Resting our bones in Miami tonight...

Miami Oklahoma that is! Did you even know there was such a place as Miami Oklahoma?
Day 3: Indianapolis, Indiana to Miami, Oklahoma


Miami is a small place just inside the Oklahoma border, named after the Native American tribe of Miami Indians. The plan was to stop in Joplin Missouri, but they didn't have a Holiday Inn Express Hotel, so we continued on a little further.

I am jumping around and getting ahead of myself though. After a couple of hours of driving we took a couple hour break this afternoon when we reached St. Louis Missouri. The thermometer on the car said we had reached a high of +14 and so it seemed like a good time to do a bit of sight seeing so we found a place downtown to park the car, gathered up the cameras and headed out to snap a few shots. We could not cross the mighty Mississippi without taking a pic or two,

And of course the Gateway Arch warranted a photo or 2

An impressive monument!

Wikipedia says, "The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West,is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. At 630 feet (192 m), it is the tallest man-made monument in the United States,Missouri's tallest accessible building, and the largest architectural structure designed as a weighted or flattened catenary arch."

A little retail therapy at Cabela's...YES!

Lunch at Cracker Barrel ...yummmmm

A little more shopping at Cato,

...and then back on the road again. This morning the weather report warned of extremely heavy rains, high winds and chance of tornadoes...they were bang on! I don't know if any tornadoes showed up, but let me tell you the heavens opened and it rained very, very hard for a while and the winds were "brisk" to say the least..even though it reached a high of 14 degrees, a jacket and scarf were a definite necessity while wandering around outside.

I found it interesting to know that hi way we were driving on was part of the Historic Route 66.

Again I will let Wikipedia explain;

"U.S. Route 66 (US 66 or Route 66), also known as the Will Rogers Highway and colloquially known as the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. Highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926—with road signs erected the following year.[2] The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Los Angeles, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).
Route 66 served as a major path for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and it supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway."

As I am writing this post Mr. O is checking out the website, "Quilter's Travel Companion" for quilt shops further up the road...hopefully that will be tomorrow's treat.(and maybe the next day too )