This e-mail today from Kip Welborn of the Route 66 Association of Missouri gives additional details about the group’s annual motor tour on Sept. 7-9:
The Tour will commence in Miami, OK, and end in Sullivan, MO. This year’s theme is “Take Me Out To Our Highway.” The tour will celebrate not only Route 66, but its baseball tradition — from Mickey Mantle, who was born just north of Miami, OK, to Mickey Owen, to “Sunny” Jim Bottomley, who died in Sullivan, MO.
Tour registration commences at 4 p.m. on Friday at the Best Western Inn of Miami, in Miami, OK, where a block of rooms has been set aside for tour goers. That evening, there will be activities for the participants, information on which will be available at registration.
On Saturday, the tour will go as far as Springfield, MO. There will be several stops along the way, including Mickey Mantle’s boyhood home in Commerce, OK, the old Phillips 66 gas station in Baxter Springs, KS, and the Mickey Owen Baseball Camp outside Miller, MO.
The tour will make its midpoint stop at the Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven in Springfield, where a block of rooms has been set aside for those on the tour. That evening there will be some fine Bar-B-Q served up by Buckingham’s BBQ for participants at Smith Park in Springfield.
On Sunday, after the nondenominational worship service, folks will be able to enjoy Route 66 in Missouri en route to the tour finale at Jim Bottomley Park in Sullivan, MO. Information on any planned stops or activities along the way will be made available at registration at Jim Bottomley Park, tour-goers will be able to enjoy a picnic lunch served up by Caterer, Inc., and “chew the fat” with fellow roadies to end the tour. Jim Bottomley’s grave is a stone’s throw away from the park, at the IOOF Cemetery in Sullivan.
Additional information on any planned stops or activities along the way will be made available at registration. Here’s hoping you can join us on our trek down the old highway! For more information, contact Kip Welborn at 314-776-7385 (rudkip@sbcglobal.net) , or Jane Dippel at 314-843-7132 (vestaon66@cs.com), or visit our Web site at www.Missouri66.org.
I like the tour going through three states and the baseball theme, which is new.
I LIVE IN SPRINGFIELD
JUST3 BLOCK’S, FROM THE OLD 66 EXIT.
I’M GOING, TO BE ON THE TOUR.
HOPE TO, SEE YOU THERE.