For a stretch of the country I’ve driven before, this was a big change. There were a number of original bridges to see, some small towns, neon sign parks (would be AWESOME at night), not to mention finding out that Springfield is really the “birthplace” of Route 66.
One interesting fact – the “Top of the Ozarks” filling station in Marshfield was actually moved to the location in which it is located. They were setting up for an event the day I passed through, but I didn’t want to stick around, as I was trying to make Joplin that night.
I ended up stopping in Springfield just as I got to the gateway, and had to re-plan the remainder of the trip – though I did hit the rest of the big cities (Joplin, Tulsa, OKC) as I hit the interstates to get back to Texas in a hurry. I made it in about 7 hours.