Route 66: 2010 Day 15

Today is 6/26/10

I think I've finally got it dialed in.  Since we spent the night is Springfield, Missouri or "Mizzourah" as some folks, like my Mom say, then by all accounts we are leaving Springfield this morning.  Cool how that works, eh?

First stop out of the gate was after a  really great ride, (outside of Springfield, of course), was a little place called Devils Elbow, Missouri.  To get here, you have to ride down a cool little 2 lane road that has trees overgrowing the road and is right on the Big Piney River.  I'm sure there are times it's referred to as the Big Winey River, but what the heck.  Anyway, shortly after you go over the bridge, you take a slight left and as you come through the trees, there's the Elbow Inn.

The Elbow Inn is a nice little bar/barbecue spot, not unlike places all across the US.  What makes this one pretty special was the decor.  This place has lots and I do mean LOTS of nice little "articles" hanging from the ceiling.  These articles come from the ladies.  I say for many guys out there, Thank You!  In some cases, the ladies that left said articles behind were "Healthy" and still others were "VERY, VERY Healthy..."  ;)

After leaving from here, we next ride to Meramac Caverns in Stanton, Missouri.  Meramac Caverns are very cool underground mineral formations.  These are supposed to be the largest in the world, (for some of the formations anyway).  The caves were pretty interesting, in fact, I had been there way, way long ago, back in the stone ages when I was about 10.  They had recently added zipline rides, which really has an opportunity to be cool, but looked like they were not nearly high or fast enough, but what do I know...Anyway, the  rides went from trees, across the parking lot, (about 75 feet above the ground) and then over the river.  We all thought it would be really cool to have the line dropped the rider right into the river.

The caverns have another "claim to fame".  As the sign out front says, the caverns were once the secret hideout for Jesse James and his posse.  My thought, of course, was "well, Of Course Jesse James was caught, duh, his secret hideout had a frickin' sign out front."   Whose brilliant idea was that???

We leave Meramac Caverns and head to Springfield...this time, Springfield, Illinois.

Here's a bit more useless trivia for you.  The Simpson's "hometown" is Springfield.  Word on the street is that Springfield, Illinois was the city that inspired Homer's world.  D'oh!