

 We slept in a little this morning. When we left Munger Moss around 9:30, the day manager still had not opened up the front desk. The lady that checked us in last night warned us that the lady who opens up doesn’t do early mornings, and I guess she wasn’t kidding.

Munger Moss Motel in the Morning

Our first stop was for coffee and breakfast at Jude’s Coffee Company where I had avocado toast and the first really good cup of coffee I’ve had on this trip.  Our next stop was the Lebanon public library and RT 66 Museum. This was a very large place for a relatively small town (being a former K-Mart store), and the RT 66 museum was very well done. We picked up a few gifts at the gift shop.

Lebanon Library and Museum - he former K-Mart

Replica gas station inside the Lebanon Museum

After that it was pretty much a straight shot to Springfield MO (second Springfield of our trip). We walked the city square, visited the city Museum (yup, another RT 66 collection), searched out the historical markers showing where Wild Bill Hickock stood when he shot David Tutt and the marker where David Tutt was standing when Wild Bill Hickock shot him Hickok–Tutt shootout - Wikipedia. We then had lunch in a nice restaurant on the square.

One of several murals in Lebanon

Supposedly

Replica of the Hubble Space Telescope in the town square of Marshville MO, hometown of astrophysicist Edwin Hubble. There was rock music blaring from the roof of the police station in the square, which was enjoyable but somewhat unusual.

Giant chef on the way into Springfield

"Bicycle fence" in Springfield. Worth the 15-minute side trip? You decide.

Springfield also witnessed some unhappy chapters of American history, such as the lynching of several Black citizens and the Trail of Tear when the Cherokee were forcibly relocated from thier land in Georgia to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, with a large portion of their tribe dying on the way

The RT66 portion of the Springfield Museum

We pretty much drove straight to Carthage MO where we’d booked a room at the Boots Court motel, a national landmark built in the 30’s and restored to all of its 1940’s glory (“A Radio in every room!”).  It’s a very cool retro motel. We’re in room 9, right next to room 10 where Clark Gable stayed! (Supposedly). Also Supposedly, one of the rooms is haunted.

Typical "frontage road" section of RT 66

Another abandoned classic filling station

Our 1940's style motel room

The Boots Court Motel

At 6:30 we headed to the Rt 66 Drive-In Theater for a double feature: Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.  We only lasted through Godzilla X Kong. It was so fun being back at a Drive-in after so many years.