It was another good day on Route 66. Temperatures soared into the low 100's in the afternoon and there was a little gasoline mishap as a result. 

After a pancake breakfast at the Pancake Hut, I played Carthage Golf Course before traveling 18 miles to Joplin to play Schifferdecker Golf Course. And that brought the Missouri leg of the trip to an end. Enroute to the Baxter Springs Country Club in Baxter Springs, I made a stop at Cars on the Route, a little Gift Shop/Hamburger Stand that was the inspiration for the goofy tow truck in the movie "Cars," Tow-Mater. I made some new friends at the stop.

After playing Baxter Springs Country Club, the 13.2 mile stretch of Kansas is also in the books.

Since I completed all 45 holes of golf today by 2:30, I decided to drive a little further down Route 66 to spend the night. It was a good decision as I am staying at the Chelsea Motor Inn, I nice little small hotel undergoing restoration in the town of Chelsea, OK. 

The Pancake Hut is in Carthage, MO, less than 500 feet from the Boots Court Motel. I was there when it opened at 5:30 A.M. and was capably served by Edie and cook Kaylene. Just like yesterday, nobody was at the Boots Court office so early in the morning and ice was not available at the motel.

I asked Kaylene if I could buy some ice but she cheerfully offered to fill my small cooler to the top. 

I had the first tee time, 6:30 A.M. and was at the Carthage Golf Course plenty of time before the Pro Shop was open. With the temperatures expected to soar, there were many people waiting to tee off along with me.

I was so impressed with the Carthage Golf Course. Built in 1937, it is a hilly course with a wide variety of holes, uphill, downhill, doglegs left and right, and a pesky creek that cuts back and forth through the back nine. The greens were excellent but the rough was tall and many times, the ball just settled all the way to the ground making it difficult to locate.

Good news on the logo ball front. The ball from Carthage takes the count to fifteen for twenty-two. And with the completion of this round, from a golf course standpoint, the trip is halfway over. From a mileage standpoint, not so much.

I was off the course by 8:30. On my way out of town, I discovered the Drive-In Theater I was told about the previous evening.

The drive to Joplin is only 18 miles but consists of many turns through the small towns of Brooklyn Heights, Carterville and Webb City.

I tried my best to follow the route but often discovered I had missed a turn or turned too quickly.

Even with all the confusion, I was at Schifferdecker Golf Course before 9:30.

My original tee time at Schifferdecker was 10:45. When I checked in, I was greeted by Schifferdecker employees Rita Moore and Vic Watson (who said he's a better putter than his older brother Tom Watson...I think he was kidding). We chatted about my trip and they showed quite a bit of interest.

Vic asked if I wanted to tee off immediately and so I was on the course by 9:40. I played through a foursome, a twosome and a threesome and completed the round by noon.

Schifferdecker is quite a bit easier than Carthage Golf Course but still makes good use of the changes in elevation. It's a well-maintained course owned by the city of Joplin.

When I returned to the Pro Shop at the end of the round, Rita had already checked out the Mustang and checked out this blog. She took the time to give me a tour of their clubhouse along with historical facts about the golf course which was built in 1922. She mentioned that Baxter Springs, my next stop, is the home of professional golfer Hale Irwin. He is also in the Joplin Hall of Fame.

Schifferdecker also came through with a logo ball and the count moved to sixteen for twenty-three.

As I waited on the fourth tee at Schifferdecker, I noticed a carved stone of Will Rogers off the course. I took the time to examine it. It commemorates Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway. Joplin is close to the Kansas border and it wasn't long before I saw the first Kansas Route 66 sign.

Six miles from the golf course is the little town of Galena. During my research for the trip, I discovered a little hamburger stand that was the inspiration for the character Tow-Mater in Disney/Pixar's animated movie "Cars." I love that movie and with two grandchildren in their early second decade, I watched it many, many times in the mid-2000's. The building itself is also in the movie along with the garage across the street.

Linda was running the establishment and she filled me in on many of the details. She has lived in Galena her entire life in the very same house.

While in the restaurant,  I struck up a conversation with fellow "route-takers" Andy, Allison and daughter Keri from Naperville, IL. Andy asked if he could examine the mustang and Allison took a picture of Keri sitting in the driver's seat. This family is serious about Route 66 and is in the process of exploring every leg of the Mother Road as a multi-year project.

My next stop was another 10 miles down the road from Cars on the Route. Baxter Springs is the town where professional golfer Hale Irwin grew up and the road to Baxter Springs Country Club has been named after him.

