Sunday, 13th June: St. Louis to Miami, OK
 
We had a leisurely breakfast in the Waffle House opposite the Red Roof Inn. (It wasn't actually 'leisurely', just extremely slow. The various elements - eggs, bacon, toast, etc. - arrived sporadically over a period of about an hour, served by a large waitress with what appeared to be a bar bell piercing in her tongue - a little off-putting at mealtimes, I would have thought! It was a minor irritation but, as it delayed the departure of Theo and Dirk from the group, we didn't mind too much.)

The delay at breakfast had frustrated most people, so as soon as the bills were paid, the group dispersed, leaving Fred, Joe, John Wright and us (who were not quite ready to leave) to find our own way to the Harley dealership at Gray's Summit, where we had agreed to meet up with Mark and Gina and the others.

We followed the old road through leafy countryside to Gray's Summit. The Harley dealership was supposedly unmissable, being the only one directly on old Route 66, but ... You've guessed it! Having driven for miles (some in the wrong direction) and made several U-turns, we gave up and joined the Interstate. Needless to say, we immediately saw the dealership off to the right, with the main group still parked outside. Too late!

We did manage to find Rolla, and its half-scale model of Stonehenge. We saw this before in 2001, and its purpose is still a bit of a mystery - though reading the plaque, it seems to have been an experiment in ancient Egyptian water sculpting techniques.

Fred had spoken to Mark and made a loose agreement to meet up at Devil's Elbow. We rejoined the Interstate and came off, as instructed, at #169. We found Route Z and the abandoned 4-lane segment of Route 66, but missed the turning for Devil's Elbow. After some debate about whether or not we had actually crossed a river at all, none of us could remember having seen a left turn. No matter, we continued on to find some lunch ...

Having ruled out the local Waffle House ... we found a popular-looking catfish restaurant. We were surprised to find that we were not the last group, as we were passed by the Wilde brothers (aka 'the Turnaround Gang' - apparently the Lost Souls weren't the only ones to take the odd wrong turn), Roger (pictured here in customary motorcycle kit), Rick, Jerry and Ken. Refuelled, we rolled on to Joplin ...

By now we were quite close to our motel in Miami, OK. We stopped briefly at Eiser Brother's Grocery Store, where we were caught up by Doug and his Canadian friends, Guy and Vicky Le Blanc.

Remembering the problems we had had last time finding dinner in Miami, we found that most of the group had ridden a few blocks from the hotel to a restaurant called Montana Mike's. When we got there, a number of them were still waiting outside for a table. Instead, we found a Chinese restaurant across the street. It didn't serve alcohol, as it was too close to the church, but the food was considerably tastier than chicken-fried steak!