Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Route 66 and Kansas (Tues 30/9 - Sun 5/10)
After 4 days in Chicago we were on the road again. In the past 5 days we have driven about 1200 miles in a roughly western direction through the states of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado. We have booked into motels in Pontiac (Illinois), Columbia (Missouri) , Kansas City (confusingly not in Kansas but Missouri) , Colby City (Kansas) before arriving at our main destination Boulder (Colorado) . We have learnt from experience that when looking for a motel it is a good idea to head for a small town (not too small) where there are a number of motels close together on the outskirts of town together with a choice of eating places/supermarket. Competition brings the price of accommodation down ($60-80 for a room) and you don't have far to go for a meal either in a restaurant or a takeaway. For the first 200 miles we travelled mainly on the famous Route 66, the first Interstate highway built in America. It starts in Chicago and ends in Santa Monica just north of LA. It is an easy road to drive along as traffic is light and there are lots of things to do and see along the way. Unfortunately at one stage we took a wrong turning and finished driving in the wrong direction which added 90 minutes to our journey. The only major stop we had in this section of the trip was in Kansas City - not sure why but Thursday was my birthday and I didn't want to spend all day on the road and KC seemed a convenient stop. Apparently it is the barbecue capital of America so we had to go to the best Barbecue restaurant in town for my birthday. It was good but as usual the portions were far too large for us to complete. I also discovered by accident that one of my favourite country singers of 20 years ago Gordon Lightfoot was appearing at a Casino just out of town. The cost of taxi fares was greater than the price of the tickets. Gordon is sadly passed his best - he is getting on a bit but it was good to hear some of the old songs. We also did our first wine-tasting - Missouri is a wine growing state and we visited a vineyard near Wellington not far from KC. However there is not that much to do in KC (see lack of photos) and I would not recommend it as a place you have to visit sometime in your life !
Arrived in Boulder , Colorado on Sunday 5th
- comments