Christmas MOP
Day 1
Foiled Again
Day 2
Artful Snow Dodger
Day 3
North to Tulsa
Day 4
As Planned at Last
Day 5
This Christmas Is White
Day 6
To a Springfield
Day 7
More MO
Day 8
At Last the Shake
Postlude December 30, 2022
I stated in the prelude that I planned to spend all of my nights in
"historic motels on Historic Route 66". Although the first three
nights of the trip were not spent where planned, all were spent in small
independent motels that could reasonably called historic and one was even
on Route 66. One of them was a new-to-me place I've wanted to stay at for
awhile. I'd previously stayed in all three of the motels they replaced so
I think it was a fair trade. In addition, although the following day did
not result in a journal page, I spent an extra unplanned night on the road,
and that, too, was at a nice independent. In the end, after a somewhat
shaky start, the trip included everything I'd hoped for and then some.
December 28, 2022 (day 8)
COVID denied me in October. Weather blocked plans to get it a week ago. I
even encountered another disappointment early in the day but by day's end,
I had reached my goal and received my very sweet reward.
December 27, 2022 (day 7)
Several signs were scattered throughout the day along with one Muffler Man
and one frog.
December 26, 2022 (day 6)
I had a short drive to the other reserved in advance motel of the trip. It
was so short, in fact, that I was forced to fill in excess time with a
museum, a brewery, and a top tier hamburger -- I mean hamburg -- joint.
December 25, 2022 (day 5)
Today is Christmas which I celebrated with coffee, snow, and chicken.
December 24, 2022 (day 4)
For the first time since leaving home, I am where I intended to be when I
planned this trip. I had intended to follow Historic Route 66 west into
Carthage, MO, but followed it in from the other side of town instead. That
path was not entirely snowless but I did avoid the heavy stuff.
December 23, 2022 (day 3)
Today I started north toward my Christmas destination and got as far as
Tulsa which is where Bob Dylan's stuff is now kept next to Woody
Guthrie's. On the way, I ate in an old railroad car then had dinner and
went to sleep on Route 66.
December 22, 2022 (day 2)
Phase one of my snow dodging attempt seems to have worked. While my
original destination for the day was starting to get hit with the white
stuff in addition to super low temperatures, I'd reached a
precipitationless location in Arkansas. I had started in a Mindfield then
found two breweries and a capitol.
December 21, 2022 (day 1)
Yes, I should probably be home right now watching weather reporters
getting blown about and freezing but I launched this trip despite the
scary forecasts. I was sensible enough to recognize that my plans would
put me in the worst possible spot at the worst possible time but not
sensible enough to abandon them completely. I veered off in Indiana and
hope to miss the worst of the storm then sneak into Missouri from the
south.
Prelude - December 17, 2022
I had plans for that trip that COVID-19 ended back in October. Not firm
rooms-booked and tickets-bought plans but plans nonetheless. Attending the
Route 66 Miles of Possibility conference was the trip's purpose and its
first portion had been filled with some very firm conference related
plans. When the conference ended, I had some very real ideas of where I
was headed and where I wanted to stay; I just didn't have a schedule. I
still had those ideas when December came along and my Christmas Escape Run
needed a plan. Illinois and Missouri are not in the sunny south that is
the ideal target for a wintertime trip but I've escaped to similar
latitudes in the past and no severe weather was predicted for my proposed
path as time to launch dropped to under a week. So I abandoned any thought
of picking a more southerly destination and started turning my October
ideas into a plan. I will be spending Christmas at Boots Court in
Carthage, Missouri, with some preceding and following nights spent at
other historic motels on Historic Route 66. It will be sort of a Miles of
Possibility chapter two.