Day 3 An Iconic Motel,The Birthplace of a Legend and a Blue Whale??
Started the day in Lebanon Mo with the great folks at the Munger Moss Motel. Their classic sign was posted in my previous blog. These folks are true American business survivors. 41 year owners of this classic hotel and they have made it thru countless business downturns including the gas crisis of the 70's, the advent of the large chain hotel, and a thousand other reasons to wipe the smile right off their face. These folks are 74 years old and have prided themselves in maintaining the hotel in it's original 50's condition.  Check out this shower.....

Is that the coolest, or what???  They are nicest folks...Bob and Ramona are the types of folks you cannot tear yourself away from talking too, nor do you want to. Of course, they orginally are from Iowa(West Union) so it figures they were hard working and simply  damn nice.  They got us hooked up with the owners of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM and we have reservations there tomorrow night...can't wait.
     On to what is probably the highlight of my day...The Commerce Comet. Now anyone that even knows me a little knows I'm a bit of a baseball fan(course I pale in comparison to my son Tyler). On Route 66 was an unexpected highlight, even if it was in a very depressing little town.  The  town of Commerce OK is a very depressed community. It appears to have some industry and perhaps some economic vibrancy but overall it is dank, dirty and run down. Smack dab in the middle of run down homes with cars in the front yard and toys and junk scattered every where we found the following photos.

The following plaque explains what it is.

Yeah...I got nothin here...The Mick still leaves me mostly speechless.  As we drove on from Commerce, I wondered why I became less enthralled and excited about the miles we had to travel to Oklahoma City.  It dawned on my as I sat down to type tonight that it was The Mick. When you look at the humble little town  and surroundings he grew up in and the surroundings you realize that greatness can truly come from anywhere.  However, after driving thru South Chicago, Joliet, St. Louis and some of the depressed rural areas of Missouri and Oklahoma, I truly wonder if our country will allow such greatness to show itself anymore. I could go into a long political conversation but won't..that's not the point of the blog but as much as I am still in awe of The Mick, I have now have a greater appreciation for the Mick...that and I wished little kids everywhere would start "making up games" again and getting outside. 
     On to some of the other sights.   Here is a photo of the "sidewalk" road that once was part of The Route...yes we drove the Mustang on it..I'm hoping my wife doesn't read this blog...please don't tell her... This is a real road...no wider than one lane and the white lines are the edges that drop off 2-3 inches. You can see the Route 66  marking in front of the car.

Here is a photo of yet another character on The Route...Gary from Gary's Sinclair that is literally out in the middle of nowhere...unless you call being 1 mile down the road from a delapidated casket manufacturing building "somewhere."  Gary knows as much about The Route as anyone, gives you an autographed photo for free, a free coke or water and will pull out a picture book showing you the "don't miss" items and people on The Route.  He, like the Sheas and Bill and Ramona from Moss Munger motel, is worthy of a full blog on the stories he can tell.

We reached a point today where I think all three off us were a little overwhelmed or maybe numbed by the things you see on the Route. From the excited Gary and other folks mentioned previously to the dreary, delapidated hotels that are now nothing but an old broken neon sign and buildings that quite honestly look like crack houses. The guides books and phone app we are using are showing us amazing historical evidence of The Route's glory days gone by but yet when speaking with the folks we have encountered there seems to be hope. Unfortunately, the folks we encountered are old enough to be our  parents(well mine anyway since I'm the youngest of the 3). Scott wondered aloud if there were younger generations to pick up the Route 66 memories and history and run with it. I wondered what "modern" things we were driving by that will be Route 66 type memories 50 years from now.  Of course, these are all very serious thoughts and maybe we shouldn't worry about such things. I don't think there is a rhyme or reason to what stays and what doesn't.  After all, if there was such planning and reasoned decisionmaking would we be left with the following as a primary tourist attraction in a town?

Yep...it's a blue whale. In the middle of Oklahoma...you try to explain it.

One last note...for those that think this Trip is easy.  Driving two lane(or less) roads is NOT EASY and it takes a hell of a lot longer than we are used to. The good news is The Route makes you slow down.  The bad news is, given just 8 days to make it all the way across The Route, we are locked in to long days.  Roughly 12 hours in the car  each day since and up to Friday.  Thank god for great company, great music(800 songs from 1976-1980) and a great car.  We are having a blast.  Can't wait for tomorrow, the rest of Oklahoma, Texas and into Tucamcari .  More later....

TJ