The Joplin (Mo.) Globe ran into a group from the National Preservation Conference in Tulsa that was touring Oklahoma’s eastern end of Route 66, plus the Mother Road in Kansas.

Among the sights taken in were the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Okla.; Afton Station in Afton, Okla.; a stretch of the old 9-foot-wide highway, the Coleman Theatre in Miami, Okla.; an old gas station converted into the Kansas Route 66 Visitors Center in Baxter Springs; and 4 Women on the Route in Galena, Kan.

And, yes, this certainly sounds like one of the women of 4 Women on the Route:

Melba Rigg, one of the owners of 4 Women on the Route, in her rapid-fire delivery, described the restored building, the truck that was the inspiration for the Tow Mater character in the Disney movie “Cars,” and the building across the street that once was a brothel. The restored building sells souvenirs and houses a restaurant that Rigg said makes the best Reuben sandwich in the area.