Missouri Roadsides

Recreation sites, Two-lane trivia, Place-Name Histories, Maps and more ...

Who hasn't heard the call of the open road and felt the desire to get out of the city and see the beauty of the Show-Me State? Historic Missouri Roadsides offers all the history, recommendations, and itineraries you need to make the most of a picturesque trip down a two-lane road or highway. Richly illustrated with photographs from the author's own collection, you'll find tours of varying lengths, most beginning near Kansas City or St. Louis. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a local "staycationer," you'll want to check out these tours like Route 79 along the Mississippi River or El Camino Real leading down to the Missouri Bootheel. Don't miss the Route 24 tour through Excelsior Springs and across the state into Ralls County or a chance to see the Osage Hills and Prairies in Laclede County. Find insider's tips on the best locally owned businesses, restaurants, and lodging along the way with character and a hometown feel. The second edition of the book offers even more destination trips including Fulton, Sedalia, the Boonslick area, the Arcadia Valley, Glasgow, and St. Joseph. Bill Hart takes the wheel and shows you the very best of the roads from St. Charles County to old Route 66. Thumb a ride through this beautiful guide to enjoy all that small town Missouri has to offer.

Author Charlie Spencer shows you around the state from the flat, glaciated plains in the north to the knobs of rhyolite in the St. Francois Mountains in the south, and from the earthquake-formed sand boils on the Mississippi floodplain in the southeast to the layers of coal, shale, sandstone, and limestone on the Springfield Plateau and Osage Plains in the west.

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Show-Me State has to offer! Whether you’re a born-and-raised Missourian, a recent transplant, or just passing through, Missouri Curiosities will have you laughing out loud as Josh Young takes you on a rollicking tour of the strangest sides of the Show-Me State. Wander with tigers at the world’s only big cat bed-and-breakfast, browse through America’s only corncob pipe museum, and swim in the world’s largest underground lake. Meet some crazy catfish-catching noodlers; a wacky-artwork-welding artist; and a pint-size, punch-packing former wrestling champ. Discover the fun of swinging sausages while you dance, and duel with dinosaurs—you’ll roar with delight!

Drivers speeding across Missouri on I-70 don't know what they're missing. But Ted Cable and LuAnn Cadden do: untold attractions right along the highway between St. Louis and Kansas City. Driving across Missouri is packed with fun-filled information, stories, and trivia that help travelers look beyond the passing blur to appreciate the "Show Me" state's unique landscapes and landmarks. Its authors unfold the natural beauty of the state's flora, fauna, and rivers (including two of the world's largest); introduce the history of Native Americans, French explorers, and German settlers; reopen routes traveled by Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark; and bring the Civil War era to life. The entries are tied to mile markers for travelers driving either east or west-no need to "transpose," because the authors have done it for you. Cable and Cadden tell the story behind Boone's Lick Trail at mile marker 194.0 and point out likely roosts for red-tailed hawks. They entice you to take Exit 170 to explore Graham Cave State Park, or 148 to visit the Winston Churchill Memorial at Fulton. And within the city limits of Kansas City and St. Louis, where mile markers often aren't visible, they guide the reader to notable features like the former's Jazz Museum or the latter's landmark churches. Graced with dozens of illustrations and an ample array of lively anecdotes, Driving across Missouri provides more detail for "ordinary" landscape features than can be found in most other guidebooks, whether relating the story behind the "Meramec barn" or using cornfields as a point of departure to discuss "Missouri Meerschaums"-the corncob pipe. Through their vastly entertaining book, Cable and Cadden help to slow things down in the fast lane so that travelers can enjoy Missouri's land and history, while simultaneously making a long trip pass more quickly with stories that interpret the spirit of this great "Show Me" state. And, used in conjunction with Driving across Kansas, readers can now enjoy the ride all the way from the Gateway Arch to the Colorado state line and back again.

Route 66 is the "Main Street of America," heralded in song and popular culture. It took a maze of different routes through St. Louis before slashing diagonally across the "Show-Me State" through the beauty of the Ozarks. In between, there are classic motels, diners, tourist traps, and gas stations bathed in flashing and whirling neon lights. Natural wonders include crystal-clear streams, majestic bluffs, and wondrous caverns. Roadside marketers concocted legends about Jesse James, painted advertisements on barns, lived with deadly snakes, or offered curios such as pottery and handwoven baskets. That spirit is alive today at the Wagon Wheel and the Munger-Moss, the Mule, Meramec Caverns, and Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, just to name a few. Their stories are included here.