Wisconsin
After saying goodbye to St Louis we bypassed Chicago for the moment and headed straight to Grafton (just outside of Milwaukee) to catch up with some friends of Aidan’s from when he did a summer camp over here in 2003. A big shout out to Peter and Amy for letting us stay at their place for the weekend. So nice to sleep in a real bed!
Downtown Grafton - A cute small american town
It was really interesting to see another side of Aidan whilst we were there. Summer camp was a pivotal time for Aidan; I guess I see it as a time in his life of “finding himself” and I really enjoyed watching him interact with the people who were around him at that time. I also got to hear lots of stories about Aidan that I hadn’t heard before, and they all call him “Aussie”. So cute!
On Friday night we all headed out to a paddock where there were a bunch of circus folk with side show rides and the like, but the drawcard for us was a country cover band playing in the big tent. It was a total hick fest and I totally loved it! I never thought I would say this, but country music is not too shabby! With classic lines like “she thinks my tractor’s sexy”, how can you not start tapping your foot to that?! I had a blast having a dance with the girls and I even got a Keith Urban song dedicated to me just for being an Aussie!! (I had no idea what the song was, but I went along with it).
We spent the rest of the weekend eating bagels, having a beer or two, playing Frisbee golf and horse shoe throwing (both of which I was extremely bad at), walking along the beach next to Lake Michigan and other such shenanigans. I also had a very good milkshake – chocolate cake batter. Pretty awesome I must say! I think I should open a milkshake/ice cream parlour.
Our next stop in Wisconsin was Aidan’s old camp. It is on a lake about 2 ½ hours from Milwaukee, and it was so beautiful! Aidan caught up with the grounds manager and his son, who was also a leader at camp when Aidan was there, and they let us spend the night on the campgrounds parked next to the water. Pretty sweet spot I must say! It bought back heaps of memories for Aidan and I got the grand tour of where this story and that story took place. He got up to some shenanigans back in the day, that’s for sure!
Tuttle Lake - Camp Indian Sands
Being here brought back so many good memories
Ever since I can remember, Aidan has talked about taking me to Noahs Ark Water Park, the biggest water park in the US and so that became our next destination. So so so much fun although I think I nearly had a heart attack from fright on one of the rides. I’m a scaredy cat when it comes to heights and going down them backwards!
We also indulged in some touristy pursuits and played mini golf. To up the ante, for each hole the winner got a minute of massage and either of us could raise the stakes on any particular hole, so the pressure was on. Unfortunately I lost. Aidan ended up with 21 minutes of massage and I only got a paltry 11 minutes. My short game needs some work.
It was to our great excitement that we discovered there was a drive in theatre in the area! We headed out early and got a super possie for our double feature of Toy Story 3 and Prince of Persia for $8.00 each! Bargain central! Hamburgers, buttered popcorn and a drive in theatre – I was content 
We were getting pretty excited at this point
Buzz was getting pretty excited too by now
We also spent a couple of days camping out next to a lake, going for hikes and generally maxing relaxing!
Breakie time!
That's one massive dandelion thingy
A small treat anyone?
Jen looking out the window with a tornado looming, so eerie. Lucky for us it past us by.
Miami, OK – Kansas – Missouri
After spending the night in Miami, Oklahoma we headed off for a full day of driving towards St. Louis. In this section there is a huge amount of the old road that is still drivable, so although much slower it is also much more enjoyable. Plus lots of photo opportunities!
Old Route 66 - One lane highway
So the story goes that they didn't have enough money to build two lanes. Besides this whole automobile thing wouldn't take off!
We passed through Kansas briefly before crossing the border into Missouri. Three states in one day - impressed much?! We discovered that just outside of a small town called Carthage there is a drive in theatre still in operation!!! Probably the coolest thing ever. Except that they only show movies on the weekend and it was currently only Tuesday. There are some drawbacks to not pre-planning our trip and this was one of them. After a milkshake (chocolate chip cookie dough – good, but not great) at a cute diner/deli combo we headed onwards for some more rolling hills and nostalgic sights.
On arriving in St. Louis after a loooonnnggg driving day we headed to Riddles Penultimate Café & Wine Bar for some impressive folk music and a beer or two. Super end to a really long day!
The following morning we headed to the Art Museum to take in some more contemporary art and then wandered on down to the waterfront to check out the famous Arch. It is huge! I was most impressed to discover that it was designed and built before the advent of computer technology (1963-1965) as a monument to the progress of man. Smart little chookens those designers. Love the good old days of pre-technology!
