The road from St Louis through to Tulsa is hardly interesting but it is one of those stretches you have to cover to get somewhere else. Our next significant stop is scheduled to be in Tulsa which is known for its Art-Deco buildings.
Most of it is flat farmland with not a lot to see or flat forest with not a lot to see.
Much of the road is straight and two lanes in each direction. Because of our width, we have to be quite careful not to wander too much because faster lorries tend to suddenly appear and create their own wind gusts as they pass by. Also in America, undertaking is the norm and so you have to keep an eye on all mirrors at all times because you never know from where the next vehicle will appear.
En-route somewhere in the mid-west, our van milometer clicks over a magic number and we continue to keep ourselves occupied by listening to Great Expectations (16 CDs worth courtesy of my local library), doing back numbers of crosswords and spotting roadside adverts.
The mid-west has thousands of very large roadside adverts and here are a few trading on the Route 66 name: (clicking on any of the pictures will produce an easier to see larger version)
We are passing through an area known for its strong conservative religious views and therefore there are numerous adverts related to belief, including:
we were not quick enough to get a photograph of the Catholic Radio advert which said that 1 in 6 of listeners to that station had marriage problems.
Then there are the patriotic adverts or those with a message
and numerous adverts which try to be bigger than their neighbours, or taller, or brighter or to do anything which will attract attention
but too often fail because they are too confusing and one only has a very short time to absorb the message before one has gone past it
the 72 ounce steak advert was wasted on us – we had already decided to go there so that Pat could have a steak (not a 72oz one !)
and then there are those which would not be allowed in the UK but this is the land of free speech and therefore anything seems to be allowed no matter who can see it.
Eventually we arrive at Tulsa
and the familiar Route 66 signs appear on normal streets and we are ready to find its Art-Deco buildings.
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