Day 5: Gettin' our Kicks!

After a few days of "roughing it" on the open road, Jina got up bright and early for a pedi :) We got real breakfast, complete with sausage and biscuits, fruit, and waffles.





When we sat down to pick our next destination (Amarillo), to our dismay, all the Hampton Inns were booked solid. We were utterly distraught. =\



Oh well. And so our day began...

Before leaving town, we drove around to get a sense of the neighborhood. Known for its art deco, Tulsa's blocks were lined with beautiful homes.

In Catoosa, Oklahoma, Jina found her pole. And as promised, she did things to this pole.

I just wanted to take the sign home. But Jina would not let go. If you want to see the other pics, I can be persuaded to share =)

We made our way to see the Blue Whale of Catoosa, a famous Route 66 destination.

Jina has this pose down pat.

FINALLY in Okla. City, we drove through the Asian District (who would've thought?!) and found another historic landmark off Route 66 - Braum's Milk Bottle.

At Sonic the day before, we ordered fruit shakes. But apparently, we were supposed to try the burger. The burger was good. The tater tots were AWESOME. And the verdict? In-N-Out Burger still wins. Nonetheless, we loved the concept of this joint so much that we sweet-talked the manager into selling us a couple of the super rad employee t-shirts.

Traveling with JJ has been such a blast and she is beyond fantastic. I am posting these photos because I will gladly admit that Jina has amazing timing and a quick finger. Here's what Jina had to say:

"Our obsession with RT 66 continues when we were on our way to RT 66 Park in Oklahoma City. Jules noticed a fallen sign and immediately pulled over to investigate! First instinct was to take it home!! (MUST HAVE SOUVENIR!) I’ve never seen Jules run as fast as she did…and who knew she even had strength in those tiny arms to pick up a hefty street sign. Gasp! As you can tell from the photo, it was an extremely windy day and she almost got blown away! However, note the expression of ecstasy on her face as she tries to carry the humongous sign to the car. Even though she knew there was no way it would fit in a car stuffed to the brim, it didn’t stop her from trying!! Hands down, these are the funniest photos to date!"

At one point, an Oklahoman passerby thought we were stealing the sign and wanted to turn us in. Jina and I are rolling in bed laughing so hard our stomaches hurt.

Since departing New York State, we have missed EVERY SINGLE "Welcome to (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma)" sign on Rt. 66. We were not about to let it happen again. We came to an almost screeching stop to capture this as we entered Texas:

But to make up for all the state signs that were sadly left uncaptured, Jina was compelled to swerve to the right shoulder of the interstate to snap this one:

Good night, our loyal readers.

4th Day: Cruisin' down Route 66

Day 4 and we're making some progress. We still haven't made it out of bed in time for a hot breakfast but Jina was so nice to run down in the nick of time to get us fruit and biscuits. I, on the other hand, got to stay in bed. How awesome is she?!





With the music on shuffle, this came on. Oh so fitting...

We handpicked five Missourian towns (Rolla, Waynesville, Lebanon, Springfield, and Vinita) to drive through, each with its own unique flavor. Our favorite: Rolla. We stopped for a quick bite to eat but nothing was open. It was a true ghost town. Then we found a cafe that had bubble tea on the menu and served Coke in mugs. Total riot.

In Waynesville, we feverishly tracked down a Route 66 sign.

Residents here get to say they live on Historic 66. Cool, yea? I wanted to pose with this sign. Alas, I was just a taaaaad toooooo . . .

Next, we hit up a Sonic drive-in in Lebanon! It was a first for J & J so it had to be documented.

As we enter OKLAHOMA, we came upon what was once the world's largest McDonald's. This particular one spans over Interstate 44. The largest might now be in Orlando, FL.

To a Californian, this was a sight for sore eyes =)

I saw a ton of armadillo roadkill on the highways of Missouri! I was diggin' the fact that it wasn't the usual squirrel or raccoon.

I got to drive on a legendary highway in great company. Ahhh, life is good.

Turning in for the night....

We've been staying at Hampton Inns on this trip but this one in Tulsa takes the cake. Brand new rooms with flat screen TVs and cloud 9 beds. I fall asleep grinning :)






Waaaaassup to Special K and MLo for the comments! Indeed, JJ did polish off the wine. I wish I could keep up.



Food for thought:
Somewhere on Route 66, this slipped out of Jina's mouth: "I'm SO gonna do dirty things to a pole later. I just gotta find the right pole." I think the heat and humidity of the Midwest finally got to her.

Please send all questions/inappropriate comments directly to Jina :)



What tomorrow brings, neither of us knows.

Last night...

We both got a REALLY good night's sleep. Guess which J finished the bottle? If you guess correctly, you'll get a shout out on the next post =)

Numero 3: St. Louis

I really don't know what went wrong but we missed breakfast again and left Springfield, Illinois much later than planned.

Back on the open road...

First stop of the day was the Gateway Arch of St. Louis. It was just an arch from afar.

But up close, it was an ARRRRCH. This structure was marvelous.

We went for a ride to the very top and got a great view of the city.

The Busch Stadium: Home to the Cardinals.

Sightseeing was swell, but things got waaaaay better at the A-B brewery.

The world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales are walked and bathed daily. These horses are beautiful but this photo does not do them justice.

Secret ingredient to an icy cold Budweiser: beechwood

End-of-tour goodness. Look at the damage Jina did! ;)

This is what actually happened.

Fat Toney's bbq hit the spot. A TON of cow and pig later, we were happy campers.

After a long, eventful day we lay in bed, cozy and blissfully content in Jefferson City.

Just for kicks, we bid you all good-night with this (thanks, Pedro!).

Day 2: Chicaaaago

The alarm went off at 9am and it was SO loud that Jina jolted out of bed. I somehow remained motionless and completely unruffled. Jina was appalled.
As a result of my laziness, we had an extremely late departure.


On our way out of Toledo, we discovered the city is home to Daimler-Chrysler. Sort of cool. Finally on our way to Chicago...

We were extremely excited to meet up with Anne, Andrew, and Tarak. But somewhere in Indiana, temptation got the best of us. We saw signs pointing to Amish country.

DETOUR!!!

(I developed an unusual fascination with the Amish about 10 years ago. It happened around the same time "Weird Al" Yankovic came out with "Amish Paradise," a parody of the hip hop song "Gangsta's Paradise." I guess my obsession never waned.)

I was a happy girl =)

Apparently, so was Jina!Tarak and Anne were so nice to meet us for a yummy Italian dinner. The gnocci was divine. See you guys in July!
*Rock stars*



Andrew had a tender moment at dinner so this is his dedication to Miles.

Andrew and his brother are also roadtripping to SoCal.

During our way-too-brief stop in Chicago, Tarak managed to seduce us with his talk of the Historic Route 66. How could we resist the mainstreet of America?! After dinner, we made the 3-hour drive to Springfield and set up camp at yet another Hampton Inn.

Tomorrow's destination on our GPS: St. Louis (hopefully for some succulent BBQ!)