Thread: Our next jaunt accros the States.

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These two sections aren't on that map.
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I've met that young man in the first frame, leaning on the gasoline price sign! And it looks like he has the Mustang out for an afternoon cruise.

That last photo brings back a lot of memories to an old pump jockey. I pumped a lot of Texaco gas at 19.9¢/gallon at my Dad's service station from the time I was old enough to squeeze the pump handle until I left for college. The normal price was around 29.9¢, but there was always a gas war. He made money on service because there sure was no profit in selling gas.

I don't think it was quite that low when I passed by there in 1962.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

I don't think it was quite that low when I passed by there in 1962.

I worked in my Dad's service stations (Dividend Bonded, Brilliant Bronze and Texaco) from about 1955 through 1961. I put up a lot of 19.9¢ signs out front in the early years.

Sorry jb, we digress.....

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

These two sections aren't on that map.
Attachment 64111

Sorry to say Gary from the Gay Parita station passed away and the station is no longer open, though I have heard there is a possibility his son may open it, I passed through less than a month ago... the one pic is Spencer and a section of the original route still exists there and its a ghost town (small) close to the Gay Parita station Don't forget also to go see Red Oak II outside Carthage built by famous artist Lowell Davis, he moved the town 30 miles or so and is a world class artist & nice guy, not on many maps anymore as he said they wanted him to pay to put it into books but he & his town are gems....Route 66 in Kansas is short but great as well with a ton of history, in Baxter Springs the restaurant was a bank robbed by Jesse James....

Originally Posted by Matthyj

Sorry to say Gary from the Gay Parita station passed away and the station is no longer open, though I have heard there is a possibility his son may open it, I passed through less than a month ago... the one pic is Spencer and a section of the original route still exists there and its a ghost town (small) close to the Gay Parita station Don't forget also to go see Red Oak II outside Carthage built by famous artist Lowell Davis, he moved the town 30 miles or so and is a world class artist & nice guy, not on many maps anymore as he said they wanted him to pay to put it into books but he & his town are gems....Route 66 in Kansas is short but great as well with a ton of history, in Baxter Springs the restaurant was a bank robbed by Jesse James....

I've been helping jb work up his route and itinerary for this upcoming trip. Just to clarify, on their last trip jb & Rosie flew to Chicago and picked up a rental car there to run old Route 66 East to West. We had pre-arranged that they would deviate off of Route 66 to come up to Gardner, KS, timed to link up with the car show in Ottawa, the Old Marais River run. Rather than follow Route 66 across Missouri they elected to plug in our address as they were leaving St Louis, and the most efficient route was a straight shot across I70 as opposed to following the diagonal down to Joplin/Galena/Baxter Springs and then swinging north. As a result they "missed" the section from St Louis to Joplin & vicinity.

So, this trip the plan is to leave the KC area and head south to the SE corner of Kansas, do the missed section of Route 66 from there to St Louis, and then in St Louis start working the zig-zag route to reach Cape Cod over the next thirty days, and ultimately Boston to ride the aluminum cloud home. End dates and locations are fixed. Heading NNE and then coming back to Missouri for Steam-O-Rama September 17 to 20 just doesn't work - gotta be in Boston 9/26 to catch the cloud.

Ken gave some really neat suggestions about the Dayton area, which may push towards arriving in that area, spending some time at the "other" historic areas, and then dedicating the next day to the AFB museum before heading on to the next overnight spot. It's jb's choice, but Ken's suggestions are excellent points for planning.

I remember, I remember. In 1966, I worked at the MFA gas station in front of the Katz Drug store on Glenstone Ave in Springfield, Mo. A lady in a red 64 Galaxie 500XL convertible came in and I managed to squeeze $5 worth of gas into the tank. Boss jumped my butt and said I ran gas on the ground....we looked under the car and no puddles....it really held $5 of gas. At some point a year earlier, I was buying gas at that same station for 15.9 cents per gallon. A buck would let you cruise and still get home. I remember people buying 25 cents of gas.....that's all they had in their pocket. Today, 25 cents would get you a whiff of the nozzle. But then, I was making $1 an hour at the MFA station. So a gallon of gas in 1966 at perhaps 21 cents per gallon meant I got paid the equivalent of $1/.21=4 3/4 gallons of gas. Today, at $2.78 per gallon, my equivalent hourly salary would need to be $13.23.... hmmm, I think I will take today's gas prices.

Johnboy, do you have any idea where you'll be the weekend of August 29th?

I have done all of 66 in MO and if he needs any help or must see's let me know, alot of beautiful country and interesting stops to see, alot of it is getting marked by the MO 66 society but he will need a 66 map as much of the ol' 66 is broken and shifts from one side of 44 to the other and is a little hard to find without a 66 map. Definetly hit Kansas as it a short but a excellent trip as Baxter Springs was the idea for Radiator Springs in the Cars movies, Galena has "Cars on the Route"a Kanotex station with the real 'Mater that Towmater in the movie was based on. Alot of theold wests outlaws hid out in this part of KS as they could skip into MO or even Indian Territory (now OK) to elude the law (all within mere miles), including the James gang, the Youngers, Belle Star and the Dalton gang and many museums tell their stories, and don't forget Bonnie & Clyde where their later as the house they shot up in Joplin is still there to see where they killed 2 police and left their famous pic's for the media as well as Mickey Mantles home in Commerce OK.

Can't help but tell this story, in the mid eighties my brother & I worked at a Conoco full service station, a guy with a 60's mustang came in said fill it up and my brother put about 18 gallons in the car, he came back out and questioned that much fuel when it held about 14 gallons, my brother showed him the pump, he said "whatever" and opened the door and gasoline fumes poured out! It seems as though his rear window leaked and he decided to drain the water and drilled a decent sized hole in the trunk floor, which on a mustang is the top of the gas tank, therefore the fuel when filled up poured into the car, he hopped in with gas everywhere and actually drove away!
Sounds like a lot of fun!!!

That is pretty crazy right there!

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Johnboy, do you have any idea where you'll be the weekend of August 29th?

Where do you want us to be?

Originally Posted by johnboy

Where do you want us to be?

I was just curious if it were a possibility to set up a small CHR dinner or meet while you were semi close to our portion of the country.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

I was just curious if it were a possibility to set up a small CHR dinner or meet while you were semi close to our portion of the country.

St Louis is going to be about the closest to Prairie City, Iowa you'll get, unless you change the plan..... that is unless you want to hook up in Kansas City before the jaunt south.....