Random shot while waiting for the train into St Louis
There's a cable car running up each side of the arch with a viewing platform at the top
The oldest gas station on Route 66
An abandoned and overgrown section of the old road
The town of Dwight - In honour of Dwight Schrute from 'The Office' 
Oklahoma City
Old Route 66 on the way to Oklahoma City
Craving some good espresso, Aidan and I did a bit of browsing and discovered Coffee Slingers in Oklahoma City had a pretty good online reputation, therefore making this our first stop when we arrived.
Coffee!
So that Aidan and I still have things to talk about even though we spend 24/7 together we do things such as critique places we visit. Coffee Slingers went something like this….
They were only running a Bolivian/Rawandan Blend, and although it was great to have espresso again it was the most sweet tasting espresso I have ever had. I would almost say you could describe it as sticky. (Is that the right word coffee gurus? I think I need to attend some cupping events to expand my knowledge and repertoire to better critique my coffee encounters!). Aidan and I were also slightly unsettled by the décor and use of space in the café. A good café needs cohesiveness. It needs ambiance. It needs functionality. After a rather detailed discussion about how we would change it, Aidan and I headed out with a strange sweetness lingering in our mouths to find an art museum.
We arrived at the doors and looked in amazement at the huge glass sculpture that hung down three or four stories, and then got all excited for the rest of the museum. That is until we read the sign on the door that said “Mondays – Closed”. Not happy!! We seem to keep striking out with places been closed on Mondays. While we were on Vancouver Island we desperately needed to get some internet access so we could call Tasweigia in relation to renting out our house and time was of the essence. Could we find one shop, café or library that was open? No. All closed on Mondays. Not happy with this closed on Mondays trend North America!!
Moving on from my rant, and from the closed Museum, Aidan and I headed to Bricktown – a reasonably newly renovated neighbourhood of cafes, bars and restaurants all located on a mile long stretch of canal. After some wandering and a spot of lunch we decided to hit the road and cover some miles, as the day was overcast and slightly cooler than previous days.
Bridge crossing over to Bricktown
There are some really great stretches of the old road in this area and it is really enjoyable to drive along, past rolling paddocks, old farmhouses with rocking chairs out the front and the typical farmer with blue overalls and white tee shirt mowing his lawn. It sounds clichéd because of all the movies that portray these types of scenes, but the great thing is that the movies are reflecting real life in middle America. I am loving this experience!
This one's for Kelly
Buzz trying not to break the old bridge
Elk City & Clinton
We knew that it was going to be a really hot day so we decided we deserved a break from driving and set up camp next to Elk City Lake. It was so nice to have a break from travelling for a whole day and we went for a couple of swims in the lake. The water actually wasn’t that cold, so not as refreshing as it could have been but it was a ton of fun all the same!
A much needed refreshment
Clinton was the next town on our route and we spent most of the day hanging out in a local park under the shady trees, reading and mucking around while we waited for it to cool down so we could drive. We did however also visit a Route 66 museum, which was actually quite informative and definitely gave us a new respect for how definitive Route 66 is in America’s history.
Jen stuck in an old school phone booth
Once the temperature had dropped slightly we jumped in the car for a couple of hours towards Oklahoma City, stopping off in El Reno for a quick bite to eat at Johnnie’s Grill, a Route 66 institution and great handmade burgers with tons of onion that tasted like we were at an Aussie bbq. Ahh bliss.
Texas – “How y’all doin’?”
“How y’all doin’?” That was the catch cry of nearly every Texan we met. We only skimmed along the top of Texas to stay true to the Route 66 path, but I would love to spend more time there as it is absolutely classic Midwestern America and has some rather interesting and diverse characters!
Our first stop in Texas was at a small town called Adrian aka “Midway Point”. We’ve made it halfway along Route 66! 1139 miles down, 1139 miles to go. We celebrated at the aptly named “Midpoint Café” with some chocolate pie but had to scoff it down as we had crossed a state line and it was now an hour later so the café was closing. Darn it!
We followed the mother road towards Amarillo, stopping just short at Cadillac Ranch to check out the Cadillacs sticking up out of the earth. It’s on private property but you can wander in and have a snoop at any time. The Cadillacs are also a popular spot for some graffiti work; there were probably eight or so people tagging just while we were there (yes, it is allowed). They are also used on occasion as backdrops for music videos, fashion shoots and the like. Have a squiz at some pics…
The Cadallics as they once were
The Cadillacs today
In Amarillo we spent the day on the Route 66 strip checking out the numerous and surprisingly huge antique stores while trying to keep out of the glaring 45 degree sun. I’m actually starting to acclimatise to the hot weather, but I’m not quite that acclimatised just yet! After a milkshake that paled in comparison to “the most awesome milkshake in the world”© (see Albuquerque post) – it really is very hard not to compare – we headed off to Elk City, Oklahoma.
The leaning water tower