A Day in the Park
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Day 5: September 19, 2026 A Day in the Park Comment via blog |
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Today's drive would be a rather short one but we made our first stop
before we even left town. Here's the group in front of the Jefferson
Highway Garage in Pittsburg.
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Our only other stop was at the post office in Opolis, KS. The building it
occupies has served as many things over the years including a circus
billboard while housing the Haynes Barber Shop and Pool Hall. The name of
the circus suggests the date was around 1925.
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Roger Bell's Crossroads of America presentation was underway when
we arrived at the Joplin History & Mineral Museum in Schifferdecker Park, but we were there for a slide with an article discussing
the popularity of US-71 and US-66. In 1928, the two roads, which the article identifies as
the "Pine to Palm Route" and "Main Street of America"
respectively, ranked second and third in traffic across the state. The top
route was US-40, which was referred to as "the airplane route".
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The museum has plenty of displays on both routes and houses some smaller
museums like the National Cookie Cutter Museum with its nation made of
cookie cutters. There is a two floor display on mining which includes some
of the products that rely on mining.
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Singing historian, Cece Otto, who has appeared on this site a few times,
performed some familiar songs and one that was totally new to me. Her
performance of one song that is basically familiar to everyone included
all existing verses as well as an unfamiliar one written by Cece for the
occasion.
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I missed getting a close up look at the many cool cars in the car show,
but did see a few in the camping display. One couple's 1953 Ford not only
pulled their camper but carried a beautiful handmade wooden canoe. A short
distance away, some Ford tow vehicles of a slightly older vintage were on
display. One of those Model Ts belonged to Daniel Hershberger who gave two
presentations on Tourist Camping during the day. I managed to catch one of
them.
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Although we failed to get the full team back together, Mike Curtis and I
joined up with Thelma Riehle to defend our
2022 title and snag
this year's medals.
The only photos I got at the combined Roite 66 Association of Missouri and Jefferson Highway Association dinner was a drive-by of the gorgeous signs at Wilder's Steakhouse and a shot of my serving of the fantastic meal. |
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