Baxter Springs is a nine-hole course and is the same kind of facility that exists in Carlinville and Staunton, IL-a clubhouse with a swimming pool and a nine hole golf course.

I will say that Baxter Springs does not measure up in maintenance of the course like Carlinville Country Club and Staunton Country Club.

I got stuck behind a foursome and waited quite a bit until they waived me through on the seventh tee. It was the hottest weather I've played in on the trip, 103 degrees.

Baxter Springs made it three for three on the day for logo balls and the tally now stands at seventeen for twenty-four.

I mentioned a few days ago the periscope I discovered off the second tee at the Cuba Lakes Golf Course. I received an interesting note from Randy Wolff, current owner of Birch Creek Golf Course in Union, MO and previous owner of Cuba Lakes Golf Course. He provided a little background on that periscope as follows: "I was pleased to see my old periscope at Cuba Lakes. I built that periscope in about 1989 or 1990. I am not surprised it needs maintenance at its age. It is actually Periscope II. It replaced the first one I built shortly after buying Cuba Lakes in 1983. The first was made from wood and the woodpeckers rendered it useless after about 5 years. That PVC periscope may be the most enduring piece of my tenure at Cuba Lakes."

So after I completed the first hole at Schifferdecker, I made a turn toward the second tee and what did I see? Only the fourth periscope of all my golf travels! I was thrilled. Hole 2 has a landing area that can't be seen from the tee and the periscope eliminates the issue.

And then unbelievably, as I moved toward my 45th hole of the day, the ninth hole at Baxter Springs, I saw yet another periscope!! So that makes three since Friday. The periscope at Baxter Springs is extremely tall, perhaps 40 feet and was donated to the course by Eagle-Picher Industries. Check out the pictures below.

I left Baxter Springs at around 3:00 P.M. and was quickly in Oklahoma. My destination was Afton, OK where I had planned to stay at the Route 66 Motel. Since it would be quite a while before sunset, I decided to make a change in plans and travel a little further down the road today and sleep in a little longer tomorrow morning.

Since I would be eating breakfast in Chelsea, I decided to see if I could find lodging in Chelsea. Chelsea is another 32 miles down the road from Afton.

On the way, I drove through several little towns like Quapaw, Miami and Narcissa and two towns just a little larger like Commerce and Vinita.

When I drove into Commerce, I couldn't resist taking a picture for all my New York Yankee friends as Commerce is the hometown of Mickey Mantle.

I love throwing them a bone.

As I neared Chelsea, I was looking for the Chelsea Motor Inn, a motel given a shout out by Jerry McClanahan, whose book, "EZ66 Guide for Travelers" is the bible for people traversing the Mother Road and one that I am using to help me navigate.

When I saw the sign, I pulled into the parking lot but there was a sign in the office window that read "Sorry We're Closed." So I began to pull out when a gentleman came out of Room #4 and motioned me back. The man was Frank Jugler who, along with wife Trudy, are restoring the motel. He wanted to see the Mustang. We chatted for awhile and he said there is definitely a room for me at the motel. Frank and Trudy are restoring the six rooms of the small motel and giving them themes. My room  (#5) has a Route 66 theme, is spacious, has new bathroom fixtures and everything a traveler could possibly want. And it feels brand new! Each room has murals painted on the walls.

The Chelsea Motor Inn gets a big thumbs up from the Logo Ball Traveler.

Around 6:30 this evening, there was a knock on my door. I had returned about 30 minutes earlier from the gas station where I checked the fluid levels and filled up with gas for tomorrow.

Remember, it was over 100 degrees out today.

Frank told me he smelled gas and looked at my vehicle and gas was pouring out from the gas cap. The cold gas from the tank underground expanded greatly in the hot air and I needed to take a little trip to use up some of the gas. Frank got some rags and I attempted to wipe up the spillage and only succeeded in rubbing the paint off the car under the gas cap.

Oh well, just one more thing to address when I return to Fort Wayne.

The trip I took was to a trestle bridge on Route 66 built by the Oklahoma State Highway Commission in 1926.

From Oklahoma through Arizona, driving will be the focus over golf. There are only ten golf courses in the next four states and over 1350 miles. Contrast this to the 24 courses I played in Illinois, Missouri and Kansas while traveling perhaps 800 miles. It will take me six days to play the ten courses in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Tomorrow morning I'll be playing the public course in Sapulpa, OK and then end the day by playing the Links Golf Club in Oklahoma City while traveling a little over 170 miles. And tomorrow is laundry day.

Day 10: http://logoballtraveler.com/1/post/2016/07/route-66-day-10-a-light-day-in-northeast-oklahoma.html