More Backroad Adventures ...

Awoke to a beautiful morning in Miami, OK. It was very interesting to see that colors were not all that prevalent. Changing colors were very spotty this entire road trip. Was very nice to see that areas were not greatly impacted by a drought.

We wanted to continue our adventure on Rt. 66 and drove into Kansas ... which claims only 13.2 miles, in the very southeastern corner. This is where we "strayed" from the route to investigate sites from our Roadside Americana book. First on the must see list was "Big Brutus" outside of West Mineral, KS. Only two words can describe our first sighting ... holy cow!

THAT is Big Brutus peaking above the tree line ... directly to his left is his "mini-Me". That is a tree line, not a hedge ... I couldn't believe my eyes!

Oh My Goodness ... it is huge!

It was unbelievable, that's a full grown tree on his right ...

 

We had arrived bright and early that morning ... gates didn't open for another hour, so we took pictures and moved on.

 

We left Rt. 66 as we wanted to start heading north through Missouri to see more sites from our book. Near Joplin MO at Webb City we found the "Praying Hands Memorial", a 32 foot steel and stucco structure built by a 20 year old. The disembodied clasped hands bursting out of the earth implying a much larger statue in the ground below.

Interesting

 

Carthage, MO - home of "Precious Moments Museum" (which includes the Chapel, a Gift Shop & an RV Campground) ...

Fun Fountain at entrance

Sweet

Cute Campground Entrance

 

Last description in Missouri was in Sumner - home of the largest goose, "Maxie". Getting to Sumner meant getting on the interstate ... which we were to discover at the end of the days adventure it was a very wise decision!

We visited the same week-end of the "Maxie" annual week-end festivities. Arrived late afternoon/early evening ... so much of the "fun" may have already happened. Several campers were set up in the city park ... probably preparing for the next days events. The goose looked to sit on a turn-table giving it the ability to move in the wind, as she has her back to her signage!

The book doesn't always give the best description and checking on line I found that the world's largest pecan was very close ... so off we went to Brunswick to see it!

Yup, it was large ... world's largest? Don't know about that. It's made of concrete and sits in the town center. Like Sumner, Brunswick was having some type week-end of running event (or folks prefer running clothing to jeans, etc.). There were vendor tents/tables being dis-assembled along main street. Folks were still sitting in their lawn chairs along what I assumed to be the run route. As we departed Brunswick it made me feel as though we were the only float in a parade!

 

It was late ... decided one more night at a motel was necessary, so headed to St. Joe MO. We had the atlas and the Garmin. If I had known then what I learned later, I would have relied on my map reading skills. It felt as though we drove every back road in the area ... passing landscapes that looked all to familiar. What could have been a half hour map guided route, with the Garmin became an hour. It was a duh moment ... but we did get to see a lot of beautiful country ... so it was worth the additional time!