Day 29 – Saint Robert, MO. to Tulsa, OK.

Today’s drive was an exciting one as not only we drove through 2 states, Kansas and into Oklahoma, but also we did a side trip to Joplin to see where Bonnie and Clyde’s hideout was..

Now to rewind a bit to our trip to Washington DC, on our night tour, we was anxious to get a good seat on the bus, so we had a lite snack very early at a restaurant, right outside the pick up point was, so that we could be one of the first in line.

As people have no shame in pushing their way to the front on these lineups (and boy we’ve encountered many here!), I hoped there was going to be some sort of law and order here with the tour guide! To be fair the young lady did just that and you wouldn’t want to mess with her anyway!

But we needn’t have worried about that if she had let us down, as we got chatting to a great guy (Sheldon Bales) in front of us who was on vacation with his family, and he turned out to be a cop from Kansas!

We all got chatting while waiting for the tour bus, and we told him about our big USA trip, and then he informed us that his station was right on the Route 66 in Baxter Springs, Kansas.

I jokingly said to Sheldon that we will “pop in” for our personal tour of his station, so tell your chief we’re a coming!

And he replied back that we’d be very welcome!

So….. that’s what we did, and first to greet us there was actually his chief, Bill Adams. He had a call off Sheldon that very day to expect our visit!

We had a very warm welcome from Bill and his team there, and Sheldon was off duty and not far away in town.

On Sheldon’s arrival we did get that personal tour of that fantastic building, which is also home to their current court house as well.

We was shown in and around areas of the old cells including their very own,( now disused) practice shooting range from back in the day, and you could see all the bullet holes in the wall and surrounding supports.

• 

• 

• 

Baxter Springs is home to some very interesting period buildings in and around the town, and this Police Department is one of them.

And before the end of our visit Bill presented us with their Department badge and was gratefully received, thank you so much!

Also I forgot to mention earlier in our Washington DC posts that Sheldon’s son also presented me with a special limited edition Route 66 Baxter Springs PD Collection coin, shaped like a Police Badge. We feel very privileged to accept it and it will be a center piece of our Route 66 memorabilia!

And now all that was left to say was a fond farewell to our new friends in Baxter Springs PD and check out the rest of their great little town.

And just around the corner from their station is the old bank that Jessie James robbed back in his glory days….

And Sheldon did tell us about their town’s new museum which had great items rescued from the early days, unfortunately it was closed on Mondays!

That was too bad, but just around a few more blocks was a restored gas station which is now a visitor center for the town, and they had some relics inside.

• 

• 

And we even managed to find a space on those tiles to sign their unique visitors book!

And then it was off to Tulsa Oklahoma for our overnight stay!