The place was about half full when we got there. Saturday is a bit more casual than weekdays so people were taking time to chew their food and to chew the fat. Service was not lightning fast but it was efficient and we never lacked for coffee. Much better than experiences yet to come on the Old Road. People talked about farming and football scores, along with the local gossip and plans after retirement or high school. One of the waitresses had signed up for math courses at the local community college but was waiting on an answer about her financial aid which had somehow gotten fouled up in the last weeks before the new semester. Meanwhile our breakfasts were finished, coffee cups drained and it was time we moved along.
NOS now took the wheel and requested permission to accelerate smartly. Permission granted, he got the car up to highway speed and we were tooling along the route again. We saw signs for Memory Lane which is an old (pre-1930) alignment of the highway that has been fenced off for pedestrians only, along with a small park with state flags (all eight) and picnic tables. We paused there a few minutes before getting underway again. I was calculating in my head that we would have to make up some time if we were going to get to mid-Missouri by nightfall, so at some point we jumped back on to the interstate and drove the periphery of Lincoln and Springfield before finding our way back to a section of road that was far off the interstate and much more like Old 66 would have been, back in the day.
