Day eight is a rainy driving day from Springfield to Oklahoma City. I have not talked much about the people I’ve met on this trip so far, but there have been a few memorable ones. We met a nice woman before the tiny capsule ride to the top of the Gateway Arch in Springfield, MO. I’ll call her Lois. She was touring a friend of hers to the top of the arch and I asked her how many times she’d been to the top herself. She gave it some thought and said, “Maybe eight times. I’m also a part-time tour guide, so I forget. I might be wrong.” She wasn’t originally from St. Louis but had been there for several years now. I don’t remember where her friend was from but I do remember that she was a bit nervous about the capsule ride. I hadn’t thought about how tiny it must be to be fitted inside the relatively small structure of the Arch. The capsule was maybe six feet in diameter and round with a small rectangular door at the front. The four of us sat basically knees touching. Lois said, “If we get any closer you’ll have to buy us dinner.” We visited all the way up, during the sight-seeing at the top, and all the way down.
The next person I had a real conversation with was at the dog park in St. Louis. I’ll call her Patty and she was maybe just a little older than myself. She had a Great Dane at the park named Joules and she was the same age as Duncan. She said this was her sixth Great Dane but that she didn’t think she could do another puppy so she didn’t know what her plans were. Her son also has a Great Dane and is at the park even more than she is. She was constantly fussing with her dog because she loves to play and often doesn’t realize her size difference. Duncan didn’t mind playing because when he was a puppy there was a black Great Dane puppy in the same building as us and we often met him and his parents going up or down in the elevator. Even as a puppy that dog was a little more than his mom could handle. More than once I saw her trying to hold him back so that the people getting off the elevator could exit before they got on.
The last person I’ll mention is JB. I met him a couple of times at the smoking shack in Springfield, MO. I would have Duncan out walking around the yards (there was a lot of green space around this hotel) and JB would be out there smoking. He talked about the whippet he had as a kid and said that Duncan was very much like that dog. JB had some balance issues and was a bit heavy, not to mention a few years older than me. He really wanted to pet Duncan but I was careful to let him get seated on the bench before I let them meet. Duncan is great with people and dogs, but he doesn’t just walk up and gently nudge them. He’s a bit more energetic than that. We also both did a little light complaining about the weather. JB lived in Missouri most of his life until he and his wife moved to North Carolina to be close to their kids, grand kids, and great grand kids. They were flying back to Charlotte tomorrow.
So more of the eighth day:
When we checked out we made one of our Route 66 stops for today in Springfield – the Route 66 Car Museum. This place is a classic automobile restorer’s dream. Lot’s of cool cars including an original Bat Mobile and a Ghostbuster’s… I don’t know, a hearse?
One thing I loved about this museum was that the cars were not hot rods, but were restored to stock condition. I can imagine a lot of these cars cruising the highways in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s and stopping at the classic Route 66 stops. Gotta love it.
