Well, I had hoped it would stop raining, but so far, not much luck! It rained pretty much all day in Tulsa on Saturday. In the afternoon, we went to the Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center where they honor the legacy of Black Wall Street before and after the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. It’s an horrific time in our nation’s history – two days of violence with hundreds injured and an unknown number dead – maybe as many as 300…plus 35 square blocks of one of the wealthiest black communities in the US were burned and destroyed. The museum opened in 2021, 100 years after the massacre, and does a wonderful job of honoring and memorializing the victims.

From there, we headed to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, OK. I knew very little about Will Rogers going in, but left knowing that he was a cowboy, an actor, a humorist, and an aviation advocate until his untimely death in a plane crash. Quite the well-rounded man – Oklahoma is very proud of their native son!

We also drove a stretch of Route 66 through Tulsa, which is known as the Capital of Route 66 because a Tulsa resident is considered the Father of Route 66 and was instrumental in establishing the highway and routing it through Tulsa for 28 miles.

Sunday was a little less rainy, but we had indoor plans – the Bills game! Interestingly, our campground was adjacent to a casino and horse track, so we got to see some horse races throughout the afternoon without even leaving our trailer!

As we drove through Oklahoma, we saw these signs noting “No Tolerance”. We’ve driven through almost every state, and this is the first time we remember seeing anything like this!

On Monday, we continued eastward into Missouri, arriving in Springfield, MO. Fortunately, it was a dry day for travel, and after we got setup, I took a drive to the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden to walk and enjoy the gardens. They were putting lights on the trees for their upcoming holiday light show, which became a theme for the remaining days of our trip.

I had to make a quick stop at a Walmart near Springfield (very much Chiefs country), and I did a double take when I noticed one Bills ‘bottle bank’ mixed in with all the Chiefs stuff. Weird! I wonder if they got a bunch in and all the others were sold, or if they just got this one!

On Tuesday, the rain returned for much of the day, but we didn’t let that stop us! We drove South for about an hour to Branson, MO, the “Live Music Show Capital of the World”. We were impressed by the hilly drive as we approached the Ozarks – the drive was more hilly than what we’ve seen at any point on this trip, even though we were near the Rockies and at a very high elevation for much of the trip.

We walked through Historic Downtown Branson and Branson Landing; they are surrounded on three sides by a lake – I’m sure it would have been really nice if the weather had been a bit more cooperative. From there, we drove to the “entertainment district” which is just loaded with all kinds of theaters and tourist attractions. The entire town has started decorating for Christmas, too!

When in Branson, I think there’s a law or something that you have to see a live show…so we made our way to a 2pm showing of “Number 1 Hits of the 60s”. It was just a wonderfully entertaining two hours, filled with songs from the 60s plus some from the 70s and 80s. The six performers must have changed costumes about 20 times, and all of the costumes were perfectly matched to the era and to the music. Even though I was born in the final months of the 60s, I do love the music of that era, and really enjoyed the show. Of course, the highlight was at intermission when a gentleman asked Mark and I how it felt to be the youngest couple there. He wasn’t wrong – definitely an older crowd, and a bit scary when the performers asked the audience to stand up and do some of the dances from the 60s – we could practically hear hips breaking.

It rained all night long and kept raining on Wednesday, and the temperature didn’t get out of the 40s. The inside of our trailer is so damp and full of moisture – what a change from our time in Colorado and New Mexico when everything was so very dry. In the afternoon, we ventured to “Fantastic Caverns”, the only cavern that you visit on a tram ride. We figured we could warm up a bit in the always-60-degrees cave! It was a really cool cave – lots of interesting formations and seeing it from a tram was very different. It doesn’t quite make up for missing out on Carlsbad Caverns which we should have been visiting last week, but it was a fun place to check out!

