June 26 – Waking Up in Cuba, Missouri at the Wagon Wheel Motel

After an amazing day at Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis yesterday, we made our way to Cuba, Missouri and checked in to the Wagon Wheel Motel. We are on Historic Route 66, where tonight’s iconic motel blinks in neon lights! Tomorrow, on to Fantastic Caverns and The Blue Whale of Catoosa!

We asked a local where to eat, and Dottie’s was the win. It’s at a truck stop near the interstate, and the breakfast was fabulous~ all except for the biscuits. We ate a bite before heading out to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri. We’d skipped Meramec Caverns to buy more time in St. Louis, so we were looking forward to seeing some caves!

Before we arrived at the caverns, we saw an interesting stop on Historic Route 66, along with an Uncle Sam Muffler Man nearby. While we hadn’t planned this detour, we decided to go in and have some fudge and a Root Beer (Route Beer) in Uranus, Missouri. They had a vast array of interesting t-shirts ~ we resisted the urge to buy one.

In Fantastic Caverns, we rode a jeeplike wagon through the underground cave on a guided tour and learned fun facts about the history of the cave and the way the caverns are formed. It stays at around 60 degrees year round, so the cool temperature was appealing to us in this current midwestern heat wave. We even wore jackets! Turns out, a farmer’s bloodhound named Juno went missing in 1862, and the farmer, John Knox, set out to find him. He heard him barking and climbed through a small hole in the ground, where he discovered after a belly slide that he could stand up inside the caverns. He decided to keep it a secret for five years. And precisely five years later, he placed a newspaper ad for experienced cave explorers to come and help probe the expanse of what was actually below. Twelve older teenage girls showed up in their exploring gear and explored the caves, even signing in their names on the wall – those signatures are still right there today!

I was wondering if we’d missed out on Meramac Caverns, but I think we chose the right ones – – you can’t go wrong when a dog and a team of women are at the helm of an amazing discovery!

Our afternoon adventure took us a little way into Kansas to see that section of Route 66, and then into Oklahoma to see the Blue Whale of Catoosa on our way into Tulsa, where we will be staying at the Desert Hills Motel tonight – – another iconic motel on Route 66. The kind where your key is on a little plastic diamondy-shaped keyring and the doors open from the outside, the towels feel sandpapery, there’s 1970’s tile on the bathroom floor, and the lamp might not work.

Rockin’ on down Route 66 today in my cutoff denim shorts, tie-dyed t-shirt, and, of course, trusty Birks. My own exploring gear.

Here is the video with the place where the girls signed the wall of the cave ~