My favorite stop on Route 66 was "Gary's Gay Parita", a fully restored Sinclair Gas station from the past century. It was cared for by Gary Turner and his wife Lena, who restored it after it had burned down in 1955. Alas, they both passed away in 2015.

From all accounts, Gary was the friendliest individual, and he would chat up anyone that stopped at his station and made sure you became friends before you kept going on your trip.

I know this because I was planning to spend around 20 min max there, but stayed for 3 hours!

Gary's daughter Barb now takes care of the place, and intends to keep her father legacy alive. She shared some stories with me, let me see her late father's office, gave me some watermelon, asked about my life and made sure we became friends before I left.

As I was looking through Gary's office, I found his guest book with loving messages from all over the world. Not only from visitors that stopped by to check one stop off their Route 66 map, but also from friends that came back to say goodbye after his passing. His office was filled to the brim with gifts and notes from around the globe, and each one of them mourned the departure of the nicest person they had met on the Route.

I was sad that I didn't get to meet him too, but I feel like I knew him a little more when I left that night.

These 3 hours were the sweetest delay I had on my trip!

I feel blessed to have been able to undertake such an epic trip and figure out for myself the great American roads.

Here are some pictures of my Americana, my Great American Road Trip.