First stop was Catharge, the perfect American little town and, for all the world, straight out of the Back to the Future movie. So much so they have regular visitors from Japan thinking that's exactly what it is. We toured round the county courthouse - circa 1895, complete with caged elevator - and then called into the delightful Carthage Deli (www.carthagedeli.com) for a late breakfast. Owner Chris Brown filled us in on some local history and served a delicious latte (he's a coffee fiend). He also talked about the recent tornado that swept through nearby Joplin leaving a trail of destruction and a death toll of close to a 150. Luckily the tornado hit at 5:30am on a Sunday morning otherwise it would have been a lot higher (it completely destroyed a local school). Chris and his family took shelter in one of the old vaults of the bank that the Deli is housed in. We could have stayed and chatted all day but had many miles to cover, so more hugs and a large pot of gumballs for the children and we set off again.
After a 13 mile stint on the 'Mother Road' through Kansas, we decided to stop at Miami, Oklahoma for supplies and then cover the rest of the days mileage on the I44 which runs parallel to Route 66. The only supermarket we could find was the 'delightful' Marvin's Discount Food Store; a venue so grim the children refused to get out of the car. It was an interesting pit stop - the loo had a grimey curtain rather than a door and the cheese we bought turned out to be more than a month out of date!
We covered the dustbowl, despite a major traffic jam at Oklahoma City,and managed to resist the many temptations en route; the World's Only Tribute to the Dogs that Lost their Lives on the Titanic and the Vacuum Cleaner Museum. We finally made it to Sayre at about 7pm. We stepped out of the car at the Western Motel to find our room hadn't been booked, the wind was howling and the temperature was 102 degrees. Sayre is like something out of The Grapes of Wrath - actually it is out of The Grapes of Wrath! It's a virtual ghost town but luckily the motel did have a room for us (complete with depression era bathroom). Sonic was about the only option for food so we called into the local store for some microwave TV dinners. I was very reluctant to even go in the door but the shop assistants were wonderful and very excited to have Brits through the door. After lots chatting they insisted on carrying our bags to the car and told us we really should be heading to the next town for the night rather than staying in Sayre!
So we settled back with the TV dinners to catch up on some 70s sitcoms, only to have our viewing interrupted by a tornado warning! Mark assures me, it's east of here and all will be well. Hopefully, we'll be blogging again tomorrow.
Today's Tune: Follow the Yellow Brick Road by Judy and the Oz crew
Wildlife Watch: Tortoises and armadillos (unfortunately no live ones, all roadkill)
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