We drove into Springfield to see a bit of Route 66 – Springfield is considered “the Birthplace of Route 66” because the decision to call it Route 66 was made here. The rain made it a bit less fun to check out, but we did find a few signs and murals. It was very appropriate that we saw so much of Route 66 on this trip since Mark celebrated birthday #66 on this trip, and 2026 will be the 100th anniversary of The Mother Road. And then we stopped at Walmart to buy DampRid…hoping it can help dry up the trailer a bit. Fortunately, the forecast indicates we will not see much more rain on this trip – fingers crossed that it’s accurate!  

On Thursday, we were back on the road again, continuing Northeast through Missouri to St. Louis on a gorgeous Fall day! We stopped for lunch at a Roadside Park in St. Robert, MO…now the home to several beautifully restored neon signs from businesses along Route 66. It’s a fun little stop on the Mother Road, and must be fantastic at night when they are all lit up!

Our original route home did not include Springfield or St Louis, so these are ‘bonus’ stops! You may recall we spent a day in St. Louis at the beginning of this trip, so here we are, back again six weeks later, and we’re staying at a campground we stayed at back in 2023 on our first visit to St. Louis. And between some drier weather and the DampRid, the trailer is much more comfortable now…phew!

You’d think we’ve spent enough time in St. Louis now that there would be nothing new to do, but we found several things! On Friday, we toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery. When we decided to go, I figured it would be interesting to learn how beer is made, but I had no idea how incredible the buildings would be! The brewery has been at this location since the 1850s, and several of the buildings have been designated National Historic Landmarks. Our tour guide was fun, there were several free samples along the way, and we even got to see the Clydesdales. Couldn’t have asked for a better tour experience! Oh, and they were in the process of decorating for Christmas (they have a “brewery lights” holiday event), so it was starting to look festive, too!

After our brewery experience, we headed to the Bellefontaine Cemetery which is the oldest garden cemetery West of the Mississippi and is filled with architecturally significant tombs. It was interesting to drive through and see the variety of styles on the tombs, and some of the famous names buried there, including both Anheuser and Busch. It seemed kind of appropriate to visit a cemetery on Halloween, too. Fortunately, we didn’t see any ghosts!

For dinner, I tried a St. Louis style pizza topped with “provel” cheese which is a combination of cheddar, swiss, and provolone. It’s really creamy and honestly not all that good. I’ll stick with mozzarella!

On Saturday, we decided to check out the St. Louis Zoo which is located in the massive Forest Park which also houses several museums and lots of green space. The zoo was wonderful! The habitats were setup in a way that made it really easy to see the animals, plus the temperature was in the 50s so they were pretty active. The grizzly bears, penguins, and giraffes were so easy to see and photograph! They had quite a few unique animals, too, that we don’t usually see at zoos. It did start to rain towards the end of our visit, but we really enjoyed our time there!

And on Sunday, it was time to continue our journey back into Illinois, to the Love’s RV stop that we stayed at on the first night of our trip – six weeks ago!

Monday was a short drive home and the end of an amazing trip. We drove about 5,000 miles, stayed at 15 campgrounds over 44 nights, visited seven states including three we’d never been to before, and saw so much of our wonderful country! Plus I managed to get in 15 Planet Fitness visits at 11 different locations – really love my black card membership!

It’s hard to pick the highlights, but here are a few that stick out:

• The balloon fiesta is absolutely #1 for this trip – it was the primary purpose for the trip, and did not disappoint!
• Santa Fe is a wonderful city – we’ll visit there again, for sure!
• Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods were both spectacular, with the added bonus of seeing the aspen trees in their vibrant fall color!
• Oklahoma City – the Memorial/Museum and the Art Museum, plus we just really liked the city overall
• Petroglyphs were so unique and interesting
• Anheuser-Busch tour was better than we expected, with the added bonus of interesting architecture

I have just three more states left to visit – Hawaii, Alaska (cruise planned for summer 2026), and oddly enough, Delaware…anyone have any suggestions for places to visit when we finally make it there?

Now RoVer Too is off to winter storage…we do not have our next RV trip planned, but it likely won’t be until late Spring or Summer; our winter trip will be via airplane for a change!